Front wheel alignment (full width cast iron hub)

[iansoady]

After rebuilding the wheel and relining the brake I'm slightly puzzled by how the wheel should be aligned in the fork ends. The spindle has a groove on each end but I can see no sign of a corresponding ridge in either the fork end or cap. At the moment I have it so the brake stop is hard against the RHS leg but that has the spindle about 1/4" to the right.

I'm used to Nortons and Velos where the wheel is held hard over to one side by tightening the spindle nut.

Should I just arrange it so the wheel and spindle are central?

[bsa-bill]

Do the studs not engage in the grooves Ian, to be honest I just presumed that was so but can't recall actually checking  in detail

[Goldy]

I am sure that the groove lines up with the clamp bolts.

[LJ.]

I'm inclined to go along with Goldy

I am sure that the groove lines up with the clamp bolts.

With my A10 or one of them you have to squeeze the forks in a bit for the bolts to sit in those grooves, bit fiddly when trying to do them up as well.

[sinbad]

Just put mine in,as Lj said the end cap bolts line up the spindle,I did it up at first( frame on A box) got it wrong much better to have it on the centre stand and back wheel in. on mine there is A bit of play at the anchor point of the brake plate. Hope this helps Cheers.

[iansoady]

Thanks all.

The end cap bolts didn't seem to engage with the grooves and just screwed in with the spindle offset as mentioned (although I haven't tightened them yet). I suppose if I just arrange it centrally it'll be fine.

I must say the rear mudguard stay / front stand is a great help in doing this - much better than a sack of coal on the back of the dual seat! Although my Norton Commando was carefully designed so that with both wheels fitted the front was on the deck but when it was removed the CoG moved backwards leaving the rear touching.

[chaterlea25]

HI Ian,
If my memory is correct ???? ????
The wheel can be assembled with the spindle in wrong way round this leads to the same symptoms you have???
Its quite a long time since I had one of those apart but remember the guy brought me the bike with similar problems to yours,
My own bikes are different both havein the screw in spindle
HTH
John O R

[iansoady]

I've had another look and with a judicious rubber-mallet tap on the fork end (with bolts started but slack) everything seems to have lined up nicely, with the spindle more or less flush with the fork ends on both sides.

With the aforementioned Nortons etc I've always bounced the front end before doing up the fork pinch bolts to let the forks align themselves. Is anything like this necessary with the A10?

John - I hadn't removed the spindle and it looked fine before I removed the wheel so I'm assuming it's the right way round.

[A10Boy]

If you look closely at the caps, you will see that the drilling for the bolts cuts slightly into the radius where the axle fits. In other words, the dimension between the bolts is less than the diameter of the axle and equal to the diameter of the axle measured in the groove.

This is what locates the axle in the fork leg.

[iansoady]

I suspect with everything having racing clearances (translation: worn...) there was enough slop in the assembly to allow it to move sideways.

I've ordered some new bolts so hopefully they will improve matters.