I can't figure out why the front tire is wobbling on my son's Giant mountain bike. The nuts are all tight and seen in the right place, in fact the little hook under the end nut makes it hard to put the wheel on incorrectly. But the wheel moves back and forth on the spindle maybe an eighth of an inch and I can't figure out how to tighten it any more. He doesn't work on it himself and really isn't that rough so I can't figure out what might have happened. Any ideas? Video and pic attached.
Front wheel wobbling on son's bike
byu/a_subtle_avocado inbikewrench
by a_subtle_avocado
6 Comments
Pictures
https://preview.redd.it/zq6ukbm2tquf1.jpeg?width=2277&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=466ce1b7577d97fbd3e00c42ca0679bfba74c5f7
Looks like the bearings are corroded away, more or less. There’s isn’t much left inside that hub.
You need to tighten the inside “cone nuts” so they’re seated nicely on the bearings, if the bearings haven’t fallen out. There’s a lock nut and a cone nuts, so you’ll have to spin the cove in and then lock the other nut against it. Sometimes it has to be done with special cone wrenches, but you could try doing it with two small crescent wrenches.
Edit to add, loosen the outer nuts first, then tighten inner, then lock outer nuts against inner when everything is snug, no play, but not so tight it’s binding up.
you can get a cone wrench and try servicing the hub.
Best case you have loose cones and can get away with adjust and grease but I’m not optimistic that it’s not beyond repair. Worth a look if you have or want to obtain some cone wrenches.
Axile nuts are not tighted correctly or not tighted at all.
Take off the wheel and try to pull-push the axile – if above confirms you’ll need to retighten the nuts. You’ll need 2 thin wrenches (spanners) for this. I think they are called cone spanners or something. You’ll need to do some research for your specific hub (look at the markings on the hub).
Tighten the first nut closer but not too tight. Check how the wheel is spinning.
Then put the second – counter nut. Hold first one with a spanner and tighten counter nut with second spanner.
P.S.:
Bike repair is the fastest way to do above.
If you don’t have bike specific wrenches getting one may be a bigger hassle than finding a bike shop where they’ll fix the issue in 5 minutes.