Originally Posted by
lakeboy
... In looking at the lock nuts, they strike me as overly wide. They are about 7 MM wide, and have an adjustment slot for a cone wrench. It seems like I could get by with a much thinner lock nut, and do not need one with a slot for a cone wrench. Looking at various axle setups on ebay, velobase, etc. I see thinner nuts out there, but I have only found them for front axles. I've checked numerous bike shop web sites, and can only find the 9.5 MM front axle nuts. Does anyone know of a source where I can find a 10 MM 26 TPI lock nut thinner than 7 MM? Anyone have any loose ones in their spare parts bin?
It all seemed so simple when I started. All I wanted was a new freewheel with a couple more teeth.........
Among my loose bits I have one (just one) old-fashioned Campy locknut that is 3.5 mm thick and two Shimano locknuts that are 4.5 and 5 mm thick. All these have six hex wrench flats, not the two-slot cone-wrench type that you have now (and that I have in my hubs in service.) The Shimano nuts are 1-mm thread pitch, not the 26 TPI that Campy uses but they will thread onto a Campy axle without binding because only 4-5 threads are engaged. (I just checked.) Note that Shimano cones, being thicker, will NOT thread on. I can mail them to you if you like, gratis, just p.m. me. With the three thinner locknuts to mix and match with your own 7-mm ones you might be able to put something together. For 7 speeds, you should really try to make it fit in 126 mm. It really helps if you have a drawer full of hub spacers salvaged from years of working on bikes -- you'd be welcome to come over and paw through mine to find a combo that will fit but it is a trial-and-error process for sure.
To help understand why you're having trouble with what seems like a standard Campy hub, I'd like to see a photo of your hub (showing all the spacers installed) and freewheel side by side....but I'll still send you the locknuts anyway.