Live Axle wheel

Randomco

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May 28, 2009
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I am building a beach cruiser with a Tecumseh 6.5hp engine. I want to make the rear axle live, and have a 1" axle with a 1/4" keyway. I already have a 10" v-belt pulley with a 1" diameter bore, bearings and bearing mounts, 8" disc brake with 1" dia. bore. I was planning on using the spoked wheel already on the bike, and just remove the interal bearings and slide the 1" axle through the wheel and use 2 wheel hubs to "sandwich" the wheel on both sides to hold it in place. But after removing the interal bearings the wheel bore is tapered down to just under 1", making it impossible to fit the 1" axle through the hub. I tried to use a step-up drill bit to widen the hole, but its hardened steel and just isnt going to work. I was wonder if they sell wheels with a bigger bore or something designed for a 1" live axle? Thanks, any help would be much appreciated.

-Random
 
The outside of my shimano rear hub is 1.11" in the center (it's a Mt Bike 7spd rear aluminum). So I'm guessing the inside is smaller than 1". Could you have someone turn half your axle down to fit your hub? Then you'd have a step to butt the wheel into. You'd just have to change the bearing on that side to fit or sleeve the bearing. All your other stuff could go on the full sized side. Just a thought.
 
I am not sure I understand what you mean by "turn half your axle down". Do you mean have some put it in a lathe and shave the diameter of the axle smaller to fit in the hub? I will not be putting the bearing back into the wheel hub. I am converting the axle to a "live axle" meaning the wheel will be fixed to the rear axle and the whole axle will rotate, rather than the wheel rotating on the axle via bearing. Hope that makes sense. I searched the threads here on motoredbikes.com and found a thread that recommended a website that had a wheel that is similiar to what I am looking for, but the wheel is a 3/4" bore, rather than a 1" which i need. The link to that site is:

http://www.smallcarplans.com/Issue 24.pdf

Since the parts I have are for a 1" axle, I would hate to settle for a 3/4" axie and have to get all new parts.

Again, I hope I am making sense.
 
Ya I understood what you meant about a live axle. I was talking about using a lathe to turn down the axle diameter but not the whole length of the axle. Just from one end to as far as you want the hub to slide on. Then there is a shoulder in the axle to butt the wheel against so you only need a collar on one side. You still have one end the full 1" and keyway for your drive parts and you only need one new bearing for the smaller side.
 
Lok-tite also makes a product you can use to lock/glue the hub on the axle once you have it where you want it if it's a good fit. They make it for shafts in paper mills etc. Just make sure the wheel is where you want it if you use it. It's very strong and you won't be moving it again unless you apply alot of heat.
 
I understand what you mean. I would probably have to lathe a section of the axle down to 3/4" in order to find a bearing to fit on that side, since just shaving off a little will be difficult to find a properly fitting bearing. Anyways, thanks a lot for the suggestion, its definitely something I will keep in mind.
 
I would like to have some adjustment in the position of the wheel, the above suggestion seems a bit permanent.
 
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