Hammerhead fitment question

[Spokes]

Im fitting a Hammerhead to my 4500 and have a question.

When lining up the Hammerhead with the dropout as per instructions, did you sit the Hammerhead tight on the wheel skewer or leave a small gap?
 
I dont have my wheel or caliper with me to do a trial fit to line everything up. I do have a 9mm wheel spindle which takes a skewer through the middle. So I can line the skewer up perfectly and slot the Hammerhead into place.

But do I slot the Hammerhead all the way onto the skewer which means the bottom of the Hammerhead over hangs the dropout, or do I line the Hammerhead up with the dropout which means there is a gap above the skewer?

I would think tight to the skewer but what have you guys done?

Chris

[Shaitaan]

I made mine so the adapter was even with the bottom of the dropout, and it ended up oh so slightly loose to the wheel skewer...  before I drilled, I slipped it in place, made sure the top mount hole in adapter was 'centered', bottom of it didn't protrude past bottom of dropout, clamped it using the skewer and then marked where the holes would go using a red sharpie, before I drilled and tapped it...

[Colin]

Hi Chris,
I've fitted a HH to one of my carbon swingarms, and all went fine, bottom line is that :
yes, slot the Hammerhead all the way onto the skewer which means the bottom of the Hammerhead over hangs the dropout,
I quote from the 2008 instructions I got from Mike:
"To mount you must first remove the small springs from the wheel QR skewer, and then simply clamp the HammerHead adapter into position by placing the adapter over the skewer, with the wheel/hub in the dropout. Make sure that the HammerHead adapters ‘slot’ has located over the skewer. Most skewers are between 4.5mm and 5.0mm in diameter and the HammerHead has been made to accommodate these. If you have a narrower skewer, then take this into consideration when mounting the adapter for the first time when you drill the holes. Although I would never advise using a skewer smaller than 4.5mm as you just cannot get the clamping force required."

The real limiting factor here I found was where the top threaded hole lined up, I felt this was most critical that it was in the exact centre of the relatively narrow top piece of metal of the dropout, the same goes for the lower mount point, but the metal is wider here, so less critical, although I still aimed for the middle of this piece of metal. The final point is that I chamfered the back of the HH at the top mount point so that it matched the curved profile of the dropout as it blends into the 90 deg transition to the carbon.

I lightly clamped the HH with a spare axle and QR and then rotated the HH using the QR skewer as the pivot to a point where the mounting holes lined up with the most "meat" of the metal of the dropout.

Piccies may be available if needed..............

Col.

[Spokes]

One of each! Thanks both for your views. Ive collected the rear wheel and caliper tonight so I'll do a dry build to see how it all fits and clears the caliper before drilling and then make a decision. I'll get some pictures up soon of my OZ build as its looking good so far.

Chris

[Colin]

I made mine so the adapter was even with the bottom of the dropout, and it ended up oh so slightly loose to the wheel skewer...  before I drilled, I slipped it in place, made sure the top mount hole in adapter was 'centered', bottom of it didn't protrude past bottom of dropout, clamped it using the skewer and then marked where the holes would go using a red sharpie, before I drilled and tapped it...

If you design or fit one this way then none of the load is transmitted into the axle via the Q/R, and whether or not you agree with this as a good thing, that is the way Mike designed the HammerHead. The only way the force could be transmitted into the axle is if you re-align the axle so that more protrudes on the disc side, but then you run the risk of less on the drive side which is probably not a good idea.
Or if you could get a 140mm long axle and fit that to your wheel and then there would be enough axle overhang at both ends to do both jobs efficiently.

Col.

[Spokes]

Now I've read Mikes instructions from Col I understand more but my confusion stems from the instructions I read from the RDS site that say to line the adapter up with the dropout then clamp it in place. Now if you line it up with the dropout as i said previously the skewer hole dosnt line up. A little conflicting on the two sets of instructions.
Not to worry though. I see this design as transmitting load through three points. The two allen bolt fixings and the skewer, so as long as you line up all three with enough metal around them it should be fine.
It would have been better if the instruction read 'slot adapter fully onto skewer' if that's what he meant.

Chris