“It ain’t going on”

The tire/wheel assembly that is.

One side went on perfect/as expected. The other..the assembled/greased bearing assembly won’t slide onto the spindle. No kidding…for past the threads then stops (yep, both wheel assembly fit great on the other leg. Tried scotchguard (stop laughing..yah it hardened) to no avail.

Anyone ever had this experience/ anyone know what to do?

I would mic both axles to verify diameter.

Very common on the spring gear. Have had to sand or use a scotchbright pad on a die grinder to remove a very slight amount of material from an oversized axle on one or both sides, it doesn't take much. It seems that during the bending and heat treating they can grow a bit. Many older threats about this.

I wouldn't use a power tool here.

I used some "fine" emery cloth (a bit more abrasive than red scotchbrite pads), cut into a 1 1/2" wide by 12" long strip. Wrap 1/2 way around the axle and move it in a back-forth motion for about 10 seconds, using light pressure; then rotate it 90° and repeat until you have gone completely around the axle.

It could be a slight surface imperfection that's causing the bearing to hang up, or the axle could have grown slightly during the fabrication process...

Likely

Likely a bit bigger where the threading process finished…

The gear legs are heat treated after they have been turned on a lathe, and the axle bent on the end. Sometimes during heat treating the dimension changes ever so slightly towards the big end of the tolerance range, and a bearing won’t slip on. Spending a bit of time with some emery cloth working the entire circumference equally will take care of it.

Thank you, everybody for your advice.

I’m on it like a fat kid on an M&M!