Creaking pedals

On Mon, 1 Aug 2016 11:24:32 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 8/1/2016 6:07 AM, John B. wrote:

By the way, one can torque a fitting with an open end wrench. Measure
from the center of the threads, in a straight line, to some point on
the wrench handle apply the required force at that point. :-)

I've done things like that when necessary. (e.g. to apply hundreds of
foot pounds of torque to some big fasteners, my weight was the known
force and I chose the length of the moment arm to produce the proper
torque.) But there are adapters one can use with a torque wrench. For
example, a "Crow's Foot" adapter might be used.
http://www.sears.com/craftsman-10-pc...b lockType=G2
The torque wrench will probably give a slightly erroneous reading, since
the effective arm length will be different. To be really accurate,
you'll account for the difference in effective length.

The first time I saw this done was installing a new propeller on a
B-29. They got the old prop off and slid the new prop onto the shaft
and tightened the "go to Jesus" nut, as the helicopter guys have it.
Then they dragged this, and I am not exaggerating, 10 or 12 ft wrench
out of the truck. Two guys on the ground holding the prop from
turning, put the big wrench on the prop nut with the shaft horizontal
and one guy, I guess the designated weight guy, hung on the shaft.

This was kind of interesting, even to a lowly engine mechanic like
myself, so I had a look at the "prop wrench" and the outer end of the
wrench was painted in color bands. I assumed these were the torque
settings. Skinny guy - way out on the end, Fat guy closer in :-)

--
cheers,

John B.

On 8/1/2016 8:35 PM, Mark J. wrote:
On 8/1/2016 8:24 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 8/1/2016 6:07 AM, John B. wrote:

By the way, one can torque a fitting with an open end wrench. Measure
from the center of the threads, in a straight line, to some point on
the wrench handle apply the required force at that point. :-)

I've done things like that when necessary. (e.g. to apply hundreds of
foot pounds of torque to some big fasteners, my weight was the known
force and I chose the length of the moment arm to produce the proper
torque.) But there are adapters one can use with a torque wrench. For
example, a "Crow's Foot" adapter might be used.
http://www.sears.com/craftsman-10-pc...b lockType=G2


The torque wrench will probably give a slightly erroneous reading, since
the effective arm length will be different. To be really accurate,
you'll account for the difference in effective length.

I'm pretty sure my Craftsman torque wrench "manual" included a
correction formula for using a Crow's-foot adapter. At least I've seen a
manufacturer's statement about such a correction somewhere.

I think the correction is more than "slight", maybe in the 5-10% range.

The correction depends on the relative length of the wrench and the
length of the wrench+adapter.


--
- Frank Krygowski

On Mon, 1 Aug 2016 17:44:07 -0700 (PDT), jbeattie
wrote:

On Monday, August 1, 2016 at 5:10:28 PM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2016-08-01 17:02, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 8/1/2016 3:57 PM, jbeattie wrote:

A sloppy pedal/crank interface can creak so badly that it is annoying
to ride the bike, and the endless comments from riding companions are
equally annoying.

As I've mentioned, the first folding bike I bought was a used
original-edition Dahon. Really, it's a pretty terrible bicycle with
lousy ride quality, and I never used it much.

Part of the annoyance was the collection of creaks and squeaks as I
rode. They seemed to emanate from every one of the many pivots and
joints that let it fold.

Eventually I tracked down each and every one of those creaks and squeaks
and lubricated them into silence. And wouldn't you know it, the ride
quality of the bike magically improved!

And some creaks, cracks, groans, etc. are symptomatic of much worse
things happening, like a broken frame or broken bars ...

Or broken forks! My worst bicycling incident was when the
under-designed forks on our custom tandem snapped off. I had a few
seconds of squeaking as a warning, during which I thought "Damn, that
fender's touching the tire again!" Perhaps it was, but it wasn't due to
the less-than-specified clearance. It was due to the fork blades
beginning to detach from the fork crown.

I'm now _very_ sensitive to noises at the front of a bike.


A road biker told me a few weeks ago about when he helped another guy
fix a flat. AFAIR it was a carbon fork. He loosened the brake caliper
and then the QR, dropped out the front wheel. A second later something
else dropped out: One leg of the fork.

Frank's forks were steel -- and the second story I know of involving a failed steel tandem forks.

-- Jay Beattie

In how many years, one might ask :-)
--
cheers,

John B.

On 8/1/2016 7:10 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2016-08-01 17:02, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 8/1/2016 3:57 PM, jbeattie wrote:

A sloppy pedal/crank interface can creak so badly that it
is annoying
to ride the bike, and the endless comments from riding
companions are
equally annoying.

As I've mentioned, the first folding bike I bought was a used
original-edition Dahon. Really, it's a pretty terrible
bicycle with
lousy ride quality, and I never used it much.

Part of the annoyance was the collection of creaks and
squeaks as I
rode. They seemed to emanate from every one of the many
pivots and
joints that let it fold.

Eventually I tracked down each and every one of those
creaks and squeaks
and lubricated them into silence. And wouldn't you know
it, the ride
quality of the bike magically improved!

And some creaks, cracks, groans, etc. are symptomatic of
much worse
things happening, like a broken frame or broken bars ...

Or broken forks! My worst bicycling incident was when the
under-designed forks on our custom tandem snapped off. I
had a few
seconds of squeaking as a warning, during which I thought
"Damn, that
fender's touching the tire again!" Perhaps it was, but it
wasn't due to
the less-than-specified clearance. It was due to the fork
blades
beginning to detach from the fork crown.

I'm now _very_ sensitive to noises at the front of a bike.


A road biker told me a few weeks ago about when he helped
another guy fix a flat. AFAIR it was a carbon fork. He
loosened the brake caliper and then the QR, dropped out the
front wheel. A second later something else dropped out: One
leg of the fork.


Lighter! It's an undocumented feature.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971