what happened?
 

I took my old Schwinn Varsity apart awhile back and I finally have the time to put it back together. The problem i am having is that the rear wheel will not go on. I do not remember having any problems getting it off of the bike, but im not sure. When trying to put the rear wheel on, i have to stretch the stays out and i can get almost enough to get the wheel on, but I'm still coming up just a bit short. Does anyone else have this problem with a bike? If so, should i widen the stays? I have read on Sheldon Brown to do this, i would just have to look it up again. Any advice would be awesome.
Thanks
Brew

Short I am reading is the width is not enough. Things to check, is the rear hub axle assembled correctly? You did not mention if this was serviced., check its overall width, locknut to locknut, if anything so you will know how much to "move", should be 120mm, measure inside of the axle/frame nuts and washers. Could it have been stepped on while apart? The Sheldon Brown site does a reasonable job ot explaining things, so since it is not a high value frame go forward, just test, don't guess.

Sometime while the wheel was off the frame got binked. Un-bink it with some leverage.

1. Clamp the bottom bracket shell in a vise. Crank's gotta come out.

2. Run a piece of string from one dropout around the headtube and back to the other dropout.

3. Observe the spaces between the string and the seat tube. The side that's closer has to come out.

4. Place about a four foot 2X4 inside the dropout that has to come out and outside the seat tube.

5. Apply a modest force--shouldn't take much--and stop after a millimeter or two.

6. Check your wheel fit.

7. Check your string.

Repeat 4-7 as necessary. Don't sweat it too much--it's just a gas pipe Schwinn!

Later

Mel

Before you make changes to the frame, do you have any washers (or nuts) on the axle that belong outside the dropouts that are now inside the dropouts?

Kudos to roccobike. He's afflicted with common sense!

hey, thanks for the replies guys, i will check the spacing on the dropouts. and try the string method. I did service the hub, but i always mark the axle so i can get as close to back to center as possible. so that shouldnt have changed, but i will measure it to be sure. my first worry was that one of my jackass friends stepped on the frame while it was laying in my dining room. im just hoping that that is not the case