1954 VH rear wheel spindle and spacers

[Patrice Chambalon]

Hi - I am the happy new owner of a 1954 VH To change the rear tyre I had to fight with a hammer in order to push out the rear wheel spindle from the swinging arm. Later I understood why when I wanted to replace the wheel. The internal distance between the two legs of the swinging arm (198 mm-7.8 in) is about 10-15 mm shorter than the internal width of the spindle including LH and RH spacers. Probably the wheel is type 6 but I am not sure and probably the spacers are not the good ones on LH side. But I think the wheel was correctly centered and aligned as the bike was holding the road pretty well.I hesitate to enlarge the swinging arm with a car jack.Does anyone already know this situation? Thanks for your help !

[pete.collings]

I believe the same hub casting was used for both the early swinging arm frames and (late?) plunger frames.
A long time ago I had examples of both types of spindles fitted to the hub, and it was only when the two were alongside that you could see the differences. It may be that the wrong spindle has been used, although I cannot recall the exact differences, and no longer have the pair to compare.
The spacers could also be different, and the arms of the swinging arm may have been pushed inwards (possibly following an accident?), although they are usually pretty tough.
If someone has access to a frame with nothing fitted to an unaltered swingarm, perhaps they could advise what the distance is in comparison to your figures.

[david.anderson]

Patrice
Your swing arm width is the same width between forks as my post 1956 swing arms. While a different wheel and swing arm is used post 56 it would be reasonable to assume that pre56 swing arms may be the same width.
The swing arm and plunger hubs are the same but the wheel spindle and spacers are different. The first thing that I would be checking is the spacers that you have.
You need
4373-54 brake plate distance piece inside brake plate (different to plunger wheel)
4374-54 distance piece between brake plate and swing arm (different to plunger wheel)
4340-39 distance piece RH side. (same as plunger frame)
Hopefully the parts are available from drags.
David

[Patrice Chambalon]

Thanks all for your replies- I tried to pull out the arms of the swinging arm with a carjack but it comes back immediately to the same width. Straps could work better but I have nothing to attach them on each side. And it is not a good solution. David is probably right. The spacers and other distance parts perhaps are not the good ones. Draganfly (UK) said the same thing to me but they are currently out of stock. Do you know somebody else who could have such parts?
David could you be so kind to measure the width of each of the three parts you listed, at least the two external ones? A last chance solution could be to make them (4374-54) or to adapt my current parts
Patrice

[admin]

http://www.acmestainless.co.uk/Ariel.asp ??

[david.anderson]

Patrice
Unfortunately my swing arm bikes are post 56 with the full width hub so I am unable to provide any dimensions for the spacers. Hopefully someone else can. The part numbers that I quoted are from the 1954 parts book
David

[will_curry]

The following might be of some use:

The above shows the arrangement of spacers on the drive side, spacers are 9/16" thick and yes, the brakeplate
is wrong.

The above shows the spacer inside the brake drum.

The above shows the other side.

The above show (another) wheel in place.

The wheel spindle for a plunger wheel is about 1/2" shorter than the PRF one. The washers between the spindle
nuts and the forks are much thicker for the PRF to act as abutments for the chain adjusters.

[Patrice Chambalon]

Thanks Will for the pictures. The RH spacer looks the same than mine. So I think my problem is on the LH side where I have a frusto-conical spacer (plunger assembly ?) between the arm and the brake plate instead of your plain washer. It is about 18 mm (0.71 in) wide. So the difference with the 9/16 you measured is not enough to offset the excess of 10-15 mm ( 0.25 to 0.38 in) I have. The distance part between the brake plate and the hub looks like mine but as it is a question of some mm I'll try to replace it also.
An admin advised the link to ACME. They seem to have these parts in stock. I have ordered both. Once delivered I'll see in the coming weeks if that solves my problem. I'll tel you the rest of the story !
Thanks again