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A tip for the viewer. Leave a tiny bit of play because when the wheel is clamped in the frame that compresses the hub and takes out that residual play. The result is a wheel that spins very smoothly.

Thank You for the great videos. NO playing around just straight technical knowledge that you can use. Thanks also for the home made tool videos. I was going to buy the Park head tube bearing press but I made one myself and it works great. You saved me quite a bit of money. I just discovered your videos and look forward to watching them all.

Super thankful for this video. I was trying to clean the freewheel on my daughter's bike and decided to remove the axle and clean in there, too. I didn't realize the bearings were not sealed and out they came. Had a heck of a time figuring out how to get it all back together. If not for this vid, I would have had a very disappointed little girl in the morning and probably a repair bill from a bike shop.

If only I'd watched this before I started trying to figure it out for myself. I got there in the end though and thanks again.

Hey RJ! I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge in your videos. It's invaluable! One thing H.S. Army ROTC taught me that I really appreciate to this day is that when field stripping a rifle (or bike axle for that matter,) as the parts come off, put them down in front of you beginning at the left and part by part work your way to the right. To reassemble the assembly, reverse your steps beginning at the rightmost part and work your way to the left. You will never get the parts out of order.

Thank you a lot. It takes a while to have it tightened just right (not too loose not too tight) It is a while since wanted to replace the rear solid axle by a quick release one, and all shops I went to ask they were saying 'not possible, you should change the wheel. It will be around 50 eur'. I was almost 100% sure it was possible, and here it is! .Done already!

Simple step by step guide.Thank you.

This video really helped RJ! My bike dude said it was going to be a while.. I order the axle 2.5 weeks to get then I watched your video and 1.5 hours later it was back in my bike. Again thanks for your help!

Man this is the BEST helping video on youtube in my opinion. Thanks this is exactly what i need!

Saved me from wasting the whole day trying to fix an axel. You also saved my marriage!

Had a little trouble adjusting it at the end but I took the washers off the old axle and it spaced out. She rides again. Thank you for this video

Thank you, this is still helping people 9 years later! I broke my rear axle after a few thousand miles, but I had a spare axle and bearings from my old rear wheel, which had a damaged rim that I kept for spares. (same model) I was having difficulty figuring out how to swap the axles around, and didn't know I needed a special cone spanner - Fortunately my slim pedal spanner was the exact right size! Reinserting the ball bearings using just gloved fingers (8 each side on my wheels, apparently) was a test of my dexterity and patience - But with a lot of extra replacement grease (applied with a lolly stick! No fancy tools here!), it now runs smoother than when I got it. Fine tuning the cone and nut so that the wheel turns smoothly without any play was a balancing act.

2022!!!!! Your videos are still useful. Helps me a lot.

you just saved me 70$ thank you soo much!

thank you so much! literally the only video I could find about replacing a quick-release axle (one that has a hole going through it).

Great video! My axle broke and i couldnt find a new free wheel with disc brakes. Thanks to this video i ended up just replacing the axle :D

thanks pal.. ran back and forth to bike shops today fixing my issue. workhorse is back on its feet

The bearings look nice and cozy! 8:38

I've just stripped down my rear axle as it was very bent, probably due to me being 100kg lol. Your video is incredibly helpful as I wasn't paying attention too good, now I'll be back riding very soon 👍🏼

I did that a couple times with the rear axle on the KIA BMX bike I had back when I was a kid in the 80s. The rear axle got stripped once from changing flats a lot. And the second time the axle got bent from too much ramp and bump jumping. It was fun being it was a coaster brake too. I also modified the coaster brake to be a free wheel and added a rear hand brake to the bike. It worked better with the hand brake. I forgot to add that I also snapped off the quill neck on it too doing a big hill jump on a homemade BMX track in the woods near where I lived back then. The quill neck got replaced with a four bolt double clamp type BMX neck and a new set of BMX handle bars to match the neck mounts.

Nice detailed video, awesome job.

RJ gives better details than Park Tool site..👍..

Great videos by you . Love from India 🌼

Thanks for sharing RJ. I really learn a lot from you channel. keep the video coming! subscribed.

Very educational! Thank you.

Thanks for making this video! It really helped me out

REally good vid. Thank you.

most excellent advise sir thank you

I found this really useful, liked and subbed

dude you are top notch, you corrected all the bullshit I was about to do right before I did it, thank you!

Excellent tutorial,thanks👍

Really nice , hope to have a mechanic like you .😜

Just what I am looking. I am encountering the challenge of balancing the tightness and stiffness as you mentioned at 10.05; damn is it tough.

Thank for a nice how-to!

thank you for the videos very helpful .

Wheels Manufacturring make a 4130 steel (cro-moly) solid axle. Really strong. I put one in a teen's mountain bike after he broke the rear axle. No problems with the new axle... And the kid is really hard on bikes.

Thanks for the help!

my axel didn't just bend, it snapped in half. I wasn't doing any wacky tricks or anything, it was just old.

Thank you. Help me out replacing my axle

Nice how to vid! 🤘

Thanks RJ. I have a Schwinn bike with a solid bolt axle and nowhere else could I find how to replace it since everything is quick release.

Hi RJ, First of all, thanks for the great videos. I like your channel, I always go back to your videos before servicing any part in my bike. That bieng said, I have a question somehow related to this video. I have bolt on wheels on my GMC Denali bike and I want to change it to quick release. What axle length should I look for? and My current cups are slightly smaller in diameter than the wheel hub opening. BTW, the bike has a freewheel.

Hey RJ, excellent video! Im looking to install pegs on my trekking bicycle. I need to replace my 10mm rear axle with a longer one, is that possible ? You should do a video on pegs ! maybe it is of interest to a lot of people, for me certainly !

Man I am just loving your videos lately, I’ve been watching your back catalogue. It’s a shame you don’t make videos more frequently. What happened with those bikes you bought a while ago?

Thx RJ! Always making it look so easy. I’m trying to see if I can change out or adjust a fixed wheel hub to fit properly on an older specialized Allez circa early 80’s. (Cable guides for derailleurs on top side of bb Also debating if I should grind them off once fully disassembled before a repaint). I’ve watched a bunch of your videos, always a pleasure, and figure it’s time to get hands on. Apparently the rear spacing on bike is 125mm and standard size fixed rear wheels is 120mm. I’ve seen you cold set steel frames to wider spacing but instead of cold ‘squeezing’ the bugger smaller I thought maybe to see about modifying the wheel if possible. An additional 5mm might just be accomplished by utilizing spacers I was thinking but need to leave enough threads to safely accept track nuts. I’m about to find out and learn a lil sumpn’. Anybody else wanna throw in a nickel (might need a smidge more than two cents) it’s welcome. Aloha from HI!

Ur my hero!

very good video

Thank you so much!

Brilliant! Thank you.👍

I got an older 2005 Giant Boulder Se 21" frame. Got a new rear axle from my local bike shop for $4. My axle has these super tiny bearings and the bigger ones.

Perfect thank you

Hey RJ. I didn't see you do it here but when adjusting a q/r hub don't you usually compensate for axle compression by giving the bearings a small degree of clearance?

u are really amazing thank you so much

Hey what's up dude alwaya doing a good job fixing bike's

when you break that nut loose, at 2 minutes, put the moving (top) wrench just opposite where you had it, then grasp both wrenches with one hand and squeeze the nut loose....no more broken knuckles, you are welcome, and thanks for the straight forward video

RJ..this video gave me what I needed, but you might consider (I searched but didn't find anything) a video showing how to replace a 130mm hub axle to run in 135mm rear dropouts. There is a very slim selection of decent 135mm rear-hub, rim brake, wheels (wheelsets) available. After considerable searching I picked up a 100mm front, 130mm rear wheelset and will need to swap out the Axle-03(141mm) with the longer Axel-04(146mm). Maybe a video covering various ways to adapt commonly available wheelsets with older, non-current-standard rear dropout widths?? Overall THANK YOU for your videos..excllent quality that have saved me a ton of time and money.

Makes sense, thank you

Thanks mr.

Probably the best..👍

super work man i wish you lived near me ! thanks

great video, but i figured out how to very crudely straighted the axle out and saved some money :)

I just hammered it straight!

i found mine had totally snapped in half while just removing my wheel to clean my bike. could have been snapped for a long time

Hey RJ, thanks for the advice but I was wondering what exactly causes the axle to be bent or broken. I've had two axles break on me in the middle of my rides. Is it because of riding too hard and on bad roads / surfaces or because freewheels on older bikes without a freehub allow for more tourque on an axle overtime.

Very helpful

I dought thats old! Good job! Lmao! This did somthing! Again, grateful, very! Anyway I still need the parts

Great video. I already knew how to do it, but I was really interested on the bent axle. Do you know how the axle was bent? Really curious.. I have never had a bent axle. hum, 10$? I can get a chromoly one for 7$, from the uk, ith cones, and a non name like that for 3.50$ (from china). I went once to a local store for a couple of cones, and yes, they charged me a lot also, more than the full kit online. Note: big stores are also cheap, but I don't consider them local.

Haven't properly had a look on this problem but have you ever had something like knacking noise coming from the rear around the freewheel and axle? It's weird problem and only happens from third gear upwards (5 speed fw) and only when pedaling.

Interesting fact, this was the very first video where Rob said "Hey Viewers" hahah

Much appreciated

Thank you Bro🥰🥰🥰

thank you

does it have to be a blue grease? sorry for the dumb question.. or does any kind of grease will do for the ball bearings?

thank you man

Hey RJ, How do you adjust the axle if you dont know how many threads are exposed on each side? I have this problem. When I put the wheel on the bike its not in the right spot so the one of the v-brake arms is to far out so the brake pad wont reach the wheel, and the other one presses on the wheel all the time. I tried to fix it by adjusting cones and locknuts many times but I failed. Its a rear wheel with freewheel mounted to the frame with two nuts.

If the axle had a hex hole at the end you could put an allen key in it so when you tried to tighten the lock nut it'd give you more control over which nut you were tightening down.

That thin 15mm bearing race/cone tool you have is very important and one that will last and not twist and bend is hard to find. I try not to use adjustables anywhere as they tend to chew on nuts under heavy stress. If one can't find the right axle in a reasonable time, how safe is it to unbend the one you have, harden it again on fire and water bucket, and reusing it till a replacement appears? I've done it, found the replacement, but waited for it to bend again. Finally I replaced the whole wheel (conversion) and the axle was still straight.

Thank you!!

What is most common nuts for bicycle wheels? I wanted to purchase just 1 cone wrench , would it be 14 mm?

Hi RJ, I have a question. I got BMX frame with 14mm droput and my wheelset is using 10mm axle. Is it possible to put my 10mm axle to 14mm dropout? Thx.

Thanks...

hello RJ, my axle is fine but skewer is slightly bent about 5 to 10 degrees at the threaded side. do I have to change it or use it without worrying? does it damage the axle in the long run?

Are all axle's the same? or does every brand have a different axle?

2 biggest reasons of bent axles are: 1 - using QR shaft 2 - using freewheel rear sprocket.

my axle is 145mm and I ordered a 143mm axle.. do you think there's that much difference?

Hi thanks!! very useful, but, my axle has a chronic problem, I don't have idea why I change it and in a month or two again... the axle is curve... do you have any idea why it happens? (sorry about my English)

Could you put a longer axle onto a hub as long as you use the nuts and washers already on the hub

Where did you get the grease gun ive been looking for one that will do bike grease? Any tips?

Can you replace a 3/8” threaded axle with a M9 threaded axle going through the same hub? The problem i have is i bought these new wheels but the axle doesnt fit in fork dropouts. They’re like a mm too thick. Its a carbon fork so bending it probably isnt a good idea. I thought of taking a Dremel to the metal part of the dropouts but id rather not. Any advice?

What size is the axel nuts on your bike?

My bike has been un rideable for months now. THIS is apparently the reason (I knew what it was but I thought it was more complicated). Thanks but I don't have all my bearings and IDK if bike shops in my country sell axls and bearing separately.

Why is my bicycle's rear axle always breaking. Its a new bicycle i bought and its the 3rd time I've swapped the bent rear axle. How can i fix it to never break again

Hey, thanks for the great video! I have the same problem in my rear axle, but i can`t find a repllacement axle. can you help me with a link? TKS

If you don’t have the old axle to measure the distances how do you determine the correct width of the spacers needed for a proper fit?

On my mtb my shop was having a hard time truing and dishing the wheel, found out the axle was snapped inside.

how can I prevent this from happening. I just got my rear wheel replaced by aocal bike shop. took my bike for a ride and bent the axle. not sure if it will be covered under warranty. I didn't even take it off any sick jumps!

This seems to be frequent problem with freewheel hubs due to the axle sticking further out on the drive side. I have one bike with a freewheel and a 10mm nut axle which is bent. I'm planning to restore the bike and to go with a freehub to avoid dealing with bent axles.

Can i replace this kind of axle with thru axle?

My axle is broke into pieces what is may the cause pls give me advice