NEW spoke wheel tension

[Kruzzin5]

I just received a NEW front wheel and checked the spoke tension. On average, they were at 28" lbs vs 52" lbs, some did not require any adjustment. So, in 3 stages of 30, 40, 52, I tightened the spokes to 52" lbs. I am surprised they came from the factory so loose, unless it is purposely done so for the dealer to finish off the tightening. Hope I didn't mess anything up!

 

[RCinNC]

Wheel tensioning and truing can be tricky. My experience is with bicycle wheels, but the concept is the same.

It's not enough that all the spoke tension be equal; that won't necessarily true a wheel. The tension has to be applied in a sequence, in small increments, while measuring the roundness and runout. The wheel not only has to have the correct runout and round, but the hub has to be in the proper position in relation to the wheel (that's called the dish). Sometimes when you try and bring up the tension of loose spokes to match the tension of tighter spokes, without doing any other adjustments, you can actually pull a wheel further out of round or out of true. Ideally, when working on a wheel, you try and start while roughly equal tension all around, and then work your way up to the proper tension while also adjusting the position of the wheel in relation to the hub.

Before you mount a tire to the wheel, I'd make a jig to spin the wheel off the bike, just to get an idea if the runout and round were okay. You can put the axle through the wheel, then balance the wheel and axle on a couple drywall buckets (or anything that'll allow you to suspend the wheel so you can spin it freely). Spin the wheel and watch if from the front. If you see the wheel wobbling top to bottom while it spins, then it's out of true. If you look along the top edge of the wheel while it spins and it seems to be "hopping" (you can see a high spot keep appearing as the wheel spins), then it's out of round. That's a really rough way of determining if the wheel is true; there's actually a specific allowable runout on the wheel that's pretty small. You might not even notice it visually, but if you can actually see the wheel hop or wobble, then it's definitely out of round and/or out of round, and it's time to take it to a shop that knows how to true a wheel. I've had some experience truing and tensioning wheels, and I still took mine to a shop when the runout was too much to have someone who knew what they were doing fix it.

 

[Kruzzin5]

Wheel tensioning and truing can be tricky. My experience is with bicycle wheels, but the concept is the same.

It's not enough that all the spoke tension be equal; that won't necessarily true a wheel. The tension has to be applied in a sequence, in small increments, while measuring the roundness and runout. The wheel not only has to have the correct runout and round, but the hub has to be in the proper position in relation to the wheel (that's called the dish). Sometimes when you try and bring up the tension of loose spokes to match the tension of tighter spokes, without doing any other adjustments, you can actually pull a wheel further out of round or out of true. Ideally, when working on a wheel, you try and start while roughly equal tension all around, and then work your way up to the proper tension while also adjusting the position of the wheel in relation to the hub.

Before you mount a tire to the wheel, I'd make a jig to spin the wheel off the bike, just to get an idea if the runout and round were okay. You can put the axle through the wheel, then balance the wheel and axle on a couple drywall buckets (or anything that'll allow you to suspend the wheel so you can spin it freely). Spin the wheel and watch if from the front. If you see the wheel wobbling top to bottom while it spins, then it's out of true. If you look along the top edge of the wheel while it spins and it seems to be "hopping" (you can see a high spot keep appearing as the wheel spins), then it's out of round. That's a really rough way of determining if the wheel is true; there's actually a specific allowable runout on the wheel that's pretty small. You might not even notice it visually, but if you can actually see the wheel hop or wobble, then it's definitely out of round and/or out of round, and it's time to take it to a shop that knows how to true a wheel. I've had some experience truing and tensioning wheels, and I still took mine to a shop when the runout was too much to have someone who knew what they were doing fix it.

The tires are already mounted on the rims. I had not anticipated that factory rims would not be tightened to spec. I’m glad I thought to check the torque settings before riding the bike!. Since I adjusted in three stages, at 3 different torque settings, the wheel seems to spin true. The rear wheel has yet to be done, and I will try your suggestion of spinning it over drywall pails before adjusting. There is a thread on here from a few years ago by ERIC V. His method was to tighten one side at a time, alternating rows. Right side outside, then left outside, right inside and finish left inside. I had done that with the old wheels over the years. Every time I did an oil change, I checked and adjusted with good success. The wheels always spun, true.

 

[Tenforeplay]

I'll add this as my '23 is relatively new, with about 800 miles so far. I got wind of the spoke rabbit hole though I have never before paid attention to them.

I checked one spoke and it turned way too easy, so I knew I should check them but didn't have the long hex driver to make it easy. So a few days later the hex driver showed up and here I go.

I started on the front, I was going to take them all up slow so I wouldn't have to worry about truing, and started at 24" lbs. That didn't move any. Up to 36" lbs., there were a few that moved, up at 48" lbs., there were more, then finished them off at 52" lbs. Then went to the back and did the same. The front was all over the board, the back only showed 2 or 3 or maybe 4 that were loose.

I'm surprised a new rim would show that many loose, but the factory puts them together without a tire and the tire that is inflated will relax the spokes, so fill the tires with max pressure when spoke checking then deflate to running psi will help put more tension on the spokes without the twist. The max inflation kind of mimics the tire hitting something which relaxes the spokes, which loses tension if the threads decide to let go.

So after about a 5 hr tour I decided to check them. They didn't show any movement except for a little that I gathered was some of the spokes being twisted, but not really losing any tension.

Then I marked one and wanted to check it after detensioning. I knew from other projects that when torquing a fastener, if the final torque value is not reached in a smooth swing it will be under value. So I did this and it moved the spoke just pass the mark I made. That was acceptable, I was expecting more. Then I removed the spoke and applied some antiseize to the threads and under the nipple head and retorqued. It moved the mark past the initial starting point about 200 degrees. That was significant.

So with dry threads I don't think the spec'd torque value is being reached, and may be one reason there are so many spoke issues. And I have one over tensioned spoke compared to the 31 others...

There are enough threads in the nipples to install a set screw like bmw, but that might open another can of worms. And I'm not sure that really works.

And then I got curiouser and released the tension on that one spoke and retorqued to 30” lbs, and the nipple still turned 90 degrees past the dry torque value.

 

[gunslinger_006]

Just make sure you use a star pattern when tensioning the spokes. Dont go around in a direct circle.


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[Tenforeplay]

That’s why I brought them up to dry value initially in steps. Can’t make heads or tails of the spoke pattern.

 

[Tenforeplay]

I did find and figure out the star pattern of tightening. Had to sit down and cipher a bit on the instructions. Used it on the back wheel, much better than the system I was using...., whatever that was. Redid the spokes front and back with antiseize. I think that pulls them up much better than being dry.