# My rear quick release won't hold the wheel tight enough



## RojoRacing53 (Jul 23, 2013)

So I just got building my first single speed 29er with 34-20 gearing, the bikes a Niner Air 9 Carbon with vertical dropouts. Now the hills we have out here are very steep and all about 1 mile long each so I've found myself digging very deep just to make it up and over without walking. I'm not a weak rider by any means and I can produce a lot of power to the point it feels like my carbon bars all going to snap from the flexing when I pull on them. I'm amazed I haven't snapped my chain yet, I never knew that could take so much force. 

Anyways the problem I'm having is rear brake squealing as I start to climb. When I reach the top I've go a constant squeal going so I stop and release the QR and see my frame drop back onto the axel just a little bit. I start riding and the squeal is gone untill the next time I apply a lot of pedal force. I tried to tighten the QR a bit more but I don't want to go to tight and I don't know of anyway to figure out a torque spec on one, but ill say is tighter then I've ever run any bike before. 

My primary wheelset are in the works and will be using the Dt-Swiss 10mm QR axel and I'm told its a stronger design. Will this solve my problem and will that mean my current standard QR wheel is no good. Or is there a solution to my problem I don't know about. 

Thanks for any help or ideas.


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## davesauvageau (Jan 8, 2010)

What rear wheel or hub do you have? There are a lot of contributing factors to your problem. When you take the wheel off, look at the lock nut on the end of your axle, is it knurled? Is it clogged with paint chips? What QR are you currently running? Can you switch to a bolt-on axle? 

I run a bolt-on hub on my SS but it has horizontal dropouts. I have a DT skewer on the front of my SS and it is awesome! Super easy to use, great quality and holds tight.


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## asphaltdude (Sep 17, 2008)

Got Shimano skewers?


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## Saul Lumikko (Oct 23, 2012)

Slippage with a skewer? The 101: 

1) Make sure there's no paint on the dropouts. They must be smooth bare metal.
2) Use Shimano skewers.
3) Clamp them tight. A slight shaking of the hand when closing the lever is a good indicator that you're using enough force. Just don't use a hammer or any lever extensions.


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## RojoRacing53 (Jul 23, 2013)

So here's what I've got going on

Wheels are mavic cross ride disk's they come with a strait 12mm bore and some end caps to convert it to QR. Now it looks like because of the 12mm bore using a dt-swiss 10x135 dws skewer is out of the question.

I don't have any shimano skewers lying around but why shimano and what grade shimano, they make a lot of differnt wheels with a lot of differnt skewers.

There is no paint in the dropout area at all so I'm getting a good bite into bare alum. For the time being I swapped the cross ride mavic skewer to an old mavic SLR skewer I had lying around. I also apply a bit of carbo grip past in hopes it may give it just a bit more grip and I tightened the skewer a bit tighter(pretty damn tight but hands weren't shaking).

Is it common to tighten the rear skewer as tight as you can possibly manage with your bare hands? That seems like a lot of stress on those little 4-5mm threads.

I have my own lathe at work so I guess I could make my own bolt on axle with a 12x134 shaft then step it down to 10mm for the shoulders at the end but then I'd have to use tools to unbolt it mid race if a problem occurred.

When you guys use bolt on axles are the bolts just plain large button heads?

Does the frame ride on the threads of the bolt or the ends of the axle?

Is the bolt head knurled like a skewer head or maybe a knurled washer is used, or are all locking surfaces smooth?

What torque do the use when tightening the bolt on axles?


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## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

Those external cam skewers are notoriously undependable, try putting a drop of lube or grease where the cam pivots on the concave washer. Shimano skewers are internal cam and clamp down much tighter without using a lot of force. If you go bolt on use track nuts with built in serrated washers like these-









They will not let go.


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## fishcreek (Apr 10, 2007)

if your axle is sticking out further than your frame, no matter how tight your skewer is its not going to hold it very well. put your wheel back on without a skewer and observe if your axle is sticking out. axle should be at least a mm or two inside the dropouts.


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## RojoRacing53 (Jul 23, 2013)

fishcreek said:


> if your axle is sticking out further than your frame, no matter how tight your skewer is its not going to hold it very well. put your wheel back on without a skewer and observe if your axle is sticking out. axle should be at least a mm or two inside the dropouts.


No offense to those who didn't know this but duh that's kinda simple physics.

So if I make a 12mm axle just shy of 135mm it will sit just inside my hub ends(135mm spacing) then I can thread in studs on each end and use track nuts. It seem the track nuts are 3/8 threads which are .018" shy of 10mm dropouts so its close enough but I'd like to use 10mm threads if I can. Does anyone make a 10mm track nut? Is it ok for the threaded studs to rest on the frame, I can't say I like the idea of threads chewing into my dropouts. I think the best way is to make a 12x135mm axle the steps down to 10mm at the ends and stops just shy of the outer frame(like fishcreek said). Then I can use a couple button head bolts with knurled washers to clamp it all together. This system would avoid gouging my frame and I could use standard Allen wrenches to tighten it instead of a box end wrench.

What do you guys think of that.

In the mean time ill hunt down a shimano QR and see if that gets me by.


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## titusracer (Aug 23, 2011)

I run a DT swiss skewer on my El Mariachi with vertical dropouts. Never had a problem with it slipping. The ratchet style system works pretty well and you can really get it pretty tight. The Shimano skewers are great as others have alluded to. I also use the Fulcrum skewers on my roadie and really like those as well. I like running a QR so that I can work on the rear quickly if I need to (race type situation).


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## Andrea138 (Mar 25, 2009)

+1 on Shimano Skewers. I just go with an XT one. I've never been a fan of the fat RWS skewers


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## RojoRacing53 (Jul 23, 2013)

So I tried a shimano QR and after stoping twice during my ride and tightening it further each time I finally got it locked so tight it stop moving on me. 

I'm still going to make the custom axle tomorrow when my shipment of 7068 alum rod arrives so I let you guys know how it turns out.


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## Jdirt (May 25, 2013)

please delete


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