wheel hubs

#1
What I am looking for is an all purpose hub. One that will accept sprockets, wheels and brakes. Be way cool if the width was adjustable. Would really like to have a front brake on the Jimmy Gote and replace the rear hub at some point. I do not have access, yet, to a lathe. I do have some ideas on how to make a kit, but requires lathe work. The wheel hubs I see do not lend themselves to custom applications. I went with a go cart axle stuff on mine. Works, but what a pain to tear apart, and keep all the set screws tight. Any ideas? I did a search here and did not come up wit much.
 
#2
Hi Jim,
From what I have seen readily available, those set ups are found in the "pit bike" wheels. A thought that may make your engineering easier is to consider a miniature axle system, since the components to facilitate brake and sprocket installation are readily available for 1" and 1.25" axles.

I've seen spacers used in applications like this, but a sprocket, and especially a juice brake are going to put a lot of torque on anything. The weight of the bike and rider having the most impact on this.

Adjustability in hubs has always been around in the karting world with spacers. Even the old Rupp Dart wheels have spacers of varying thickness for sale on ebay regularly.
 
#3
I did the 1" cart axle thing for my last build. Was easy to adjust, but man, a lot of set screws, and a real bear to take apart. I thought of welding everything together, but as built I need to pull the axle to remove the wheel. I was thinking of a tube that was over long, so to be cut to length, machined inside for a bearing, then slip on hubs, weldable, for sprocket, brake and wheel. Then a cut to length spacer for the center of the tube to hold the bearings in place. I don't know how close everything needs to be. Within 50-100 thou? How much out of round on a rotor before it's a problem? Most of these bikes will never seen much over 40mph, so automotive specs are a bit overkill. Wonder if someone made a cut to fit kit if it would sell? Not a huge market.
 
#4
I did the 1" cart axle thing for my last build. Was easy to adjust, but man, a lot of set screws, and a real bear to take apart.
Two set screws? Plus whatever hardware to hold a brake or sprocket to a hub. Some of the available hubs now are pretty nice, billet, and inexpensive. Here's the hub I used on both my brake drum and sprocket on the other side. There are disc rotors available, and a myriad number of sprockets. Uses a single clamp on each with key. This is one of several styles out there.

 
#5
I have 3 hubs, one for wheel, brake and sprocket. Each has 2 screws. I am using flange bearings (2) each have 2 screws. As overkill I added split spacers to make sure nothing moved, maybe not needed but I had them, each has 2 screws. So I ended up with I think 12 screws. All add a ding in the axle, making removal a bit of a chore. Your pic looks real clean. What holds the axle from shifting side to side? Using 3 hubs for brake, wheel, sprocket? I used flange bearings for price and ease of availability, but really not ideal. I was afraid of standard mini bike jack shaft bearings because of the larger motor, 13 hp and the amount of weight I was planning on the bike hauling. 5-700lbs.
 
#6
The bearings are encapsulated in flanges, and locked down to the axle. The flanges are bolted to the frame via hangers. A better example for your purposes Jim might be in the drag mini bikes that incorporate this exact method. It is the same as with the karts.

These systems hold up for high speed, high load situations. The karts especially in turns place huge lateral forces on the bearings/hangers.

The downside of course is the amount of room it takes to cram all of this between axle mounts on a bike, and the number of interlocking components. You're trying to get away from this, but unless you are going to machine your own hub, what I propose is the only option I know of, outside of what you've already done. (and commercially available bike hubs)

All set screws for bearings are set into the axle with drilled divots and installed with Loctite of course.
 
#7
I did not drill the divots, I will next time I pull it apart. I did slather never seize on the axle in hopes it would not rust. then lock tight and lock nuts on set screws. hopefully the never seize doesn't screw with the lock tite. Yup I am hoping for a cleaner look. Was thinking of a kit. I think it would be very doable. But at what cost and selling to a limited market, not sure it's worth the effort. Maybe one day when I get a lathe I can play.
 

brown boonie

JUST REMEMBER-EXPECT IT WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT!
#8
phil1958 has a lathe and does some work. i know he is busy with his other job but may be able to help. can always go to harbor freight and get a lathe there if you want to try without a huge $$ lay out. may be accurate enough for what you want to do.
 
#9
phil1958 has a lathe and does some work. i know he is busy with his other job but may be able to help. can always go to harbor freight and get a lathe there if you want to try without a huge $$ lay out. may be accurate enough for what you want to do.
I been looking at old Craftsman/Atlas lathes. Hopefully this next year I will have some time and money to spare. This last year has been ate up going thru probate, lawsuit, remodel. I was named in a will that had a few,, ummm issues. I think I paid to put at least one lawyer's kid thru college.
 
Top