Installing rear wheel - useful rod thingy

Jamieboy

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Last time I had the rear wheel off I found it difficult to get back on. I know this seems pretty elementary but seemed like I needed 3 hands - two to line the wheel up and then another to place the bolts home. Made the job unnecessarily annoying.

I'm sure I've seen somewhere (I think from following a link posted on here) for sale a handy looking thing which is basically a threaded rod the same diameter and thread as the wheel bolts which you screw into the hub and than fit the wheel over it - so it holds the wheel in place while you screw in the other bolts.

Can't for the life of me find it online by googling.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to where this can be purchased?
 
That's a good idea - I'd just buy a length of this and cut it up. In fact....I think I will:) I think it's M12 anyway....
 
Threaded rod is a good idea. There was one you could buy but cheaper to make your own. I toyed with the idea once as lining up the wheel/abs spacer and hub was not easy. Problem solved by smearing araldite to wheel hub and sticking spacer to it. Now I just sit on floor with wheel resting on my legs and bolt straight on no problem. Might just revisit the rod idea again though.....
 
BTW, for those who said they'd make them themselves, they're under 6 quid delivered from Jaws. IMO cheap enough not to bother.
 
The wheel sits in place on the final drive flange without the need for any aids.. Then with the bike in gear hold the wheel at two opposing points on the tyre and just rotate the wheel so the holes in the wheel line up with the holes in the output flange.
 
As Steptoe says it can be done easily once you fit it on that lip. To find the final drive flange initially I found it helps to sit on the floor and rest the wheel on my legs so I can use them to raise it to the right height (obviously I don't use a lift).
 
For us mere mortals who don't possess Steptoe's skills it can be PITA. When I had 1150s I sourced a spare wheel bolt, cut the head off and hacksawed a slot across the top. Screw it into the top thread and bingo the wheel would stay put while I put the rest of the bolts in.
 
With respect - things are not always so straight forward. It's ok if you have a lift, or the space to sit under the bike without a wheel on, which I personally don't like doing, especially when it's on a jack to keep the front wheel on the ground. And rotating the wheel on the bevel when in gear is fine but I find with all that weight plus the corrosion on my old bike that the wheel's rotation is jumpy at best, and if the bike isn't on a ramp then the holes aren't at eye level either which makes it more difficult. We all have our own methods I guess - I often poke a 3/8 drive entension in the hole to locate it. What do you get for £5 nowadays anyway:)

I knocked the bike over on it's left side once with no wheels on and getting the back wheel on alone then was 'tricky' to say the least. Still, I guess I shouldn't have been such a t*at in the first place:)
 
As Steptoe says, just fit the wheel to the lip, rotate the wheel until the holes line up (bike in gear obviously) and stick a bolt in the top hole. Honestly once you've done it a few times it's easy and doesn't need any extra guide rods etc (and I don't have a lift so the bike is on the ground). If you practice and get used to doing it without extra guides, then you can do it anywhere when you need to...
 
The tool you want is available from wunderlich (rainbow are the importers) a nice anodised blue for only £7.
 

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I set the hub with a bolt hole at the top then feed a large Pozi #3 screwdriver through the wheel and into the bolt hole. Wheel slips on easy and stays put while I get one wheel bolt screwed in a few turns. The rest is easy.

A 50mm long M12 socket grub screw would also work, but I'd only lose it somewhere in the toolbox. The screwdriver is easier to find.
 


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