Hi,

My front wheel hub seems to be abit to big for my forks, is there a way I can get round this?

https://i29.tinypic.com/125gh8m.jpg

Also what is this? and can I get a thinner one, or do I need it... Its a ring with threads

Thanks

Hello KC welcome to the forums. we need a bit more information. what make and model of bike? did this wheel come with it or is it a replacement or upgrade wheel? I believe the pat the arrow is pointing too is the bearinf cone and no you can't get a thinner one.

how much is it off by?

Standard over-locknut width for a front hub is 100mm.

Is it too wide, or is the axle too thick for the slots?

Also I hope that you're not trying to fit the fork over the part the green arrow points to. It fits over the threaded axle and against the black part with the knurled face.

As already posted, with very few exceptions front hubs/forks are 100 mm wide. I've only worked on one that wasn't. If you post what kind of bike it is maybe someone can tell you if it might be one of those rare oddities or if there's something wrong.
Seen a couple more intended for thinner axles though. Dropouts can easily be widened with a file and some attention to detail. You want to remove an equal amount of metal on both sides of the slot.
It might be possible to remove the part that the green arrow is pointing at and then move the outermost part with the knurled face up against the bearing. Knurled side facing out. If you do that, make sure you have enough clearance between hub flange and the fork leg(s).
Ideally you should remove the one on the other side as well, or your wheel will not be properly aligned.
Bike will still be rideable, but might wear tires unevenly and pull a little to one side.
If removing both makes the hub too narrow, you can leave one in and have the wheel redished, but that'd basically be deliberately creating another maladjustment to cope with the first maladjustment.

The axle(the black threaded bit) is the part that should go in the dropouts.

If it's a steel fork it can be spread instead.

While simple in theory it can still be done badly by the unlucky/unwary. By merely pushing the legs apart there's no guarantee that both will bend out in equal amounts. A bit more finesse is recommended.

Thanks for the replies...

The frame is a Peugeot, not really sure of the exact model, I would have thought it was from the 80's ish.

The wheels I have just bought are a replacement set as the originals were in really poor condition. The back replacement wheel fits, which I measured etc before buying them but didn't think to measure the front, stupidly I guess!

Its around 5mm out on the forks which seems alot to bend out, the hub itself fits its the two 'nuts' on sides of the hubs which prevent it from fitting... Particularly the one which is shown by the green arrow (both of those are 5mm each), which is why I was wondering if I can get a slimmer one to go on it maybe

I can't tell for sure but it looks like you have a sealed cartridge bearing hub in your photo. Those things you are pointing to just might be a spacer.

I would recommend remove the locknut from one side and checking to see if that is indeed a spacer or if it is a cone. If it is a spacer and you can find thinner replacements with the same inner and outer diameters then you should be fine.

I also measure the old hub and compare it to the measurments of the new hub. Will the old wheel slide in ok? or perhaps it was forced in and the fork sprung back after it was removed...if this is the case your fork legs may be bent.

-j

I thought it was a spacer to start with but since I'm new to it all I dont really know a great deal about bikes, and that I seemed to think that spacers didn't have threads I started to think it wasn't a spacer.

Heres another picture of it off the hub, hopefully you can tell me exactly what it is : - https://tinypic.com/r/2pphv6s/3

I'm hoping its a spacer so I can replace it with a smaller one, I wanted to make sure just incase I got rid of it and it was needed.

Also the orginal hub slipped in and out of the forks fine, so not bent thankfully!

No; you need that part. It sets the preload on the bearing cartridge. Without it you will likely destroy the bearings in short order.

So what do you think I can do to get around this? Can I get a slimmer one of these?

If you mean the outside nuts are (too) wide to fit into the fork, the only way (around) it with that hub as is would be to spread the forks apart - not usually an easy task. That looks like a fairly high quality sealed/cartridge bearing hub. You cannot change the part you are pointing to and the changing the outer nut would be a shame, as you would be putting on a thinner, lower strength replacement. This is an example of having to be very careful when considering changing or swapping parts on a bike, as there are many factors to consider.

It's not only a ring, it's threaded and it has wrench flats. Come to think of it it looks like the outer bit with the knurled surface also has wrench flats. You shouldn't have messed with those, because as JohnDthompson states, it sets(or rather -limits) the bearing preload(together with the knurled outer one). Get it wrong, and the bearings can fail in no time - depending on what the hub looks like internally.
If you find a bike store with a decent amount of grotty boxes in the back they might be able to replace both your inner and outer locknuts with plain steel ones from a regular cup & cone hub, which should slim it down a little.

You have two options:

1) Get a different hub, with the spacing you need.

2) Spread the blades so the hub fits.

If you can find something similar with the same outside diameter that has the same threading but is overall thinner there is absolutely no reason why you can not swap those spacers out. You can set the pre-load just fine with a thinner spacer/nut just make sure it lines up with the cartridge bearing in the same fashion as the ones that came with the hub.

Measure the distance between the inside faces of the fork dropouts and measure the distance between the outside faces of the locknuts on your hub. Subtract the two distances and divide by two to figure out how thick/thin the threaded spacers need to be.

Good luck.

-j

The standard front wheel and fork spacing is 100 mm but I believe there were quite a few 90 mm and 95 mm spaced forks and hubs in the past, The OP's bike may be one of these.

Then to find out if this is the case the question should be asked in the C&V forum to find out if this model of Peugeot is one of those rare birds.

It also brings up the idea of just cold setting (carefully bending with lots of measurements to ensure the legs stay centered) the fork legs to open the spacing up to accept a regular modern wheel. Instead of trying to find or fiddle around with special spacers or bearing cones it seems like this would be a far better long term solution.