I just can't win for loosing....
The new axles showed up today from Go-Power Sports. Two things wrong right off the bat. 1. The axles are not 15MM. They are .004 too small in diameter and are loose in the bearings. The old axle is 14.94 and the new axles are 14.66. A loose fit in the bearings.
I called GPS and told them what I found and they concurred after taking measurements themselves. " We use them all the time,the axle will be tight on the bearings when you tighten the nut" ...I was told. I'm not happy. The old axle was a friction fit. This one wobbles around in the bearing.
The second problem is the new axle is longer than listed. My broken axle was 13 8/16" long. This new one is supposed to be 13 9/16" long, a diff of 1/16". "Use a couple of washers to take up the difference" is in the web site instructions.
I had to machine over 1 1/2" of spacers just to reach the threads for the nut to tighten onto.
I ended up machining two step washes to go inside of the chain tensioners 3/8"" ( see above) and then two 1/2" spacers to fill up the free gap before the threads.
Then to add insult to injury, the forged in "nut" on the axle shaft is of a no-known size, nether metric nor inch. I had to use a Cresent Wrench to hold the cast in nut. Not the best for torquing the other nut.
PHOTO:
1. the weird sized forged in nut
2. My machined 1/2" spacer
3. Machined 3/8" step spacer for the chain tensioner. ( the original threaded shaft is like a number 10 screw with 10 mm nuts.)
4. Grade 8 Fender washer.
The Drive side is:
1. a machined step spacer of 1/2" to firmly hold the chain tensioner up against the fender washer.
2. My 5/16" threaded grade 8 shaft to repair the the aluminum bolster when the old axle broke and bent this device.
3. Grade 8 Fender Washer
I torqued the nut on the axle to 60 foot pounds and took the mini for a ride. As soon as I climber my hill, the axle moved forward just enough to slacken the chain. I retensioned the chain tensiones to take up the slack and re-torqued the axle nut to 80 foot pounds hoping the CHI-COM axle did not fail.
The 2nd ride was much harder and arriving back to my garage the axle had stayed in place this time. The chain is still at the correct play.
What should have taken 20 minutes to install the new axle ended up taking 6 hours.
I do think the new axle is going to be badly galled by the .004 play between the axle and the bearings. I hope I'm wrong. Time will tell.