Converting from solid axle to hollow (QR) axle?
 

My new bike has solid axles front and rear. Not a big deal, except that I have a Nashbar trailer that uses a through axle skewer to attach to the bike. The trailer uses ball-detent pins to fasten ball & socket joints to each side of the axle.

Are there replacement QR axles that could just be swapped into the existing hubs?

A local machinist has guesstimated that he would charge between $50 - $100 to make attachments that would thread onto the solid axle.

You should be able to convert to a QR hub. You will one long enough to fit in the dropouts and i'm guessing you will need a good steel quick release.

If it requires a QR hub, wouldn't that entail rebuilding the wheel? (The trailer includes the extra-long, double-threaded skewer.)

You should be able to just swap the axles. No need to re-spoke or anything like that. There are some hubs with non-regular shaped axles but if it has solid axles now it's almost certainly nothing special. You'll need to make sure the threads on the replacement axle are the same as the one you have now. You also need to get the right length axle and it will be shorter than your current axle since it needs to sit flush with the frame so the QR can clamp over it. You'll also need cone wrenches to do the swap. If you want I bet your LBS would be able to do the job for $20 or so.

I just did the reverse and put a solid axle on the rear of my wife's Cross Check to make sure that it would never slip. It was a simple as unthreading the axle, threading the new one in, and getting it nice and centered with the cone nuts tight. You just have to be careful to keep the parts and pieces in order and not loose any bearings. Don't forget to buy some skewers and maybe some flat cone wrenches as well. I got my stuff from JensonUSA:

http://www.jensonusa.com/store/sub/1...0&pricemax=300

I believe Shimano standard thread is 10mm x 1 thread/mm. You will need to figure out exactly how wide you drop out is with the wheel installed and tightened and also how thick the drop out is in order to find the correct length. From Sheldon Brown/Harris:

"Hollow axles for quick release skewers are usually 11 mm longer than the hub/frame spacing, so that 5.5 mm of axle sticks out past the ends of the locknuts"

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/axles.html

+1 This is not a difficult or expensive procedure UNLESS you have cartridge bearing hubs, in which case swapping the axles may be impossible/very difficult. Swapping axles on a loose ball (cup-and-cone) hub is very simple. Any decent LBS should have axles with cones and locknuts as a complete set for under $10. Then of course the QR skewer. This entails nothing more than a hub overhaul. http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/hubs.html

A properly tightened steel enclosed-cam skewer will never slip either... Just sayin'

She originally had an external cam that slipped. We just swapped skewers around between bikes to get her an internal cam. In a few rides it never slipped but we changed the axle just for piece of mind.

[QUOTE=FastJake;13506715 Any decent LBS should have axles with cones and locknuts as a complete set for under $10. Then of course the QR skewer. [/QUOTE]

I doubt it's going to be that easy.

The trick is to find the right axle. Most solid axles have a different thread pitch than most hollow axles. You'll definitely want to keep the same cones and locknuts because finding replacement cones to fit your solid axle hub's dust cover is an exercise in frustration. Hollow axles with the right thread pitch to fit your cones are available, but you might have to look for them.

The next issue is axle length. It has to be long enough to nest in your bike frame's dropouts but short enough to not extend beyond your dropouts AT ALL. Some lower end bikes have pretty skinny dropouts so you'll probably have to trim your new axle to get the perfect fit that's required.

Assuming you have horizontal dropouts, I strongly strongly recommend holding out for a genuine Shimano (or Campy) quick release skewer. They're not that much more expensive or hard to find and they really do clamp a lot more tightly.

If you're planning to QR the front wheel too, take a close look at the axle first. Some nutted front hubs use a smaller diameter axle which makes conversion to QR a lot more complicated.

The skewer is not a problem. The attachment system for the Nashbar trailer uses a skewer they provide. The skewer is threaded on each end and the attachment sleeves are essentially oversized bolts, not QR.

My LBS said that they couldn't do it. (Probably "wouldn't" is more accurate)
I'm thinking of trying to do it myself, using Harris Cyclery as the resource for parts and help. The downside there is that I will have to take it apart to find out what I need, then order/wait for the parts and then hope I can figure it out in time to remember how to ride... It would be a little better if we didn't live someplace where we can ride pretty much year around.

I'm thinking Harris would be an excellent choice because they've carved out a nitch market doing this kind of thing. Most LBS aren't geared up for this kind of project so it takes them way too much time to be profitable.

Carefully measure the distance between your rear dropouts in millimeters. Call Harris with that dimension and tell them exactly what you're up to. My bet is they'll be able to provide you with a replacement axle, that has the right thread pitch, fairly reasonably.

You shouldn't have to take your hub apart until the new axle arrives.

Oddly, a good internal cam quick release, if used properly, is actually more secure than nutted axles.