This was scary - dna wheel

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Jul 28, 2009 | 11:09 AM

#21

joshh

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From: new england, worcester county, mass

first off thanks for the good words and advice... to clear some things up: the bolts used were not stock because the stockers bottomed out. they were replacements that were about 1.25" deep in threads. the next ones i will use will go as dep as possible without bottoming out! i couldnt uses heli-coils because the holes are machined too close to the edge of the hub so i had a machine shop drill & tap 5 new holes. i would rather have had sent wheel back but i couldnt get an answer from dna. talked to a person took my # 2 times and never called back. riding season is too short around here so had to take care of it myself. i love the wheel's look & it appears to be high quality. i did some research before i bought it and i'm actually looking at a new front. the wallets getting squeezed though because machining was another 125 and i need a new sprocket too (the chain ripped all the chrome off it)...

Jul 28, 2009 | 12:47 PM

#22

rbabos

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From: Woodstock, Ont , Can

Wow. 1 1/4" deep should have been lots. I have to wonder about the qualilty of the original threads or the hardness of the material itself. Since you got a machine shop to drill and tap them, ask how the material behaved in the process. They can tell good and bad aluminum with how the tools involved behave.
Ron

Jul 28, 2009 | 01:16 PM

#23

joshh

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From: new england, worcester county, mass

Machine shop said he would have prefered to put helicoils in, but couldnt. he said try again with different hardware and more loctite and if it loosesns up JB Weld it!!! but then i'll have to toss the wheel when its time for a new sprocket. he said the aluminum looked like it was good quality but the threaded holes are too close to the edge of the hub and some of the holes were "egged-out" and one hole actually looks like it twisted. only 1 had threads totally stripped out. i'll try to post a pic...

Jul 28, 2009 | 01:41 PM

#24

WARG

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From: The Lone Star State

Was this a DNA Mammoth fat spoke wheel? Not that it matters, just wondering.

Jul 28, 2009 | 03:04 PM

#25

rbabos

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From: Woodstock, Ont , Can

Quote:

Originally Posted by joshh

The damage you describe is from the sprocket being able to move, using the bolts as a pry bar in the holes. Most likely something gave way from the original tightening and that's usually the aluminum threads. No amount of loctite will save that. Is there any possible way you could have over tightened the bolts the first time and weakened the threads? I believe you mentioned you torqued to spec, but I have to ask anyway. Were there any burrs on the edges of the holes or components that create high spots that would allow full torque initially, but could compress later from use and drop the torque of the bolts? Machinist bluing would give an good indicator on how much contact between the two surfaces. I know it's too late to check it now as evidence will be gone, but I just recently bought a forged wheel and one of the rotor holes was raised above the machined face of the wheel. The rotor would wobble with a trial fit until I cleaned the high spot off.
Ron

Last edited by rbabos; Jul 28, 2009 at 03:07 PM.

Jul 28, 2009 | 04:06 PM

#26

joshh

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From: new england, worcester county, mass

the wheel is a 80 spoke (stainless) with a chromed-billet hub. bolts def. werent overtightened by harley standards. havent heard back from dna as to theirs. i was told by local shop to use harley spec. i dont think threads are the problem as most of them were intact. its a weird situation, almost like the aluminum had "give" and bolts came out without warning. something i didnt mention is that my cousin who i was riding with walked about 100 feet down the road and was able to find the 4 bolts that fell out. 1 was stuck between swingarm and sprocket.

Jul 28, 2009 | 11:13 PM

#27

gabadoo

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From: orlando, fl

I think your bolts are too short. I have the same rim, so if we assume that the tolerances are close, then the only difference is the pulley. I cannot tell you the width of the pulley where the bolts head sits since it is recessed and mine is different if you using a chain. The length of the threaded part isn't necessarily what is important since the length of the thread base minus the head base which is the total length of the fastener(unless the threads run up all the way to the head base).

As a test, i would fit the bolt into the rim (without pulley and spacer) to measure the thread depth on the rim. Then measure the pulley depth where bolt is seated, and spacer depth. Subtract maybe 1/16th of an inch and you should get an overall length of how long your bolt should be from tip to head base.