Creaking KH cranks (I think i have a new problem)

I did a search but didn’t quite find what I was looking for. Most threads seemed to be “tighten your bolts”, but i think my axle is loose. Man I hate to make a thread with that title. On my summit recently, like all people’s kh wheelsets (it seems), I have a creaking crank, its the left one in the back for hopping. Normally I would just reach down wiggle it back and forth to see if it was loose and then tighten the bolts and the creaking would stop for a bit. But now it stays there after max. tightening, and i can wiggle it with a little more effort, and make it creak by hand, only like a cm or two to each side. It use to slide sort of when it was loose but now its like grinding. Its like as opposed to the crank just wiggling from looseness, now the crank and axle is sliding but only on one sise And its really loud. I think I have keyway slop, but i’m not exactly sure what that is. Could someone tell what it is and how it can be fixed? My only solution now is to turn it around and ride one footed. :roll_eyes:

David

Take out all of the bolts on that crank. Then get red loc-tite and spread it on the screws. Put in the pinch bolt first, then the other. Make sure you get them super tight.

Re: Creaking KH cranks (I think i have a new problem)

As far as I know it is a problem that happened with a whole batch of hubs that don’t work properly. Joe Dyson had a similar sounding problem with his KH20 hub where you could feel this awful movement in the hub, I’m not sure if it’s the same as your side to side movement or what. It might be best to email or phone Unicycle.com and see if they can replace it or come up with a solution. There is another thread here which you could check out to see if it’s the same problem.

i thought you tighten the axle bolt first, then the pinch bolt??

-grant

cold creaking cranks?

Speaking of which, either my KH24 cranks or hub makes funny noises everytime I use them when it’s below minus 20 degrees Centigrade. Actually they start making noises about minus 17 degrees. I wonder if this sort of cold weather riding was in Kris Holm’s design specs.

Even so, after hours of sitting in front of the school in minus 20, I can still hop right on and everything works just fine.

The only problem I have is that my uni tire pressure is just fine inside in plus 22 degrees, but the tire is a bit flat when I get it outside. I guess I just need to increase my tire pressure for winter riding.

Is there a temperature that will actually damage my KH24? It’s gotten down to minus 45 degrees in this are, but minus 30 is usually the coldest part of the winter.

you can send it back to uni.com and they will fix it for you, or send it to darren…

Re: cold creaking cranks?

Remember that an isolated fluid volume will decrease when cooled, meaning that the pressure in your tire drops with the temperature.

Also, chromoly (the axle material) and aluminum (flange material) have different moduluses of expansion/contraction. This means the for every 10 degrees of temperature drop, the chromoly will shrink, say, 0.01mm for every 20mm of material. This means that the axle in your hub may be shrinking faster than the aluminum, meaning that it can become too small for the hole and then produce slop. This could be what’s happening.

It’s hard to guess what’s wrong based on your description.

You might consider taking the unicycle to a local bike shop that has a good reputation for their repair department, and have them look at it and try to figure out what’s wrong. They should be able to figure out if it’s a problem with the crank, something wrong with the spacers, something wrong with the hub, or something else. Print out pictures from Steve Howard’s Dissected KH Hub gallery and show them to the bike shop. Explain that there have been problems with the hub axle slipping and creaking in the hub body and that you’re concerned that your hub may be affected. They should be able to determine if that is happening with your hub.

Once you figure out what is wrong then you can figure out what to do to fix it. If it’s a slipping hub then contact the store where you bought it and see what they suggest to do. If you got it from Bedford or Unicycle.com, they’ll know what to do.

I didn’t think it was that cold yesterday around 0 - 5 degrees celsius. But I was on it later in my house (riding front door to back door so it could be put away in the porch, I wasn’t quite that board) it was sitting for a while so it was warmed up and it didn’t creak go figure. It must be that temperature thing, any ideas? Thanks everyone.

David