I’ve been riding as much and as hard as I can (admittedly not that much or that hard!) and thought some folks might be interested in how it’s going.
When machining the splines, the first end of the axle turned out pretty loose. I other words, the Profile crank slipped on the axle easily by hand. This happened since I had to use the “trial and error” method to find the correct depth of cut. I made the second end tighter and it required tapping the crank with a mallet to get it on the axle. I considered throwing that axle away but decided to go ahead and assemble it to see what would happen with the loose side.
A couple days ago I thought I could feel some movement somewhere - not much movement and no noise. Yesterday I took the cranks off and found the loose side was even more so and the tight side had loosened up to where I could slip the crank off by hand. I reassembled the loose side with Loctite on the splines and without Loctite on the “tight” side. After a moderate ride there is no movement in either side yet. I’m interested to see if the tight side gets any looser and if the side with Loctite will get sloppy again. It seems as though on the next one I need to make the fit on the splines even tighter. Throughout all this there has been absolutely NO noise coming from the hub.
Questions for Profile owners: Do the cranks on Profile hubs stay tight or do they eventually develope a little slop? Can the cranks be removed by hand or is a puller required?
The cranks on the Profile get looser over time. They start out tight and then get looser with use. When I first got my Profile hub I had to pull the cranks off with a bearing puller. Now I can almost slide them off by hand.
The cranks do become easier to remove over time. It isn’t noticeable by
riding the unicycle. It’s not like the old cotter pin “skip” at all.
The way to prevent Profiles from creaking is to keep them clean and lubed
with anti-seize. As long as it isn’t metal on metal, it won’t creak.
If you take the Profile set apart, clean it (axle/spacers/bearings/cranks),
lube them with anti-seize, put them back together and snug everything up,
you will eliminate all the creaking.
Good luck with all your projects. Most of our development in the past has
been from Tom Miller at The Unicycle Factory.
Darren
showard wrote:
> A couple weeks ago I built a 48 spline “Profile like” axle/hub. Some
> pictures are located here:
>
> http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albun21
>
> I’ve been riding as much and as hard as I can (admittedly not that much
> or that hard!) and thought some folks might be interested in how it’s
> going.
>
> When machining the splines, the first end of the axle turned out pretty
> loose. I other words, the Profile crank slipped on the axle easily by
> hand. This happened since I had to use the “trial and error” method to
> find the correct depth of cut. I made the second end tighter and it
> required tapping the crank with a mallet to get it on the axle. I
> considered throwing that axle away but decided to go ahead and assemble
> it to see what would happen with the loose side.
>
> A couple days ago I thought I could feel some movement somewhere - not
> much movement and no noise. Yesterday I took the cranks off and found
> the loose side was even more so and the tight side had loosened up to
> where I could slip the crank off by hand. I reassembled the loose side
> with Loctite on the splines and without Loctite on the “tight” side.
> After a moderate ride there is no movement in either side yet. I’m
> interested to see if the tight side gets any looser and if the side with
> Loctite will get sloppy again. It seems as though on the next one I
> need to make the fit on the splines even tighter. Throughout all this
> there has been absolutely NO noise coming from the hub.
>
> Questions for Profile owners: Do the cranks on Profile hubs stay tight
> or do they eventually develope a little slop? Can the cranks be removed
> by hand or is a puller required?
>
> Steve Howard
>
> –
> showard - ------
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> showard’s Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/452
> View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/20636
The Profile crank splines are not tapered so they should be able to slide easily.
As far as the creaking, I’ve torn my apart a couple times, cleaned and lube with antiseize but the creaking persisted. Just last night though, I realized that my Profile setup wasn’t creaking anymore. It’s been a long time since I tore it apart and lubed it up. Its almost as if it has worn itself into a pattern and kicked out the creaking. Interesting.
Ditto to what the others are saying. My current Profile required a puller at
the beginning (although one side almost could be done by hand). Just last
night I took them apart and put them back together and sure enough both
sides come off without the puller now. My previous wheel was looser still to
the point that I probably should’ve sent it back to them.
yup yup, Mine can come right off, no problem. they used to be kinda hard without a puller, but not anymore. but they dont feel loose in any way. just kinda loud after drops and jumps and uphills.