I'm new at this and trying to learn how to properly lace and true a wheel. I even bought a truing stand and a spoke torque wrench, despite this I am having a hard time and second guessing if I have proper spoke tension
First off I lubed the spoke nipple mating surface and spoke threads.
I then tightend up all the spokes evenly until they where all finger tight. I tightened every 4th spoke gradually with an even ammount of turns, and did a few complete round of this. I then used the torque wrench set 26 inch lbs on all spokes. The manual spec is 22, I beleive with dry threads. Many people said 48 was recommended, I picked 26 as I felt it would be tifht enough and safer than 48 especially with lube threads.
After the final torque I checked/corrected wheel hop and then lateral runout.
The wheel is now fairly true probably within 1mm each way.
My main concern is that I dont have correct spoke tension. I don't trust the torque wrench and I have no way of knowing how much the lubed threads affect torque.
I have been experimenting doing things by feel but since I have no one to show me, its pretty much a guessing game..
If I back off one of the spokes at some point there is an obviously/significant tone change, to me that is obviously loose, from there I tighten in 1/4 turn incremens, untill it starts to have a sharper ping sound, and from ther e 26inch lbs on this wheel turns about 1/4-1/3 more.
Does that sound right?
I think you’re on the right track. I’ve always gone by sound and a true wheel. If I’m not mistaken, someone on here said that you can typically get even torque or true wheels, but generally not both.
Yea I've had no problem getting he wheel true injustice have no idea if I am too tight or loose across the entire wheel.
What hub, rim, and spokes are you using ? What brand bike is this for? Manual spec of 22 sounds like a Yamaha.
In any case, if you're torqueing to only 26 inch lbs, it's almost certain you are not too tight. That's a pretty low setting. No one online is going to be able to tell you if it's too loose or too tight without having the wheel right in front of them and being able to ping the spokes and feel it themself. But it sounds like you are pretty much in the ballpark by your description.
Common issue....try taking a torque spoke wrench to a new KTM with the correct torque settings. Like someone said earlier....you can have a true wheel or the proper spoke spec but not both at the same time.
Wheel builders are worth the cost of their service. A built wheel from one of the wheel builders will be as close as you can get to proper torque spec and trueness.
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Stock yz250 wheel. Any idea if I should be aiming for yamaha spec of 22 or excels spec of 48?
With oile threads 20 give me a decent ping, definitely not loose but slightly lower pitch. 26 give me a very sharp ping.. I know it's heard ronsay over the internet but anything helps.
I may try to see if a shop is willing to show me
Yes that is why I am asking about how to tighten by sound. I get it's hard to explain over the internet though.
Yes yamaha yz250x.
I am going to bring the wheel to a shop and see if they will show me the correct tone.
Do you have any idea why the yamaha torque spec is so low and if it shod be disregarded?
I've always thought it was too low and I torque them harder than that. A few of the Yamaha torque specs are head scratchers (check the thread about blown out front axle nuts). I'd call Collin at Faster-USA before I'd go to a local shop. He builds wheels all day every day and he likes to share info.
Is the rim new or used?
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