Dialing in and other Q's

[ScootDad]

Hi forum. I got my kid a Fuzion Z300 a couple of years ago. He began riding it more seriously a few months ago. It started to make rattling noises about a week ago so I did some searches and learned about dialing it in. But before that, I noticed a few things that I have questions about:


1) My main question is regarding the rear axle. I thought the rattle was coming from the rear wheel so I looked at it and noticed the axle was not stable. Meaning that if I grab both bolt, I can spin them, and the axle spins but the wheel doesn’t. If I spin the wheel the axle doesn’t spin with it. Is that normal?

2) The rear wheel on the scooter is squared off but rolls fine. How can you tell if you need a new wheel?

3) I’m not sure where the rattling is coming from – could be from more than one place. I am pretty sure the headset needs to be tightened. When I spin the wheels, there is no sound so I’m not sure if I need new bearings but I feel like some of the rattle could be coming from the rear wheel (I checked the brake and its fine) so I’m wondering if I need new bearings.


Thanks for any help.

 

[lucasw]

1) My main question is regarding the rear axle. I thought the rattle was coming from the rear wheel so I looked at it and noticed the axle was not stable. Meaning that if I grab both bolt, I can spin them, and the axle spins but the wheel doesn’t. If I spin the wheel the axle doesn’t spin with it. Is that normal?

Not 100% sure what you mean by this but the wheel is not supposed to spin with the bolt, meaning that you should tighten the bolt all the way so that it wont spin, but the wheel will.

2) The rear wheel on the scooter is squared off but rolls fine. How can you tell if you need a new wheel?

replacing a wheel is all by preferance. if part of the urethane fell off, and the metal below is showing, then it is definitely broken and you should replace it. that will look like this

other wise changing the wheel is about preferance. if you hate riding square wheels, you should probably replace them more frequently. I personally get new ones around once a year.

3) I’m not sure where the rattling is coming from – could be from more than one place. I am pretty sure the headset needs to be tightened. When I spin the wheels, there is no sound so I’m not sure if I need new bearings but I feel like some of the rattle could be coming from the rear wheel (I checked the brake and its fine) so I’m wondering if I need new bearings.

I you tightened everythihng in your scooter, and it seems to be coming from the wheels, it is most likely the bearings. most scooter bearings sound "dialed" if you put them on, but in my experience, skate bearings, such as bones will always rattle. This usually comes from a small amount of wiggle room in between the two bearings and the spacer in between them. new bearings arent always necessary, put if you cant stand the sound, try these http://inward-scooters.com/products/proto-murders-bearing-and-spacer-set

 

[ScootDad]

Not 100% sure what you mean by this but the wheel is not supposed to spin with the bolt, meaning that you should tighten the bolt all the way so that it wont spin, but the wheel will.

replacing a wheel is all by preferance. if part of the urethane fell off, and the metal below is showing, then it is definitely broken and you should replace it. that will look like this
other wise changing the wheel is about preferance. if you hate riding square wheels, you should probably replace them more frequently. I personally get new ones around once a year.

I you tightened everythihng in your scooter, and it seems to be coming from the wheels, it is most likely the bearings. most scooter bearings sound "dialed" if you put them on, but in my experience, skate bearings, such as bones will always rattle. This usually comes from a small amount of wiggle room in between the two bearings and the spacer in between them.

Thank you.


The urethane is totally fine I just didn't know if the squaring would affect anything else. He's only 8 and not doing anything nuts and it’s not a pronounced squaring so I’ll keep it for a little longer.


I actually haven’t tightened anything yet so I don't know where the rattle/s are coming from. I apparently have two sets of standard hex keys and think I need metric.


I tried tightening the axle bolts. I need two hex keys - one used for tightening and another (on the other side) used to stabilize. If the other bolt isn’t held, it’ll just spin and spin (the axle will spin, as well as both bolts on either side, no matter which one I am spinning with the hex key). And the bolts spin pretty freely – I can use my fingers to whirl either one – one at a time. If I stabilize one and try to spin the other, it doesn’t budge.


So that's what I was trying to say - that I can turn either axle bolt with my fingers if I turn only one.

When I tried to tighten the axle (by tightening the bolts) it was already tight - the hex key slipped and may have stripped the bolt a bit. So I guess I need metric, which I plan to get soon. The wheel seems to be unaffected by how tight or loose I make the bolts on the axle.


If I have time tonight, I’ll try to tighten the headset – I know that needs work.

Edit: When I spin the wheel, the axle doesn't spin. So judging from your first thought, it sounds like that's right. But like I said up top, I can also spin the axle if I turn the axle bolt, and the wheel won't spin but the bolt and axle will.

 

[Beyond16]

It sounds like you have an axle with internal threads, like those found on Razor scooters. The problem with that type of axle is that they stop tightening when they clamp down to a certain width. If you remove the axle and then assemble the two parts, you can see this. A Razor front axle tightens to a width of 30mm and the rear to a width of 60mm. This setup works fine when all the parts are new and in good condition. The width of the rear wheel plus spacers plus deck add up to slightly more than 60mm. So when you tighten the axle, it clamps down tightly on the wheel (bearings and spacer), both deck spacers, and the deck itself. But once any of those parts wears, the axle will stop tightening at 60mm and no longer clamp the parts. One solution is to add thin washers to make up for the worn parts. Another solution is to grind off 1mm or so from the end of the axle so that the screw that goes inside it can tighten down further. Probably the best solution is to replace the axle with a 8mm metric bolt. Find one that is long enough, and that has enough threads to let it tighten down enough to clamp all the parts tightly together.

 

[ScootDad]

It sounds like you have an axle with internal threads, like those found on Razor scooters. The problem with that type of axle is that they stop tightening when they clamp down to a certain width. If you remove the axle and then assemble the two parts, you can see this. A Razor front axle tightens to a width of 30mm and the rear to a width of 60mm. This setup works fine when all the parts are new and in good condition. The width of the rear wheel plus spacers plus deck add up to slightly more than 60mm. So when you tighten the axle, it clamps down tightly on the wheel (bearings and spacer), both deck spacers, and the deck itself. But once any of those parts wears, the axle will stop tightening at 60mm and no longer clamp the parts. One solution is to add thin washers to make up for the worn parts. Another solution is to grind off 1mm or so from the end of the axle so that the screw that goes inside it can tighten down further. Probably the best solution is to replace the axle with a 8mm metric bolt. Find one that is long enough, and that has enough threads to let it tighten down enough to clamp all the parts tightly together.

Thanks. Seems like that's exactly what's happening. My time is kind of a precious commodity so I'm just going to order a new axle and hopefully that'll make it better.

After tinkering, banging, and tons of other stuff - I couldn't get the friggin' bars off. I'm not asking for advice though, I already spent too much time finding out how to remove stuck bars and it's apparently a thing with this type of scooter. Super annoying. My plan is to replace the axle and see what difference that makes - hopefully a good one (crossing my fingers that everything else is still dialed to an ok extent), then I'm starting to do some research on a new scooter. He's a thrashy kid who uses his scooter and BMX to a good level considering his age, so I know he'll need a new one soon anyway. Just not sure yet what to get him that'll be ok quality and not break the bank. Budget is $200ish. So I'm stalking the forums to find out. Only thing is that things change over the years so I want the most up to date advice, but I'll see what people recommended in the past.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to answer and the thoughts.