Brief Description: Mounting of the tires/tubes to the wheels
The main wheels came pre-packed with Mobil SHC 100 grease and I really didn't want to use that grease in my bearings. Probably nothing wrong with it, but I really wanted Aeroshell #5.
Today my dad got back into town so we decided to tackle the job togther. It worked out pretty well since one of us could have greasy hands and the other could be the gopher.
We used a combination of varsol and compressed air to get the old grease out. After it was out, we washed them in soapy water with a rinse in clean water (to remove the varsol) and give the aeroshell grease an opportunity to bond to the metal. We blew the water out of the bearings with compressed air until they were dry.
Finally we repacked the bearings with Aeroshell #5 and inserted them into the wheels. Then we inserted the tube into the tire and mounted the wheel halves together to 150 inches of torque. Then we went through a series of inflating and deflating the tires to work out the wrinkles in the tube. Everything is great.
Specific to the nose wheel, I elected not to purchase Vans nose wheel or axle. Their setup has a history of chewing up forks and being really slopy. So I bought the Matco wheel and axle instead. We loaded the bearings with Aeroshell #5 too and got them mounted into the wheels. A couple of items that is not mentioned in the installation documentation (I had to call Matco directly):
1) The torque for the wheel halves is 99 inches. 2) You shouldn't have to tighten the nut to maximum hand-tight. 3) Be sure to lube the seals with grease, but also make sure there is no grease between the nut and seal.
It's hard to believe something this simple took a full day, but at least we got them done.
