Off road tyres driving me INSANE

[Burgerman]

Where exactly are you fitting this shim?

My front caster wheel setup is s follows:

Countersunk cap screw, Flat/countersunk washer, fork leg1, carefully machined correct length alloy spacer1, bearing, another carefully machined alloy centre spacer, bearing 2, another carefully machined spacer2, fork leg2, another flat/countersunk washer, another countersunk bolt.

If any of these spacers are the wrong length then the wheel will not be central, or the bearings will bind, or the axle will not pass through the fork leg far enough (or too far) etc. You just need to built accurately and with care.

Stock axles do not go through fork leg but rest still applies.

[woodygb]

i'm sorry Alex I cannot answer the question without examining the assembly.

The shim is shown and therefore should be present.... where you should get one ...other than the obvious ..I don't know.

EDIT ...
BM ... The Caster STEM not the axle

[alexapc]

BM, I am talking about the fork stem/shaft whatever you call it, not the wheels!!!!!!!

My chair was not built correctly and I've had horrible caster problems for 4 months. I am getting new forks sent to me and I want to install them equally the same. Right now only 1 side has the shim as shown in the pdf, no washer, the other side had nothing, I put a washer in there.

Also, the nuts are not the same thickness.

I want to get both sides even and perfect

[Burgerman]

But he said bolt earlier? They dont have one, just a nut. So presumed he meant wheel...

Sunrise. The wave washer preloads the bearings to stop rattle, and make them slightly damped. And the washer is essential. Theres no centre spacer. There is no need as the nut tightens onto a shoulder at the top. It cannotload the bearings if the correct washers are used.

[Burgerman]

Question again about F55 caster fork assembly, what is the PERFECT set up? 2 bearings, a bolt, are washers essential to stability? Top or/and bottom washers? What about the bolt, does thickness matter?

Bolt? Thats what threw me!

[Burgerman]

So you need carefully assembled wheel spacers and bearings, central, and balanced quality tyres etc too. And you need sunrises nut, washers, shim, etc for caster barrel bearing. It should all be there though already if assembled properly.

Personally I use nylock nuts, add a washer at the bottom (stainless) and just tighten the nylock until all play vanishes, and it becomes very slightly stiffer to turn. Its a feel thing. So it needs say 15 or 20 grammes to move the fork. It soon wears in and may need re adjustment periodically. This is what the wavy shim from sunrise should do autmatically.

[alexapc]

My mistake I meant to say nut not bolt, oops!!

I'm trying my best to get Martin to send me EVERYTHING this time, trying!

So wave washer=shim?

If I don't get what I need I'll need to DIY

[Burgerman]

Those bits are on the f55 parts page. Any dealer.

[alexapc]

2 brand new forks, 4 bearings, 2 shims, 2 washers arrived today, and 2 new nuts.

Put it all together exactly as in manual and as soon as I tightened the nut the fork was STUCK, it was very hard to move! What's going on?

The shim seems to wide, it doesn't stop at the thread and fits down the shaft.

The washer is not flat, one side is slightly concave.

For the time being I've just put 2 half inch washers in each side, but I still have rattling.

How do you make this work?

[Burgerman]

You need to assemble it correctly.

The wave washer is designed to pre load the bearings. There isnt a centre spacer. So if you just tightened a nut and the fork shaft had no shoulder then the bearings would be loaded up or crushed. The bunch of washers, and nut should be fitted so as to take out all the slack, and loas (pre load) the bearings so they are SLIGHTLY stiff, with no play.

Now do a drawing showing what you did, and where you put which washer / nut. To an average engineer this stuff seems obvious. To the rest of the world - well its all chinese.

Show pictures and I can explain what goes where and why.

[alexapc]

Oh.. I get it now, I've been used to having to make it super extra tight to avoid rattle because I had wrong forks, broken bearing, wrong bits. I tried it again and tightened it so that it's stiff but not so stiff it's scraping - now it's perfect!! Zero rattle, even over uneven surfaces!!!! Finally it works as it should.