Where does one buy loctite? The loctite makes sense, but others have
suggested grease. Hmm. I’ll have to take it apart and see what I find. Joe
In a message dated 7/10/01 1:52:58 PM Eastern Daylight Time, gpeck@arctic.net writes:
> > That creak is bad news. You need to attend to it immediately. > > First remove everything and clean it up with solvent. > > Inspect the teeth and grooves for wear. If excessive, it’s over. > > If not, then locktite the crank splines and replace the crank. I’m not > too sure of the set up on the profiles but you should have a spacer > washer between the inner bearing race and the crank arm. If not, get > one. Locktite and tighten the end bolt. Then locktite the pinchbolt and > tighten.
We now have Loctite products. We use Green (sleeve retainer) to secure
pressed-on bearings, Red (permanent) on the tapered axle surface, and Blue
(removeable) on the axle threads.
<Nycjoe@aol.com> wrote in message news:bf.10a8c909.287ccde3@aol.com… > Where does one buy loctite? The loctite makes sense, but others have > suggested grease. Hmm. I’ll have to take it apart and see what I > find. Joe > > In a message dated 7/10/01 1:52:58 PM Eastern Daylight Time, gpeck@arctic.net > writes: > > > > > That creak is bad news. You need to attend to it immediately. > > > > First remove everything and clean it up with solvent. > > > > Inspect the teeth and grooves for wear. If excessive, it’s over. > > > > If not, then locktite the crank splines and replace the crank. I’m > > not too sure of the set up on the profiles but you should have a > > spacer washer between the inner bearing race and the crank arm. If > > not, get one. Locktite and tighten the end bolt. Then locktite the > > pinchbolt and tighten.
> Where does one buy loctite? The loctite makes sense, but others have > suggested grease. Hmm. I’ll have to take it apart and see what I > find. Joe
There is still a raging controversy about grease vs locktite - or any
industrial metal adhesive. The gearheads in the two wheel world will
sometimes recommend grease over an adhesive.
The problem is, bicycles are not subjected to the same strains and back
and forth wrenching that a uni hub. So my experience has been to go with
the adhesive. Any hardware or autoparts store sells locktite or its
equivalent. There are two basic grades…medium and strong.
Medium sets up in an hour and does a good job on low impact joints like
seat bolts and seat flange bolts.
Strong is used for everything else…pedals to crank, allen screws in the
pedal bails (if present), cranks to axle, and any other fasteners
associated with the cranks. Strong takes 24 hours to set up and may
require a torch to undo. Rarely however. Usually even strong is eventuall
overpowered by the constant torques involved.
> There is still a raging controversy about grease vs locktite - or > any industrial metal adhesive. The gearheads in the two wheel world > will sometimes recommend grease over an adhesive.
George certainly has more experience with this then I do, but in the last
year I’ve experimented with different grades of Loctite (or other brand
equivalent products).
At least here in Kansas (is it affected by climate?) I found even the red
Loctite to be ineffective on square taper cranks. I was careful to clean
the parts to remove grease and dirt before applying, and to let it cure at
least 24 hours before riding, but each time I could easily disassemble the
parts after a few days. Part of it was that I was dealing with some
aluminum cranks that deformed around the hub fairly easily (Lasco).
The last set (experimental retapped ones from Unicycle Source which
have held up very well) I didn’t even bother on the taper, just on the
nut threads.
It’s only been recently that I’ve heard anyone recommend grease on the
square taper axles. I’m game to give it a shot.
The issue with the Locktite may be related to thermal expansion and
contraction, since we’re dealing with dissimilar metals in this assembly.
I’m thinking that may have been the problem with the Lasco cranks too,
since I easily deformed the square taper on two sets in just a few days
when the weather was cold and changing a lot as I took the unicycle in and
outdoors, but I used the remaining cranks from those two sets (they
deformed on opposite sides) as a third set for a couple of months after
things warmed up more consistantly.
Greg
“Wow, I didn’t know being a super hero could be so painful.”