# Postwar Front hub lock nut



## J-wagon (Jan 18, 2022)

Hi, I did some maintenance on postwar Front hub and noticed only one side has a lock nut. I thought I lost the other one, rolled away somewhere. Went thru my donor bikes to seek replacement nut and noticed it also only has one hub lock nut. So maybe I didn't lose a nut. 

Question: is it normal to have front hub with only one lock nut? Am I missing a locknut? 

Pic of both sides hub I was cleanng, only one side has locknut:





Pic of both sides front hub donor bike, only one side has locknut. 









Perhaps I did not lose locknut and it suppose to only have one? If so, that would be great b/c I don't have a spare with correct tpi. Thx


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## J-wagon (Jan 18, 2022)

I'm thinking it designed for only one lock nut. It slips onto the fork no issues and seems centered. Pic angle hard to see but the obscured side has no lock nut. Good fit. If it did have a second lock nut, I'd have to pull fork wider by ⅛". Fyi this is a loose wheel for my silver king klunker build.


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## SirMike1983 (Jan 18, 2022)

A locknut, lock spacer, or ridged axle should be used on the drive side front cone. The reason for this is that as the bike wheel spins forward, the inherent friction (even on good hubs, there's a little) will tend to turn the drive side cone clockwise, causing it to self-tighten and eventually to destroy the hub. 

The locknut can be used through tension and friction to help lock the drive side cone in place. Even better, some hubs use special spacers that key into the fork end and wrap around the drive side cone, locking it in place. The British accomplished this without a lock nut, by having a raised ridge milled into the axle so that you bottomed out the drive side cone on the ridge (and hence it couldn't tighten itself any more). 

The non-drive side is less imperative. On the non-drive side, the cone will tend to be driven counter-clockwise as you ride, which would tend to loosen the cone. However, the fork should prevent it from loosening itself up. A non-drive side locknut or spacer can be used if there is excess diameter in the fork beyond what the front hub has. But as I say, the drive side cone is the one you want to lock into place because that's the one that will bind and eventually destroy the hub if it free floats while you ride.


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## J-wagon (Jan 18, 2022)

Thx! Very informative. I need to check all my bikes make sure lock nut driveside.


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## WetDogGraphix (Jan 19, 2022)

J-wagon said:


> Thx! Very informative. I need to check all my bikes make sure lock nut driveside.



I will do the same!


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## AndyA (Jan 20, 2022)

I have run across a number of older bikes with no locknuts on the front axle. I can't say for sure whether they started out that way, but spacing with forks was okay. I don't remember ever seeing only one locknut.


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## WillWork4Parts (Jan 20, 2022)

Locknuts come in pairs unless there is something to offset the difference in width. While it's a fairly minimal difference in spacing side to side, in wheel building, you always want the rim set centered. You'd need a wheel dish gauge to actually measure that. Also, as long as you keep your axle nuts tight, those cones shouldn't have enough friction to drive the cone tight against the bearings and self destruct, unless there's already a problem with your bearings.


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## J-wagon (Jan 20, 2022)

Me too. I've since checked my front hubs and some have locknuts both sides, some one side, and some no locknuts. Here pics of two without locknuts. Both look like Torrington hubs. Perhaps some were designed this way? The wheel still spins freely, no hint of binding but will monitor if binding creeps in with added mileage.


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## J-wagon (Jan 20, 2022)

WillWork4Parts said:


> Locknuts come in pairs unless there is something to offset the difference in width.



I see. So for my postwar front wheel that came with only one lock nut, it perhaps dished. I've taken the hub apart for maintence and reassembled. The locknut is driveside. But I might have flipped the wheel around when I reinsert axle. It looks centered. I guess I'm wondering if locknut should be on the offset / dished side or vice versa or does it not matter? Thx


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## WillWork4Parts (Jan 20, 2022)

Chances are way more likely that someone just lost the locknut before it got to you. For a standard hub like that, there's no reason to add dish. The only front hubs I see with asymmetric cone/locknut setups are drum and generator hubs, disc brake hubs maybe if you're into late model stuff...
Schwinn had this locking tab on one cone and an equal thickness regular washer on the opposite cone starting in the 50s I believe. Some Schwinn script hubs had only locknuts for a period of time, thinking this might have had something to do with more deluxe or handbrake models, but I've honestly not been able to track any consistency. 








I'd recommend finding another matching locknut or find some better history on Torrington hubs, as I've only got the one Torrington with no locknuts and haven't found any literature on them.


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## J-wagon (Jan 20, 2022)

Interesting. These findings very educational. Out of curiosity, I flipped my front wheel to see if any offset. And there was! 
First pic centered, second pic not centered around 1.5mm or so. But locknut is nondrive side when wheel is centered. So I need to put locknut on otherside.


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## SirMike1983 (Jan 20, 2022)

Yeah, that's the lock spacer they started using post-war on the Schwinn lightweights. I believe they started in the 1950s or early 1960s some time. My 1947 and 1950 Schwinn 3 speeds have locknuts on each side. My 1960s 3 speeds have the toothed spacer. I actually kind of prefer the spacer, but the locknuts seem to work fine. The locknuts do take a little more care in that the cones have to backed into the nuts a bit to lock. But it's not a big deal. I actually like the English solution of a shouldered axle best, but it wasn't adopted by everyone.


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## SirMike1983 (Jan 20, 2022)

J-wagon said:


> Interesting. These findings very educational. Out of curiosity, I flipped my front wheel to see if any offset. And there was!
> First pic centered, second pic not centered around 1.5mm or so. But locknut is nondrive side when wheel is centered. So I need to put locknut on otherside.
> 
> View attachment 1552666
> ...




Is the crown race supposed to be that way on that bike? It almost looks like there's a recessed area for the crown race but the race is up above that.


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## J-wagon (Jan 20, 2022)

Good eye! Turns out the race OD too big (38mm) preventing cup from making contact with bearings! I replaced with race smaller OD (36.5mm)


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## J-wagon (Jan 20, 2022)

I think the fork might be from a different silver king. The cup inner diameter 37mm and race OD 38mm. I replace with 36.5mm OD race and now the fork headset spins nicely and snug down good. 
















The last pic is with 36.5 race spin nicely. I think normal looking now but will loop @ratrodz into this thread for any thoughts. He has more SK knowledge than me!


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## J-wagon (Jan 21, 2022)

Ultimately I put the lock nut on driveside and a thin washer on nondrive. Tire is fairly centered. Once this klunker is built I'll just ride it! Thx all for knowledge and input!


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## ratrodz (Jan 21, 2022)

@J-wagon  I’ve seen different lower races used on a bunch of the Silverkings.  Never thought much about it. Some had a shim and some didn’t, some were a little taller etc.  Interesting… makes you wonder.


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## Rivnut (Jan 21, 2022)

A couple of pictures from a Schwinn Service Manual


show a locknut on each end of the front axel.


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