NebbyStar

Boy am I embarrassed. I was putting my rear tire on my Trek 850 Mountaintrack in a hurry (and lack of daylight) and I forgot allll about my chain (Shame on me). So I go back to take the tire off to get everything in order, and on each side of the axle the lock and the plastic cap were completely stuck. I even asked two large, muscular fellas to try to help me. Nope. They couldn't get them off as well. I'm pretty sure the axle was a greasy mess too when I put them back on. We used everything from wrenches, a hammer, to melting the plastic cap off (doh)! I'm not sure if the axle is bent, I put them on too tight or of a thread is worn on each side. I tried using the lock and pulling it open and spinning it and it was so stuck on it broke off. I'm not close to a bike kitchen or shop, I was wondering I'll need a certain tool, a vise grip? Or should I just take it to a local bike shop? Here's some pictures, as attached. My partner thinks I should just give up and get rid of the bike, but it's one of my favorites.

dedhed

Seeing as it's toast anyway, I'd take Dremel with a cutoff wheel to the nut side.

dabac

Thats quite an impressive mess you've made of things. Do you know how a quick-release skewer is supposed to work?
Anyhow, with the lever broken off, that ship has sailed. Me, I'd grab the cylindric thing on the left pic and the base of the lever with vise grips and/or pipe wrenches and just unscrew the thing. Or take a hacksaw to what's left of the lever base.
No need to give up on a bike merely for a busted q/r.

NebbyStar

Uggh it appears there's a little spring that's crookedly jammed inside of that round part in the left pic and I think that may have been the cause for it having gotten so stuck. I'll go with the vise grips and pipe wrench first before I head to the shop and buy a new quick release.

corrado33

Super simple, you have plenty of room to cut off the thing in the left pic with a dremel. Cut parallel to the axle, eventually cutting all of the way through the "nut". Then you'll be able to spread it with a screwdriver (or similar) and pull it off. If you do it well enough you can even save the threads on the axle.

AnkleWork

Old saying: "When you find yourself at the bottom of a deep, dark hole, drop the shovel." You should drop the tools.

If you go to a bike shop to buy a replacement skewer (new or used), ask them to remove the old one and demonstrate proper operation of the replacement.

cale

Read my signature!

Okay, I wrote that for me but all the same, he's got a point, maybe stepping away from the project would make the best sense.

NebbyStar

We got it off, got a good ol' Home Depot Husky vise grip and a few turns, it came right off the axle looks fine, threads are fine. What happened was as I expected, the spring inside was all crooked and jammed up. I'll just have to hit the bike shop now to get a new quick release. Thanks for your help everyone!

cale

I guess that means Champagne! And caviar!

spdracr39

And on a side note you might consider cleaning you cassette periodically. That thing is NASTY

Dave Cutter

I think we should all celebrate!
Sometimes I think I am the only one that notices that stuff.

NebbyStar

This bike was a recent garage sale find, hence I'm replacing the tires. What's a cassette? Other than what we use to make mix tapes with in the 80's?

cale

Haha. You're right. After the cassette tape came the cassette gears. The cassette is the collection of cogs (some connected and others separate) that resides in place of a freewheel on the rear wheel.

Your find probably has a freewheel.

on the path

Awesome..