1978 rear axle comes out part way, then gets stuck on mystery obstacle

[jurgenkoppen]

So I was about to 'just'pull off my knobby winter rear wheel on my 78, which I have done many times before, when I ran into another baffling issue: The axle can be pulled out about 3/4 way, 6"or so, but then is stuck, i.e: comes out no further. It is still turn-able, just will not budge further outwards laterally. I aligned the wheel as best as I can, to not have it bind, by preventing the chain side to drop down, but something is preventing me from pulling out the rest of the way. I will go and have another go at it after some lunch and send a pic...I can easily push it back in, so some ridge must me hitting something preventing the pull out. Also I am always confused about the pacer, my replacement summer wheel has one floating around inside, I am not sure if my current winter knobby wheel even has one of those. Pics to come

 

[jurgenkoppen]

OK, I did get it out after all, availing myself of the nifty feature of being able to remove the stop at the end of the swing arm. So after disconnecting the brake bracket and undoing the chain, I pulled the wheel backwards and was able to work at table height with the wheel sideways. I put in lubricants,(I know many folks on this forum do not have a high opinion of WD40, but I am with Red Green on that front), and alas, the axle did finally get past the last bearing. There was a bit of a welt (sp),or ridge on the axle, where it hung up on the bearings edge, I suppose.

 

[5twins]

Was it assembled dry? Axles should be greased their entire length. While it's out, I would work grease and the greased axle in and out of the wheel until it goes in and out easily, and there's grease through the spacer's entire length.

 

[jurgenkoppen]

No it was not dry, but there was a strange ridge at the 2/3 mark , which I removed with my grinder. It prevented the axle from going past the bearing, at least made it very tight there...I am greasing her some more for sure before it goes back in.

 

[5twins]

Well, I'd inspect the bearings in that winter wheel because maybe one has gone bad. There's really nothing in there that could or would wear into the axle like that, unless maybe a bearing went bad and got really loose.