I had the tire & tube off of a 26" MB rim for a tire replacement. While at it, I decided to polish out the deep brake/dirt scratches on the rim. I then noticed two wobbles in it and decided to remove them.
That's where the trouble started.
Working on the sprocket side of the rear wheel first, and being a guitar player, I plucked the spokes for pitch. Pretty 'out of tune'. So I picked one, marked it and proceeded to 'tune' the others on the same side to a similiar pitch, then do the other side.
Big Mistake.
First I got righty-tighty lefty-loosey mixed up because I was looking from the opposite direction. It's easy to do and wheels do go round-'n-round. Finally got straight on that one.
Fortunately, I never made it to the opposite side as one spin showed I'd really botched it already. It was rather scary. So bad that 'middle of the rim' was now hard to find.
@#$%! Now what?
Youtube to the rescue!
I spent about 40 min. watching wheel-truing-videos, realizing that if I'd done this FIRST I'd of saved time and avoided much frustration. Lesson learned. So much for my musical spoke theory...
I removed the rubber ring that separates the nipples from the tube, and noticed it's much easier to gauge spoke tension this way. Though none were sticking out of the nipple, I loosened those that were too tight and tightened a few that were too loose. First though, I went around a put a small drop of chain oil on both sides of each nipple to make adjustment easier on this 17yr old wheel.
The wobble was now less, which was a good sign. Lacking a truing stand, I turned the rear brake pads around so that the metal studs were now pointing at the tire and moved them into position to use as references.
I started on the non-driven wheel side, found the first 'hump' to the left, marked the section with chalk, and tightened the opposite spoke(s) 1/2 turn and loosened the near spokes the same amount. Much better. I had three bad 'wobbles' to the left and managed to tame each. First with 1/2 turns, then 1/4, then 1/8. Then I grabbed sets of parallel spokes and squeezed hard to free up any binding. Then repeated for the other side.
Next, I tweaked out the wobbles on the driven side using the same procedure. The wheel looked much better! Boy, was I relieved.
To fine tune it, I needed something that would extend closer to the wheel than the brake pad studs. I used two wooden popsicle sticks with spring clamps to attach them to the frame. The rounded tips make it easier to see just where the humps are.
So I started again, this time only tightening the opposite nipple, not loosening the close one. Using 1/8 & 1/16 turns and less. Moving the sticks closer & closer to the wheel until they actually touched. It's an iterative process from one side to the other, then back again. Smaller & smaller adjustments.
I was able to get the wheel to within 1/2mm. I could have gotten out the dial indicator, but thats a bit fussy. I was just very relieved to have resurrected my previously botched work!
I squeezed the parallel spokes on both sides again, made a few adjustments, re-tired and went for a ride.
No spoke popping, no wobble, no humps either! It remained aligned even with my weight on it and really torquing the wheel. This was my first time to attempt wheel truing with the tire off. I'd previously made a wobble worse, with the tire on by getting righty/lefty mixed up with the spoke wrench. Live & learn.
Thanks for reading.
That's where the trouble started.
Working on the sprocket side of the rear wheel first, and being a guitar player, I plucked the spokes for pitch. Pretty 'out of tune'. So I picked one, marked it and proceeded to 'tune' the others on the same side to a similiar pitch, then do the other side.
Big Mistake.
First I got righty-tighty lefty-loosey mixed up because I was looking from the opposite direction. It's easy to do and wheels do go round-'n-round. Finally got straight on that one.
Fortunately, I never made it to the opposite side as one spin showed I'd really botched it already. It was rather scary. So bad that 'middle of the rim' was now hard to find.
@#$%! Now what?
Youtube to the rescue!
I spent about 40 min. watching wheel-truing-videos, realizing that if I'd done this FIRST I'd of saved time and avoided much frustration. Lesson learned. So much for my musical spoke theory...
I removed the rubber ring that separates the nipples from the tube, and noticed it's much easier to gauge spoke tension this way. Though none were sticking out of the nipple, I loosened those that were too tight and tightened a few that were too loose. First though, I went around a put a small drop of chain oil on both sides of each nipple to make adjustment easier on this 17yr old wheel.
The wobble was now less, which was a good sign. Lacking a truing stand, I turned the rear brake pads around so that the metal studs were now pointing at the tire and moved them into position to use as references.
I started on the non-driven wheel side, found the first 'hump' to the left, marked the section with chalk, and tightened the opposite spoke(s) 1/2 turn and loosened the near spokes the same amount. Much better. I had three bad 'wobbles' to the left and managed to tame each. First with 1/2 turns, then 1/4, then 1/8. Then I grabbed sets of parallel spokes and squeezed hard to free up any binding. Then repeated for the other side.
Next, I tweaked out the wobbles on the driven side using the same procedure. The wheel looked much better! Boy, was I relieved.
To fine tune it, I needed something that would extend closer to the wheel than the brake pad studs. I used two wooden popsicle sticks with spring clamps to attach them to the frame. The rounded tips make it easier to see just where the humps are.
So I started again, this time only tightening the opposite nipple, not loosening the close one. Using 1/8 & 1/16 turns and less. Moving the sticks closer & closer to the wheel until they actually touched. It's an iterative process from one side to the other, then back again. Smaller & smaller adjustments.
I was able to get the wheel to within 1/2mm. I could have gotten out the dial indicator, but thats a bit fussy. I was just very relieved to have resurrected my previously botched work!
I squeezed the parallel spokes on both sides again, made a few adjustments, re-tired and went for a ride.
No spoke popping, no wobble, no humps either! It remained aligned even with my weight on it and really torquing the wheel. This was my first time to attempt wheel truing with the tire off. I'd previously made a wobble worse, with the tire on by getting righty/lefty mixed up with the spoke wrench. Live & learn.
Thanks for reading.