Don't put any more torque on the axle that is recommended.....it will not do anything to reduce the wobble.  Once the axle is tight and all the play is taken out of the spacers and bearings.....more torque won't change the clearances any.

Since this thread was posted I have learned a lot about the rear hub design.  Unfortunately the only thing that is keeping the rear hub in alignment is the ball bearing in the pulley hub.  When new the bearing doesn't allow much wobble - but the bearing quickly wears and begins to have play and allow the wobble.  A new pulley hub bearing will reduce the amount of wobble for a while - but it will come back before too long.

The easiest fix is to cut some rubber carpet runner, floor mat or mud flap and install it between the rubber cushions and pulley hub. You can put a dab of silicone on them to hold them in place during assembly.


As I got more involved in this, I discovered that the pulley hub does slide into the wheel hub - but for some reason the parts are loose fitting and it does not provide any support.  I machined a bushing from brass so that the fit is closer, and it eliminates the pulley wobble entirely.



I have been riding on this modified hub for a year now, and it works fine.  If you have access to a lathe (or someone that does), this is a good fix.

Nice Fix Dave! Yeah I have no machining equipment and a tiny bit of experience machining. I did just change the sprocket bearing and rubber seal, but noticed the play after. I retorqued it to 55 fr lbs which is still far from the end limit, as the troque specs for rear axle is 40-65, and you are right it didnt do much. What i did notice though is that when i sat on the bike and checked for play, it was gone. I think the looser belt tension from ryca belt adjustment contributed to the play. Another thing I noticed were some rough edges and one small dent 2mm dent on the part that you moded with brass. I filed the end off to make it smooth again and checked it with the old bearing. The inner bearing race still sat flush top of it.

What's  the thickness you used for the runner Dave?

I didn't end up replacing the rubber triangles I ended up cutting up pieces of old tire tube and stuffing it in there and there's no play at all now

I measured the floor runner that I used.  It is 2mm thick....about 1/16", or as another has indicated an inner tube is similar.

I used the floor/carpet runner that you get by the foot from Lowe's or Home Depot,.  It was leftover from what I bought to put on top of my file cabinets at work.  It could be black vinyl...I really don't know what it is made from.

You just need something durable to take up some of the slack, and something that is a bit compressible.  If it is not very rugged.....it will disintegrate and fall apart.

HighME32 wrote on 12/22/14 at 17:43:53:


I have no idea....it is inside the rear wheel and all bolted together.  I just machined a piece of brass to be a close fit to the hole in the wheel hub that the wheel bearing slides into.