RE: schwinn hub replacement
> wrench is, or a spoke wrench, or a tire iron, or a pedal wrench.
If you drive a car, you should know how to change a tire. Having an AAA card
is great (CAA for Canada, ?AA for UK), but sometimes you just don’t want to
wait two hours in the rain or snow. It’s easy stuff. But like so many
things, you’re not going to learn it without getting your hands dirty.
You didn’t learn to ride a unicycle by posting questions here, for example.
You had to get out there and ride it. Now you can do something less than 1%
of the people on Earth can do. Unicycling is hard, and you did it.
Using tools ranges from ultra-easy to super-hard. But we humans are
toolmakers. It’s what separates us from the other critters. Delve.
> I’ve seen a “patch kit” box but I have no idea what it
> looks like inside the box.
They’re cheap. Find out. Changing a unicycle tire can be more involved than
changing a car tire. Sure, the pieces are lighter, but if you don’t have the
tools with you (I’m thinking of in the middle of a ride), it can be harder.
A well-equipped (or new) car has the necessary jack and wrench included.
Patching the tire can be a lot easier. Of course if your leak is so bad you
can hear it, a patch probably won’t work… 
So I carry a spare tube
when on the trail as well.
> I can obviously guess what a pedal wrench is for, and maybe the spoke
> wrench too, but I personally have no knowledge of what they look like,
> where I can and cannot buy them, etc.
For tools, bike shops are good. Unicycle.com also has a bunch. Bring in your
cycle, and buy the tools that fit.
> I respond well to instruction in person, because
> I can see, and then I can do. I can only respond to
> text-based instruction when the most excruciating
> detail is put into the step-by-step process, with no
> assumptions to what I do and don’t know.
Nonsense. Detail is good, but you still need to get your hands dirty. You’ll
learn a lot that way. Being helpless is no way to go through life. Look
things up, ask questions, and then TRY before asking too many.
That applies to the simpler stuff. If you want to build a wheel or
something, there is more to know and seeking more advice is a good idea
first.
> only tool I will need for the job is the snap ring pliers? Or was all
> the stuff you (Nathan) mentioned also needed? Or was that more of a
> reference list for the minimum tools I will need for
> all-around general operations I might expect to have to do in the future?
You need a cotterless crank puller, available at Unicycle.com or most any
bike shop. An adjustable wrench will get your pedals off. You need a 14mm
socket wrench to get the nuts off the axle (this may be included with the
crank tool depending what type you get. You also might need a second
adjustable wrench (or the right sized wrench) to get the seat post bolt out.
In the old days (cottered), the bolts on a Schwinn were 9/16", 1/2", and
3/8". That was it, plus pedals. Your seat bolt may be metric though.
> PC now). One of the steps he mentioned might be needed was filing
> something so the frame would fit. glances nervously about I’m pretty
> sure I know what a file looks like. I recall using a tiny one for
> shaving flash off of roleplaying miniatures. 
Me rolling eyes too. You can see what most of this stuff looks like on the
Web. Just keep hitting Google with the names of tools. I’m not sure where
John thought you might need a file. The only place I can think of is in the
bearing holes. This should only be necessary if they are smaller than your
newer bearings, or if they’re just too tight going in. We used to tap them
in gently with a hammer. It’s important to keep them straight as they go in,
so you don’t have to use too much force. You can also do it in a vice
http://tinyurl.com/bak (picture of a vice).
> Perhaps somebody should make an on-line unicycle body shop,
> wherein video fragments of various tasks, along with well-done
> text descriptions of each process, could be viewed by all.
> That’d be invaluable. It’d also be a serious chore.
It is one of the things I would like Unicycle.com to have someday. I will be
working on it.
Stay on top,
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
jfoss@unicycling.com
Howard Stern: “How many wheels does a unicycle have?”
The beautiful but vacant, recently-crowned Miss Howard Stern:
“…Four?”