I started this morning intending to tackle the main gear and I was stalled when I tried to follow the directions from Grove on setting the pre-load on the main wheel. They say to tighten the axle nut while turning the wheel until it will not turn. Well had an open end wrench and got it very tight but still the wheel would move, I did not want to go to tight for fear the aluminum nut would strip against the steel axle. I took a step back to think about this. The directions from Van’s just say to tighten until there is no side play. Now I need to get this right since I have to drill for the cotter pin.
After some research on line I decided to get to the nose wheel fork, I have to drill holes for two pins that will retain the nose wheel hub that the bearing rides onto. This took some time but finally get them drilled, I still need to install the pins.
After going over the my brother-in-law for Easter dinner I went down and decided I was getting the bearing tight enough even though I was not getting the wheel stopped, after you tighten it up you back off until the wheel spins almost freely and no side play. I can get 3-4 revolutions with on spin so I was happy with that.
To drill for the cotter pin I used a method I read about on line. With the nut tightened up I took a long #30 drill and started the hole on one side. I then counted the number of turns to remove the axle nut, took the wheel off and re-installed the axle nut and spun it back on the number of turns until I go to the hole I stared, then with a shorter #30 bit I drilled the hole on one side. Then I inserted a rivet to keep the axle nut from turning while I drilled the opposite hole. I took the nut off then ran the drill though both side and follow that with a ream to make the hole nice and clean, the cotter pin fit perfectly. I repeated the same process for the left axle.
