Q about rear wheel

vistafinder

I was cleaning the bike today and when I took off the rear wheel I noticed the lock nut I think its called was loose and when I tightend the wheel spin got slow. Just want to make sure its safe when loose if anyone can help? Its the nut in the centre of the lock ring incase I havent explained it properly. Thanks

Jordan537

do you mean the axle bolts? If so these should only be finger tight or the wheel will not spin freely.

vistafinder

That must be it alright. I think! cheers

doozerie

From what you are describing it sounds like the axle locknut on the drive side is loose. This should be locked tight (not just finger tight). It locks the cone on the drive side in place (assuming you have a hub which uses cones and loose bearings). If the locknut is loose then the cone can either work its way loose (most likely) or tight (less likely) but either is bad.

Usually you need one spanner on the cone and one spanner on the locknut on the same side of the axle in order to lock them together. You'll have to remove the cassette to get access to the drive side cone to do this. With some hubs you may have to remove the axle itself (by removing the cone and locknut from the non-drive side) to get access to the drive side cone.

It all very much depends on what hub you are using though, as different designs have different requirements. There is some info here which may help.

vistafinder

O fu=k looks like I will have to go to the bike shop. I will only make it worse if I go near it.