SX Front Axle Length

[Flyingw]

Does anybody have an SX front axle handy? I need a length from end to end. I have several axles and I think I have the right one but I don't want to rip my SX front end apart to measure the axle.

[tri again]

Hey mang,
My only spare has a frozen collar and will NOT come out of the hub or I'd do it right now.
I can probably measure it with the ruler bent around the hub. (sorry)

Hope your project isn't super time sensitive.
I wonder if replacement suppliers may have dimensions listed?

[Dave Little]

Here you go Jim:
http://i719.photobucket.com/albums/ww200/QuantumDave/Rides/IMG_0982.jpg (http://s719.photobucket.com/user/QuantumDave/media/Rides/IMG_0982.jpg.html)
14 & 13/16ths + .010" Just in case it matters this is the '86-7 solid hex axle

Have you got a left '85 hub yet? I have one and a carb I need done but don't think I was fast enough on that one.

[Flyingw]

THAT'S WHAT I GOT!!! Thanks Dave

[Flyingw]

Hey Tri, I just tossed a left fork with the axle and hub still attached. I put a pipe wrench with a 4 foot cheater bar on the axle and it would not break loose. I cut the end of the axle off thinking the hub would slide right off..... NOT!!!! apparently the wheel spacer was also fused to the axle. I tried to disassemble the fork...... NOT!!!! The Allen bolt stripped the head so the whole thing went in to the trash.

[Dave Little]

You're welcome. Sheesh Jim, you're tossing good parts over the side there buddy. I had the same thing happen to me...I was able to save everything but the ellen on the fork and the axle. It was an '85 hollow hex which is not worth a damn anyway so I wasn't heartbroken over it. It took a 7 foot cheater bar and a Starrett vice bolted to an 800lb table and a 20 ton press but I got it and nobody got hurt but just barely. :D

[tri again]

*/1q
DA*&&%.
I just lost a whole page again.

Anyway,
someone posted to use an impact gun, "it'll come apart"
I tried to warn them.
I have 2 sets of forks with busted open alum housings.
Got them that way.
I WAS able to get one loose from the forks but still fused to sleeve/spacers
but spread the forks by MAYbe 25 thousandths and was able to get it out and back on the running trike. By that I mean the whole axle brake hub assembly as one big ugly chunk.

and weasled it onto the trike I needed it for. Pure desperation fix it deal, no class at all.

I walk around everythig with liq wrench periodically incl exhaust studs.

Not really sure what horror movie props are in there but they certainly have their own agenda.

Maybe seasalt from the dunes?
Thanks for the confirmation.

[tri again]

ps
Whats the deal on hex hollow what now?
More horror movie references?

[Dave Little]

No, on the '85 axle the 17mm head is hollowed out and then there is another hole that goes across that through two of the 6 facets. Basically when it's stuck and you really have to put some torque to it, it folds in on itself, complete POS unless it plays nice and comes out clean. '86-7 axle had none of that silliness.

[tri again]

Oh, ok.
Kinda like a trailside, make it easier with no tools kinda idea.

so the newer ones will fit the 85 models?
Kinda like upgrqading from the hollow easter bunny?

[Flyingw]

I've stripped enough trikes in recent years that when I encounter things such as fused axles, I draw a line. I hate tossing serviceable parts but one fork and hub isn't going to occupy allot of my time or effort. This trike I'm working on is covered in corrosion. Most of the fasteners were the wrong one and they were all corroded. I snapped a few off trying to remove them. It started out as a diff rebuild but I saw so many things wrong I decided to tear it down and make it right. I have a spare set of forks and hub so the bad fork only got 30 minutes of my time before condemning it. I got the trike disassembled so now it on to cleaning and painting. I plan on opening the motor up and I hope not to find any redneck crap in there like I did when I tore my mockup motor down.

[Flyingw]

That's the way this axle was Dave. Hollow head and it was all messed up. That's why I put a pipe wrench on it rather than a 17mm and an impact. I have an IR 1/2 impact and it has some pretty good torque but this one was badly corroded.

[Flyingw]

And for all you guys reading this thread. DO NOT super tight your front axles. This statement applies to forks with the pinch blocks. The pinch block retains the axle, not how tight it is. Snug the axle and let the pinch block do its job. A little anti-seize on the treads goes a long way. The book for the SX says 51-80 ft lbs for the front axle but I tend to think that's a little overkill on tension.

[tri again]

I spent months trying to fix (whatever) for hundreds of dollars and then ran across a whole machine for 100 bucks with all the parts I needed.
..more than once actually.
I luckily have a place for future archaeological finds for when parts get really scarce.
I got one sad story 250es. Guy died and the kids left it outside for 5 years, covered in moss and everything else.
Very little usable except for somewhat servicable fenders.
It lived at the beach so salt corrosion made almost everything useless.

[Dave Little]

Oh, ok.
Kinda like a trailside, make it easier with no tools kinda idea.

so the newer ones will fit the 85 models?
Kinda like upgrqading from the hollow easter bunny?

You got it.

Jim, I know how it goes with the tedious surgery of untooefing a machine. I save the OEM parts and put them in a place I call 'the healing wall' Basically a collection of broken parts that you may one day need because they are less broken that what you're running. Sometimes They are good for making jigs, mockups or using in other ways. I wanged a set of upper & lower SX triples badly last time I rode so the top is going to get cut and a gopro boom welded on which will clamp back to one of the forks once again, stuff like that, or just give the stuff away at Trikefest, I'll be doing that if I make it out there this year.

[Flyingw]

Ya I too hold back parts that may not be serviceable for on the trike but if there is some functionality or parts to be recovered later, I'll stick it in my attic. I have a giant bag of destroyed bar controls and even though they don't function as a bar control, the parts that make up the bar control are still useable. Dash parts, engine parts, rubber parts, brackets, bolts and so on. It not until there is no inherent value or use that I will toss the part in the trash.

[Dave Little]

It not until there is no inherent value or use that I will toss the part in the trash.

Same here...a true preservationist!