Axle

Surly and I did a late night bicycle ride Saturday night - started at 11:00 which is just about or a little after my normal bedtime. 15 miles on a warm and humid night. A good time was had by all but I didn't get home until around 2:30 and then another big storm rolled through. I had left my bike in the back of the truck but when the thunder and lightning woke me up about 5:30, I ran outside and grabbed the bike and brought it into the the laundry room.  I had a hard time going back to sleep after that, so I didn't feel like doing much Sunday. I did manage to cut the grass out front, even though it looked threatening all day, cleaned the intake screen on the hot water side of the washing machine so it doesn't take forever to fill and a couple of other piddly things.

What I didn't get done was finish the axle for the sidecar, however. I've got it turned to the proper OD and ready to thread but just didn't feel like finishing it up. I had to decide between cutting the threads or taking a nap. The nap won.

Even though the shaft is only about ten inches long, on my old South Bend it's tough to hold the size from end to end. The ways are worn to the point that there's about two thousands difference in diameter from one end to the other so you have to sneak up on the size and do some judicious filing to blend things. It's a nice sliding fit on the bearing now, however. One of the other disadvantages with the lathe is that I can't do metric threads. (Maybe I should think about buying a new lathe instead of a motorcycle - be more practical.) I could cut them with a die but I'm going to go with 5/8 fine threads. On one end I'll thread it for a nut and then weld the nut in place. The other end threads to hold it all together when assembled - making a long bolt basically.

After I get the axle finished I should be able to get the frame tack welded together. I can put the wheel under it and see how it's going to look next to the bike. I'll have to make some decisions at that point about mounts and making some handholds for the "monkey".