need help installing a Hammerhead adapter

[chainsaw]

when lining up my Hammerhead adapter to my 4500/5500 frame's rear dropout, I am having problems:

assuming the the drop out skewer hole of the Hammerhead, and the drop out skewer hole on my carbon swingarm should be exactly lined up, I use a skewer end to hold against the upper part of the hammerhead drop out and the swingarm drop out at the same time. when I do this the upper mounting hole in the hammerhead puts the hole I need to drill NOT in the center sweetspot, but UP  little bit and too close to the top edge where it would not be strong enough.

If I drill the hole where the instructions say to in the middle part of the metal, between the vacant oblong hold and the top.... if I do that, then the drop out skewer hole part of the Hammerhead that supports the skewer, would have to be lower than the drop out skewer half hole on the swingarm drop outs.

this would make the wheel axle lower on the hammerhead side and higher on the unchanged right side. that would be unacceptable.

am I missing something? I don't understand why it  doesn't fit correctly.

I suppose I should just go ahead and mount it, and then dremmel out the hammerhead drop out skewer hole to match the swingarm drop out skewer hole.

[shovelon]

Where would that put your caliper holes? Something seems wrong. The adapter should be machined with the caliper holes dimensioned perfectly from the dropout hole I would think. How else would you position the axle/calliper distance?

Terry

[Simon]

Don't dremmel,that came off a 4500 carbon arm,it will be covering some of the dropout hole as its drilling is for the M4 skewer and the dropout is M10 for the hub axle to fit in,the hammerhead sits on the skewer not at the top of the dropout,anyway sent you some pic's and info.
Simon.

[chainsaw]

shovelon, my  caliper holes are just fine. I had the Avid BB7 mech calipers attached when I was lining everything up.

I went ahead and mounted it. I feel like the holes we have to drill... their placement RULES any decisions we have to make... they have to be at those crucial strong points.

now the top of my drop out hole on that side is a tiny FRACTION of  an inch closer to the  ground than before because of the Hammerhead. I can always just drimmel it out to match up with the depth of the swing arm drop out that my skewers used to ride on. I finally felt confident enough that that was the only thing to do and did it.

thanks to both of you for yoru replies

[chainsaw]

go to http://mannphoto.com/hammerhead

to see what I have done already, and why I think I have to dremmel out the Hammerhead dropout

[Simon]

go to http://mannphoto.com/hammerhead

to see what I have done already, and why I think I have to dremmel out the Hammerhead dropout

Before you dremmel anything fit your wheel without the skewer,if the hub axle hole lines up with the hammerhead then everything is correct,just slide your skewer through and tighten,thats how they are supposed to fit,if not maybe your dropout hasn't been correctly manufactured,I'm only saying this because as you know its my old hammerhead and I had no trouble mounting it to both my 4500 and my son's Oz and also used it  as a template for a custom one I made, I've also sent to others a template of that one to make there own,as far as I'm aware they have had no problems.
Simon.

[chainsaw]

ok, Simon, will do. thanks

[shovelon]

   From your picture it does hang down a bit but may allow the skewer to pass. It does give more of a footprint for the skewer. Simon knows best.

 Speaking of chainsaw, chainsaw files of the right diameter work great for slotting if need be.

Terry

[Carbon_Angus]

don't wanna add another twist, but that Hammerhead looks nothing like the one on my Oz.

and I think the swingarms should be the same, at least the drop outs do.

but i could be wrong

why did you drill the dropout when it dind't seem to line up?

good luck, send an email to Mike, he will give you the horses answer.

dremeling should be okay, but it shouldn't need it unnless something is wrong. the drop out does still rest on the axle???, the skewer clamping to the HH is what it's supposed to do, as long as you can get the wheel right on and skewer on and clamped properly.

[smiley=beer.gif]

[chainsaw]

I went ahead and drilled the mounting holes, because that is really the right place to drill them. there is no way I could have lined up the drop out and then drilled the mounting holes, because the top one would have been way too near the edge of the metal.  

ok, just mounted a wheel off my other bike and it looks straight when mounted into my Hammerhead... so no issue with wheel alignment. don't know why there isn't but there  isn't, even though the swingarm drop outs  are of different depth. strange.

new worry: when I take some hits on that rear wheel from logs, curbs, and landing small jumps, because the Hammerhead is lower than the orginal dropouts, isn't the Hammerhead going to be taken the brunt of the force instead of the original drop outs? aren't my fairly fragile threads that I cut today, and those tiny titanium screws going be unduly stressed and possibly even break loose? makes me thing I should still ream out that Hammerhead  drop out to match the  original drop out.

[Carbon_Angus]

the hub axle shouldn't go beyond the outside of the dropout, so the HH is really just clamped to the dropout by the skewer and screwed ot the dropout and not resting on the axle hub ....

if the HH is resting on the axle hub you wouldn't get your wheel aligned anyway, right?

[smiley=beer.gif]

[Simon]

 

ok, just mounted a wheel off my other bike and it looks straight when mounted into my Hammerhead... so no issue with wheel alignment. don't know why there isn't but there  isn't, even though the swingarm drop outs  are of different depth. strange.

new worry: when I take some hits on that rear wheel from logs, curbs, and landing small jumps, because the Hammerhead is lower than the orginal dropouts, isn't the Hammerhead going to be taken the brunt of the force instead of the original drop outs? aren't my fairly fragile threads that I cut today, and those tiny titanium screws going be unduly stressed and possibly even break loose? makes me thing I should still ream out that Hammerhead  drop out to match the  original drop out.

SEE TOLD YOU IT WOULD FIT [smiley=laughing.gif]
IF YOUR THAT WORRIED ABOUT THE HH PROTRUDING SLIGHTLY LOWER THAN THE DROPOUT THEN CUTTING THAT SMALL PORTION OFF WON'T HURT,BUT DON'T REAM OUT THAT HOLE TO MATCH THE DROPOUT,THAT AREA GIVES EXTRA CLAMPING AREA TO THE SKEWER THUS HELPING TO SECURE THE HH TO THE DROPOUT,AS TO YOUR OTHER CONCERN,AS PER INSTRUCTIONS YOU SHOULD OF BUTTED THE HH AGAINST THE DROPOUT EDGE (WHERE THERE IS A SLIGHT MACHINED TAPER ON THE HH),AS YOU BRAKE THE FORCES ARE APPLIED FORWARDS BUT AS THE HH IS BUTTED UP AGAINST THE DROPOUT IN THAT DIRECTION THERE IS VERY LITTLE STRESS APPLIED TO THOSE BOLTS AND SKEWER,DON'T WORRY JUST GET OUT AND RIDE [smiley=laughing.gif]
SIMON.

[chainsaw]

AS PER INSTRUCTIONS YOU SHOULD OF BUTTED THE HH AGAINST THE DROPOUT EDGE (WHERE THERE IS A SLIGHT MACHINED TAPER ON THE HH),

I did line up the HH against the dropout edge like the instructions said, but when I marked the holes, per instructions, the top hole was way too close to the top edge of the metal and not at all centered. I felt like that was not a strong enough place to drill. centering that top mounting hole seemed more important than lining up the drop out edge.... because I knew I could remove some of the Hammerhead down there if  I needed to.

I don't see how  everyone else didn't get that extra metal hanging below the orginal drop out opening unless my swingarm is just narrower than everybody elses.

I didn't realize that the only thing riding on the axle would be the orignal dropout. that definitely makes me feel better. glad I know that now.

[rapiddescent]

I wish you had contacted me or Mike about this.  I don't read the forum enough to catch all the questions.  

sorry, reposting because I looked at Chainsaws pictures again.  The main axle actually will fit snugly in behind the HH and only the skewer itself will touch the HH.  This means that both take a bit of the mass and this is entirely correct.

The cut-out guide in the instructions shows this and the instructions say to put the wheel in with the skewer and then line up the HH with the wheel in place.  All you would have needed to do is rock the HH into the right place to get the top hole central and all would have been simple.

callum