The Commuter

I was replacing the rear brake calipers on my Redline commuter last night and I couldn't get the wheel to stay in place after putting everything back together. I noticed the inside of the dropout on the drive side was worn from the axle nut rubbing.

This is supposed to be a flat surface, but apparently my wheel has been shifting about for some time. Could it be from the Hercules strength in my legs? : ) I took it to the bike shop and they immediately said it was un-repairable. I'm pretty handy in most of the vocational trades, so I took his answer as a challenge and stopped by Home Depot on the way home and bought a 3/4" grinding stone. 

I made a jig out of a piece of hardwood to keep the stone in place while I hand ground the bad portion until I thought it was deep enough to accept a make shift bushing. I used a block of wood with a shallow 1/4" hole in it to apply the down force needed to remove the aluminum. 

Here's the result of the grinding with a picture of the bushing made from a washer. I mixed up some heavy duty epoxy, glued it in place and clamped it down for the night. I guess I didn't file the throat open enough because when I pulled the wheel off  for inspection the following day the bushing came off with the wheel. 

I did a little more grinding on the drop out and used JB Weld this time. I'll find out tomorrow if my garage machine work saved the frame. I pulled clamp off after work, filed a few more areas and this is the final product. My test rides proved to be successful, but the next two days will be the true test and if all goes well I'll be riding it on Sunday for the PMC.  A fellow commuter at work will be joining me for the 100K ride.