Loose Parts

[paco]

Today I had to go to the hardware store to buy a new nut for my unicycle
seat. One came loose while riding, and fell off. So I replaced it.
That boring story takes me to my next point. Certain parts can come
loose on a unicycle while riding. For instance, the crank arms, seat,
bumpers on the seat, spokes, pedals, etc. I don't think that all these
parts are critical to catch immediately, but others are. So my question
to those more intelligent than me is which parts should be tightened
immediately (like the crank arms), which should be tightened as soon as
you can conveniently do so, and which don't really matter that much?
Just curious.


--
paco - Creator of the "BUni"

"One thing is for sure. Inspector Clay is dead. Murdered. And
-somebody's- responsible!"
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[Sofa]

nothing 'doesn't matter'

every time I get a new unicycle, or overhaul one, I undo all the bolts,
loctite them, then tighten them back up.

Some loose bolts will affect the ride. Some loose bolts will cause the
parts to fail.c(leading to personal injury)


Everything should be tight.


--
Sofa - My Custom Beard

'Absolutely right, Sofa!' - General consensus on RSU

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[djm]

Use Loctite to secure them as Sofa said. The Red Loctite is the Best.
Becareful not to overtighten them as this strips them off it's threads.
I found Loctite is the best soloution for this stuff.

David


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djm - David John Mason

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-David J. Mason-

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[Cubby]

Paco,
In my opinion the screws or nuts that you can get away with not dealing
with immediatly are:
- seat to post nuts (Assuming the rest are tight you can probably lose
one or maybe one front and one back diagonally without cutting your ride
short but get them replaced as soon as possible.)
- handles (As above assuming you realise something is loose and aren't
doing some some skill that depends on them.)
- broken spokes (Wrap around another spoke to keep it out of the way
until it can be replaced. Wheel could go out of true a bit but not
generally enough to matter in the short term. A missing or broken spoke
can lead to stresses on other spokes.)
- bumpers (we don't need no stinkin bumpers)

Everything else needs to be secure or risk damage to uni or self. I've
found that If I pick up and bounce the uni a bit and have something
loose in the bearing, crank, or pedals I will hear it as a rattle before
I notice it otherwise.

-Cubby


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[gerblefranklin]

I recently lost a nice steel dust cap on my muni, which I went 2 weeks
without replacing, even though I tightened my crank twice during that
period. I also performed trials on stage for an audience with a loose
seatplate nut. I also have noticed my left pedal loose after repeatedly
landing 2 foot drops and 12-14" ups. My advice is to get off and walk if
anything that touches the drive train comes loose because a loose crank
might get damaged and never tighten again, a loose pedal could damage
the thread of your crank (although doubtful). Also be really careful
with the nuts on main cap bearing holders. All you need is one loose
bolt and you can loosen your entire frame-wheel attachment.

Happy Maintainence


--
gerblefranklin
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[john_childs]

Sofa wrote:
> *every time I get a new unicycle, or overhaul one, I undo all the
> bolts, loctite them, then tighten them back up.
> *

Absolutely right, Sofa!
I'm so happy I didn't have to mention Loctite in this thread.
:)


--
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[paco]

Thanks for the advice guys!
The way I was looking at it is, let's say I'm five miles from my car on
a ride. Which things should I -walk- back to my car immediately to fix,
which things should I -ride- back immediately to fix, and which things
can wait until the ride is over? Obviously, anything that is loose
should be tightened and I should probably lower the intesity level of my
ride if I hear rattling, but I don't want to have to walk five miles if
I don't have to. Are crank arms the only thing that should force you to
walk home?


--
paco - Creator of the "BUni"

"One thing is for sure. Inspector Clay is dead. Murdered. And
-somebody's- responsible!"
-Plan 9 From Outer Space
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[Sofa]

cranks arms and pedals.

edit: i forgot about the 4 bolts at the bottom, holding in the
bearings.


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[john_childs]

paco wrote:
> *Thanks for the advice guys!
> The way I was looking at it is, let's say I'm five miles from my car
> on a ride. Which things should I -walk- back to my car immediately to
> fix, which things should I -ride- back immediately to fix, and which
> things can wait until the ride is over? Obviously, anything that is
> loose should be tightened and I should probably lower the intesity
> level of my ride if I hear rattling, but I don't want to have to walk
> five miles if I don't have to. Are crank arms the only thing that
> should force you to walk home? *

A loose crank arm or a pedal that is starting to come unthreaded are two
show stoppers. If you have aluminum cranks be especially careful about
watching for looseness. A pedal that is getting loose can easily strip
out the pedal threads on an aluminum alloy crank.

You should bring a set of basic tools with you on a ride. There are
compact multi-tools that cover most basic needs for trail repair. For a
basic minimal tool pack you'll want to be able to tighten up the crank
arm (the Park CWP-5 crank puller), have a spare crank retaining nut or
two, allen keys to fit the various hex nuts, and a small adjustable
wrench. If you have cotterless cranks make sure you have one or two
spare 'retaining nuts'
(http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=154).

A step up from the basic tool pack would be to include a tire patch kit,
a spare tube, and a small pump.

When I travel light I carry allen keys that fit the various parts on my
muni. Since I have Profile cranks I don't need to worry about the crank
puller. I just need the 7/32" hex key to tighten the big Profile bolt.
I also carry a spoke key in case I knock my wheel way out of true.

When I pack medium light I'll add in some sockets to tighten up the
bolts under the saddle.

When I pack heavy I'll add in the tire patch kit, metal tire levers to
get the Gazz off the rim, a pump, and a spare tube.


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[Klaas Bil]

On Tue, 19 Aug 2003 14:23:02 -0500, Sofa
> wrote:

>edit: i forgot about the 4 bolts at the bottom, holding in the
>bearings.

I'm not sure about that one. On one of the first trips with De Dame
(my 28" soon 29"), I noticed a slightly rattling sound. It turned out
that one of the four bearing bolt nuts (or maybe both on one side, I
don't remember, was/were completely loosened and on its/their way to
falling off. (I had followed someone's advice in this group, possibly
John Childs, to tighten the bearing bolts only so much that the wheel
still spun freely, but I then discovered I had taken that a bit too
literally.)

On that occasion, I had no tools whatsoever with me. I tightened the
nuts with my bare fingers as tight as I could and rode all the way
home (about 6 kilometres) without further problems.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
--
I go a sort of ok speed on my Coker... - Roger Davies

[chirokid]

Klaas Bil wrote:
> *(I had followed someone's advice in this group, possibly
> John Childs, to tighten the bearing bolts only so much that the wheel
> still spun freely, but I then discovered I had taken that a bit too
> literally.) Klaas Bil
> *


I assume a drop of loctite would solve this problem. Is there a reason
NOT to put loctite on this bearing holder bolts/nuts? Or, is it a good
idea? --chirokid--


--
chirokid

"Unicycling can make you proud then humble in very quick succession."
Mikefule

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[john_childs]

chirokid wrote:
> *
>
> I assume a drop of loctite would solve this problem. Is there a
> reason NOT to put loctite on this bearing holder bolts/nuts? Or, is
> it a good idea? --chirokid-- *

Yup, a little Loctite on the bearing holder nuts will help keep them
from vibrating loose. On the bearing holder nuts it isn't necessary to
reapply the Loctite every time you remove the wheel. Just having dried
Loctite in the threads of the nut will keep the nut snug and keep it
from vibrating loose. You can reapply the Loctite every time you adjust
the bearing holder nuts, but it's not totally necessary.

Damn! I got tricked into mentioning Loctite in this thread. :mad:


--
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john_childs (at) hotmail (dot) com
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