non-available locknuts for hub motors

[indianajo]

I double nut all rear wheels, since I frequently pull the wheel out of alignment causing brakes & tires to drag. Hubmotor kits come with one pair of nuts. M14 x 1.75 to be exact. Very loose thread ones to be critical. A very strange and weird thread. Both the geared hub I bought in 2017 and the direct drive hub I bought this year have this thread on the axle.
Recently my new rear hubmotor slipped in the frame and locked up so bad it convinced me the bearings were bad in the motor. Called in a favor and got a friend to haul the bike 14 miles home. Actually, after disassembly and inspection, I think the axle slipped and caused the torque arm to start rubbing the hubmotor on the outside of the casing. That is where the new wear pattern was. So I'm going try again, but not until I lock the axle in place with two nuts counter rotated on each side.
So back to double nutting. I bought some M14 x 1.75 nuts last year at a motorcycle shop for the geared front hubmotor. that shop has now sold to a megacorporation that deleted all that old unprofitable junk in the parts deparment. I paid them $1.50 each for the ones I got. Nearest electric bike shop is Indianapolis, only a $100 round trip by greyhound for those of us that don't like cars with air-bags. And don't know if pedego axle has the same thread as these jolly-roger amazon/ebay hubs. A shop wouldn't have to sell me nuts anyway, since I didn't buy a bike there. No matter all their frames in stock will be too long and tall for me.
However, new M14 x 1.75 nuts are not available by searching on : Amazon, Ebay, aliexpress, mcmaster.com, grainger.com, mscdirect.com, fastenal.com, lunacycle.com. Niagaracycle used to list various nuts but actually shipped random bits of metal junk not including any measurement matching the advertised one. Tried to get 3/8 x 26 for shimano hubs from niagara, HA! Waste of a good cardboard box and $7 shipping. Jensonusa and competitioncycle don't mess with fiddly little things like that.
What you can get is taps and dies from Victor Machine Exchange, on the internet as victornet.com . Just ordered a M14x1.75 tap & die, and to finish an old shimano project I'm still riding, 3/8x26 tap. A round die holder was $7. A 17/32" drill (screw machine series) which is my rough estimate of the pilot hole I'll have to drill, was $7.
If you don't have a vise, safety glasses, a 1/2" drill motor, and an oiler, save your money and buy a pedego or juiced bike. Or your favorite premium brand. If your brake starts dragging or the tire starts rubbing, 30 miles from home, you'll wish you had double nutted the axle.

 

[rich c]

I prefer to use chain tensioners instead of double nuts. I'd even suggest blue locktite would work better than double nuts.

 

[indianajo]

When replacing a tube 30 miles from the city, I don't want to have to carry a torch to burn out the locktite. I change tubes a couple of times a year. Locktite is fine for cars.
Have never seen "chain tensioner" for sale, and vague about how to use it. What do the flanges pull on?
Mother's 1946 Firestone bike had screws threaded into the frame to push back on the axle. Like set screws with a blunt end for pushing and a square head to turn. The frame was designed for that of course, wouldn't work on a modern bike. They were real men in those days on a one gear bike.

 

[rich c]

When replacing a tire 30 miles from the city, I don't want to have to carry a torch to burn out the locktite. I change tubes a couple of times a year. Locktite is fine for cars.
Have never seen "chain tensioner" for sale, and vague about how to use it. What do the flanges pull on?
Mother's 1946 Firestone bike had screws threaded into the frame to push back on the axle. Like set screws with a blunt end for pushing and a square head to turn. The frame was designed for that of course, wouldn't work on a modern bike. They were real men in those days on a one gear bike.

Red Loctite requires heat, blue does not. Nearly every fastener on my Haibikes have blue on them.

 

[harryS]

Thanks for the info. I never realized I had to buy a complete motor kit to get these rare nuts. I've gut a hub unused in the garage. Better make sure I know where I put the two nuts for it.

I see someone just put up a set of used ones on amazon for $20.99!

So you're going to make your own locknuts now?

 

[indianajo]

I hope to make locknuts. Depends on the tolerance of the tap I receive. The nuts that came with the current $179 hub kit, and the ones that came with the $300 geared hub before that, are really loose. The bill for a tap for nuts, die for rethreading axle, die holder and pilot drill was $61 with freight. The threads on the geared hub axle got boogered slightly.
edit 9/6 I'll say one positive thing: Victor Machinery Exchange shipped all these weird taps and dies the morning after I ordered them. I thought it would take a month for them to make them. IJ
Edit 9/12 Victor ships the taps & dies so fast because they are in stock, made in *****.