Wheel rebuilding/truing question - loctite on the spokes?

[crackerman]

I'm currently rebuilding my spoke wheels for cleaning. I was able to disassemble them with out breaking any spokes. I cleaned up the spoke, nipples, hub, and rim and reassembled. I tried loctite on the spokes, but they all bound up and I couldn't tighten them. I had to remove the nipple and clean out the loctite.

Questions is, do I really need loctite on the spokes? Some videos don't show them using it and other do.

Also any tips on truing the wheel? I got a balance stand but the rim seems really out of wack. I think I need to loosen all of the spokes up and start over. I'd like to figure it out myself before I turn it over to the pros. Any advice would be appreciated.

THanks

 

[teazer]

No need to use loctite on spokes. And if you do, it makes it almost impossible to true the wheel later if/when things move a little. I oil the spokes to make it easier to tension them when truing a wheel.

 

[Hot500]

Personally, I would'nt use loctite on my spokes. Spoked wheels need regular maintenance/adjustment like everything else on the bike.

For truing the wheels you need a dial gauge to show you run-out in both up and down movement (egg shaped wheel) and side to side (wobble) movement. I use a home made gauge with a magnetic base and a couple of small alligator clips that I can swivel around to show me both out of round and wobble.

Place the pointer so it is touching the wheel rim, move the wheel slowly by hand until the rim has pushed the pointer away as far as it can. This is the max. run out of the wheel. Mark this spot on the rim with a small peice of electrical tape.

Now place the pointer so it is touching the rim underneath right on the rim lip. Follow as above until the pointer has moved away to max. distance. Mark with a different color tape.

This will show you where you need to work on the wheel. Spokes are usually set/adjusted in groups of four, so where your tape is for wobble, tighten up the four spokes on the opposite side from your tape by quarter turn each. This will begin to pull the wheel back straight. Check again for run-out. Go slow, check for progress after each adjustment. Follow this method for both planes of the wheel and you'll get there. If you got it pretty right, when you tap the spokes with your spoke spanner they should all sound about the same.

 

[Tim]

You lube the spokes/nipples, not lock them up. Not just any lube either - I think it's a graphite or something. Buchanan spoke kits come with little bottles of it.

 

[crackerman]

Yea I first tried locite. Not a good idea at all. Almost broke a few spokes as they got all binded up. I've just been dipping the end of the spoke in a little bit of oil. I'll have to check out Buchanans to see what they got.