So I spent 30 seconds every 200 yards on the way home from my new find (quarry) loosening, allowing hte wheel to settle back into place and then re-tightening the QR. QR doesn't seem overly worn, damaged and was as tight as I can manage (I'm able to manage enough to bend the billet alu lever too it seems). What do we reckon, snapped axle? Worn out QR nuts? Fork dropouts seem in fine fettle and fork brace seems solid at first glance.

Stretched?

See if you can borrow a qr off someone and try that first, that's always been the problem when I've known it happen. They bend or the cam wears or something.

If it has stretched there's no evidence, it's a fairly chunky DDG one, and it's just as damn hard to tighten as normal. I've a spare buried somewhere in a box somewhere in the flat – I'll have to track it down. I tapped the axle out of the hub to check that, all good there, bearings are flawless (despite being nearly 6 years old). Must be the QR – maybe there's so much friction on teh clamp end now that I'm not actually applying much clamping force despite bending the lever arm. Time to dig out the old LX one I think, shimano ones never seem to go wrong.

Still struggling with this – I’ve switched to a much beefier steel QR with new clamping faces and I still end up with the front brake seizing on after a small impact or firm braking. Practically makes the bike unridable – really annoying having to stop each time and re-seat the wheel. Time for greater investigation of the fork clamping surfaces and maybe get them milled flat again.

I had a problem where the protruding bits of the wheel hub that sit in the fork dropout where sticking out to far, so even with the QR done up tight the wheel wouldn’t stay in place.

This was a rigid steel fork with thin dropout plates, and a Hope Hub. In the end i filed the hub down a bit so it didn”t protrude from the dropouts.

i’m not sure if i’ve explained this very well but could be something to check!?

What baffles me is it’s a setup that’s been fine for months/years until now. Or rather until I got back from an alpine trip with it. I have stripped the forks completely and checked them all over for cracks/damage but not found anything. In fact I’ve checked everyt..

hang on, I’ve not checked the hub axle. I’ll tap that out tonight and check it’s not snapped mid way and shifting under load. Cheers for being a bouncing partner!

It does sound like something broken in the hub. Good luck with the investigations.

I think horatio has the answer… On Alloy drop outs you sometimes see the drop out has been worn to less thickness than the stubs sticking out of the hub…

sounds like qr is not up to job, try shimano. forces under braking are high.

sounds like qr is not up to job, try shimano. forces under braking are high.

Nope, checked and replaced. Tried an XT, a DDG and the original (some random one).

It could be the tooth/wear problem if my old QR allowed slippage/wear, I’ll check it over while I’m popping the axle out.

weird. word.

you ridden that drop off yet?

Nope. **** orrrfff, in my own time!

You haven’t got rear QR instead of a front. They are different lengths

Jesus!

HoratioHufnagel, probably has the right answer, although maybe hasn’t explained it well. 😕 It’s when the bit of the axle that fits through the dropout is longer than the dropout is thick, then the QR clamps mostly on the axle and not on the dropout. The other reason might be that the cam action on the QR doesn’t pull enough skewer. I had the same problem with my rear wheel a year or two ago using a Shimano QR. I used a WTB QR for a while, (that worked well), but swapped the axle for a DT screw-up one that is now bombproof. I reckon one of these would solve things for you. 😀

You haven’t got rear QR instead of a front. They are different lengths

Ferk me, there’s about 30mm difference isn’t there?! I’d hope not! 🙂

One sec, home now, just checking!

Was only a suggestion. Eliminate everything

Was only a suggestion. Eliminate everything

Thanks for your thoughts, really, what I meant by the comment was there’s no way it’d even tighten up if it was a rear. At least not without about 20mm of protruding QR.

More checks:

QR doesn’t clamp down on the axle.
Axle stubs are 5mm, each dropout is 10mm, minus about 0.5mm indentation from wear.
Axle solid.
Bearings perfect.
Doesn’t seem to matter how much force I put on the QR to close it, it’s slipped again just from a quick stab at the front brakes.

Baffled.

No worries. I take it the forks do have the little tabs?

Yup, they seem to be the only thing preventing me from faceplanting at the moment!

I’d be trying different QR’s then different wheels by now. Have you tried the QR on the other side?
I’m intrigued

I had the same thing a few years ago. I was convinced that the axle wasn’t a tight enough fit in the dropouts but before changing the forks I tried a bolt up QR (if you see what I mean) problem sorted.

Hmm tried other QR’s but not on the opposite side. Not tried another wheel yet as I’ve none with the correct disc size/pattern. They’ll be my next tests! Ta!

I’ve no doubt I could cure it with a bolt up axle, but I shouldn’t need to really, I’d be having to torque it up beyond belief to beat that applicable with QR, and it’s never been needed before so there must be some sort of problem.

What is the hub?

DDG Disc hubs:
http://www.mtbr.com/cat/tires-and-wheels/hub/ddg/disc-hubs/PRD_359971_127crx.aspx

Any chance your dropouts have got slightly twisted? Sounds like they may be out of parallel.

Maxle time?

If you put the wheel in, do you need to hold it in the correct position and then do up the QR? Or can you just drop it all the way in? If the first it could be the dropout slots are too wide (though I’ve never heard of that) or (as epicyclo suggests) the fork is twisted and you’re compensating by not fully seating the wheel.

But in your first post you say you let the wheel settle in to place, so that rules out my theory.

Need to check on the dropout twist, but not obviously if it is. When the wheel goes in it’s fine and happy “bottomed out” in the dropouts, then QRd up. Take it out, ride it, brake jams up, bend down, release QR and wheel clunks back home again. Royal PITA.