Front Hub Spacing

I have a front wheel in the form of a 26" rim built to a Halo track hub but the spacing is too small for the forks on my mtb conversion I'm building. The drop outs fit very neatly either side of the axle nuts.

Arghhh.

I knew the rear forks were different sizes but was obviously a right numpty to think that it wouldn't be the same for the front. I did do a search before purchase of the wheel [it was a bargain and maybe this is why] but couldn't find any info on it so presumed there would be no issue with this, albeit wrongly :(

I can't find info on the net about this so would love some advice... Is there any way I can use this wheel by putting another nut or spacers on the axle? The axle length is long enough to enable this...

Thanks in advance :$

I have a front wheel in the form of a 26" rim built to a Halo track hub but the spacing is too small for the forks on my mtb conversion I'm building. The drop outs** fit very neatly** either side of the axle nuts.

?
There should be two overlock nuts on either side of the bearing races.
Remove the outer two, place good quality washers between them and the inner two.

?
There should be two overlock nuts on either side of the bearing races.
Remove the outer two, place good quality washers between them and the inner two.

Sorry poor knowledge of names of hub parts :(
This is a stock photo of the hub in question, the locknuts seem to be an integral part of the hub and are not in pairs... the front forks fit neatly either side of the locknuts...

The other issue is that the locknuts are too large to fit the dropouts even if the spacing were correct, I guess as mtbs front forks normally fit on the axle [as they do on my old mtb], not the lock nuts as in a track bike. Any ideas?

It's ok... have sorted. I was getting stuck as am used to goldtech hub fittings. Hurrah! Money not wasted :D

hurrah

Nice hubs, shame they don't come in 36H.

For £45 all in hub, Mavic XC717 rim db spokes and build twas a bargain ;)

any ideas.
im not to knowledgeable about this sort of thing

any suggestions on what i could do to solve?

cheers

do you mean the axles are too large to fit in the dropouts?
if so file the threads flat on opposite sides of the axle til it fits. dont file all the way round though.

tell us the length of the gap between the dropouts and the o.l.d. of the hub...

do you mean the axles are too large to fit in the dropouts?
if so file the threads flat on opposite sides of the axle til it fits. dont file all the way round though.

it sounds like this.

i filed it and i can squeeze it in. cheers

i had the same problem - i shaved about 10mm of each side of the hub flanges - i recommend this process to all newbies :) if it looks like you might be doing damage to your hub carry on. . .

So my nice new hubs + rims are at a bike shop being built, the only problem being i forgot to check my front spacing (i checked the rear, of course!) - until just now.
I guess i thought there was no way it could be anything other than 100mm, this is an 80s italian frame, it was only those french that used funny sizes right?

Turns out i have 96mm on the front... argh!
So, i think i have three options:

a) try and bend the forks, i only need 4mm, how hard can this be? On the other hand i think there is a good chance i could completely fuck up the steering doing this.

b) remove the washer behind the locknut on the hub (could use these to help space the rear as well!). Is this easy to do?

c) get a 96mm hub/new fork... hardly ideal aaand expensive...

I'm thinking b) is there any good reason i shouldn't do this?

Your hub should be able to squeeze in. I wouldn't worry.

Disclaimer: Ain't my fault if something breaks.

Have a nice day.

its only going to be 2mm each side

i'd stuff it in

If the forks are steel I'd say you'd be fine to just pull them slightly apart to get the hub in.

It's a little inelegent however- so if that bothers you then try respacing the hub.

Thinking about it I need to space my rear axle out 3mm on either side- last time I used washers, which whilst a fine practical solution always bothered me in terms of how it looked.

Where can I get 3mm spacers for a 10mm axle that will look the part?

velosolo do that spacer woodoo in nice. (scroll all the way down)

Cheers Reeeeeeeeeeen, those look good.

This is porbably a stupid question- but these would be fine to use without putting them behind the locknut?

i.e. so that I could remove the spacers and chuck the wheel into a 120mm spaced frame without having to remove the locknuts.

think so, but you run the risk of loosing them fixing a roadside punk_ture.

Should be retained by the track nuts? I don't usually take the nuts off when I remove the wheel.

you nutter :P

What the fuck?

Post a picture of your current 96mm hub and fork please.

The OP has not got one, which is the issue for him I believe.

I just bought a set of 27' wheels from here to replace some broken ones I received with a crappy ebay frame. But I have a few questions.

When I first tried to install the front wheel it didn't fit (the rear was perfect). The hub of the new wheels seems a lot wider than the original wheels. I consulted sheldon and after a bit of fiddling around, removed the spacers between the bearing cone and the locknut. The first question is whether this is OK? The locknut is now in direct contact with the cone, and I want to make sure I'm not doing something stupid by not having any washers in there.

This sorted out the issue of getting the wheels into the fork (although I now need to find a cone spanner to tighten it all up properly again), but when I installed the QR skewer and tightened it, I realised that the axel now extends slightly beyond the dropouts meaning that even when tightened to the max, the skewer does not get a purchase on dropouts. I tied using the conventional nuts that were on the original (broken) wheel but they were fractionally to small, and the track nuts from another spare wheel and these were too big. Presumably I need a new axle?

Am I missing something? I know rear spacing varies a bit between frames of different ages, but I had naively thought that front spacing was pretty consistent.