Rear nuts - what torque?

[alfa145uk]

On my mountain bike, I noticed a bit of side to side wobble in the rear wheel, so whipped it off and quickly discovered the nuts on the rear axle were quite loose. I did them up by hand and that was enough to get me back, but what torque should they be done up to?

Sorry I don't know the right term for them, and can't find a suitable diagram of them. They are the most outboard nut on each side of the axle, and where the frame would clamp against them being held in by the quick release.

[snotrag]

Thats not the correct way to set them up.


You have a 'cup and cone' bearing rear hub.

Look up on Park tools or Sheldon Brown how to properly service your hubs.

You will need a minimum of 2 cone spanners, size dependant on brand of hub but often 14/15/16/17mm.

[HRG.]

Spin the wheel, nip them up till they just bite then back off a fraction, job done

[mchammer89]

HRG. said:

Spin the wheel, nip them up till they just bite then back off a fraction, job done

+1

Not sure if it's the Sheldon way to do it or not but it's the one that makes the most sense to me.

[alfa145uk]

Thanks chaps now I've had a chance to look at it in the light I can see how it works, and tightening the nuts too tightly stops the wheel from spinning as freely as it should. Also the quick release tightens it up slightly more.

So I put them back to where they were - the quick finger tight adjustment done in the dark worked perfectly!