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I have two sets of wheels, both laced to surly singlespeed hubs (the older "new" hubs, not the "ultra new" hubs which seem to make this process much easier).

Anyway the wheelset I like better has a quick release rear, and the other has a nutted axle. After riding the QR for a year, I've found I don't really like it. I wanted to go QR for easier on-trail flat changing, but since switching to the new (tubeless) wheels I haven't had a single flat. So I'm wishing I had the nutted axle on my newer wheels, as it felt a lot stronger.

What I'm wondering is if there's a way I can disassemble the hubs and get the nutted axle onto my new wheels. I haven't taken apart a hub before but as I understand it these hubs use cartridge bearings, which I suspect makes the process a bit easier.

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http://surlybikes.com/parts/hubs_v1 says "This is a common size so it’s easy to find replacements should the need arise or to swap axles if, for instance, you have a QR axle and want to go solid", so it should be easy enough. Based on the photos, you might want some cone wrenches even though with cartridge bearings there aren't actually cones as such. As the Surly page says, you still need to adjust the load on the bearings when you do it up. http://sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/conewrenches.html

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  • Thanks! Couldn't find that page on the old-new hubs. I've got cone wrenches, so I will take apart the old hub, and see how confident I feel after that messing with the newer one.
    – AlexCuse
    Commented Oct 5, 2012 at 15:59
  • Finally got this done last night and it was a snap - only problem was the axle nuts from the old hub were gone so I had to use some nonsense from sears w/ washers (had the shop order me some proper nuts to use eventually). Thanks again for pointing me to the info on the old-new hub :)
    – AlexCuse
    Commented Nov 29, 2012 at 18:04
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A standard, non-exotic QR axle can be easily replaced with solid. In fact, many bike shops would have the replacement axle in stock.

It does require fairly complete disassembly of the hub, though, and a touch of skill in properly "pre-loading" the bearings on reassembly.

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