Thanks Brucey.
I've checked in the hub shell - there is a puddle of clean oil/grease remaining in there, and its not swimming at the bottom of that - I poked around with a clean screwdriver and nothing seemed to be lurking there. I don't think it can be in the carrier or drive unit, because I've been riding it all winter and nothing else has broken... To check the other things and be even surer, I think I have to split the carrier from the drive unit so I can see inside? If I have watched the youtube clips correctly, then I need to remove the smaller snap-ring (labelled 2 on the SG-S501 exploded diagram) on the non-drive (carrier) side, and then the internals should split into two halves... or something like that.
I suspect that my local shop won't have a replacement roller, or be able to find the original one - it could even have disappeared to the bottom of their oil bath I suppose, and been disposed of. Or, it's probably been swept up. There is a bigger shop in town and I might be able to beg for a part of a cannibalised unit. If you do have a suitable roller, and you'd be willing to post it, that would be great. We could arrange a suitable fee.
One thing I noticed is that all the youtube videos show people flapping about with small screwdrivers, prizing about to remove the larger "Snap Ring C (31) to get the drive sprocket off. But if you use a sensible circlip tool it pops off really easily. To be fair, I didn't try to reinstall it yet ... and it doesn't have little holes like a normal circlip, with which to get any solid purchase.
Andrew
Alfine 8-speed ?clutch? problem in gears 2, 3, 4
Re: Alfine 8-speed ?clutch? problem in gears 2, 3, 4
I may have mentioned this upthread but a surprisingly common fault is that the sprocket slips on the hub splines, because 3/32" sprockets have slim drive lugs that don't engage well with the splined driver. Look for signs of wear on the sprocket lugs. I recommend using a 1/8" sprocket and chain to overcome this. A good 1/8" chain will run perfectly on a 3/32" chainring BTW.
Re circlips the Alfine uses a square section circlip that is quite a bit tougher to refit than a round one, but still isn't secure enough to prevent a 3/32" sprocket from slipping round. They can be a right PITA to refit.
If the hub still has grease in, there will likely be clumps of grease right next to the planet pinions. Debris in the hub can collect and nestle in these grease clumps, which can be investigated without further disassembly.
cheers
Re circlips the Alfine uses a square section circlip that is quite a bit tougher to refit than a round one, but still isn't secure enough to prevent a 3/32" sprocket from slipping round. They can be a right PITA to refit.
If the hub still has grease in, there will likely be clumps of grease right next to the planet pinions. Debris in the hub can collect and nestle in these grease clumps, which can be investigated without further disassembly.
cheers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Re: Alfine 8-speed ?clutch? problem in gears 2, 3, 4
Hi,
I know it's not the sprocket.. the problem is only apparent in 2, 3, 4. By contrast, 1 and 5 I can stamp as hard as I like without any slip (and 6, 7,
I managed to split the main unit into its two halves. A website I saw suggested you just removed the smaller snap-ring from the non-drive side and it should just "come apart". This didn't work for me. I found I had to remove the snap-ring, and then temporarily hold on the shifter assembly (align red dots first) and twist it against the spring while jiggling, to get the two halves apart. Quite fiddly, as the shifting spring is quite strong. I suspect you could alternatively disassemble the drive-side shifting spring assembly, but I had no idea if that would be a really awkward or require an difficult or impossible spring re-assembly, so I left it.
Anyway, I don't find the missing roller anywhere, or any signs I could see that it was ever bouncing around in here. No obvious cracks that I could see. Some of pawls show wear (shiny) but, to my eyes, didn't look "broken". I put 4 pictures here, in case anyone else can comment on the state of the axle/pawls/carriers. We shot a small video of the pawls moving as I twisted the shifter lever, which is fun to see, but its 174MB and too big to upload.
This first one perhaps shows some wear on the pawls etc. towards the middle of the pawl section [3rd, 4th, 5th "pawl" sections from the left] ? Is this relevant ?
This last one again shows the roller which is just AWOL.
I know it's not the sprocket.. the problem is only apparent in 2, 3, 4. By contrast, 1 and 5 I can stamp as hard as I like without any slip (and 6, 7,
I managed to split the main unit into its two halves. A website I saw suggested you just removed the smaller snap-ring from the non-drive side and it should just "come apart". This didn't work for me. I found I had to remove the snap-ring, and then temporarily hold on the shifter assembly (align red dots first) and twist it against the spring while jiggling, to get the two halves apart. Quite fiddly, as the shifting spring is quite strong. I suspect you could alternatively disassemble the drive-side shifting spring assembly, but I had no idea if that would be a really awkward or require an difficult or impossible spring re-assembly, so I left it.
Anyway, I don't find the missing roller anywhere, or any signs I could see that it was ever bouncing around in here. No obvious cracks that I could see. Some of pawls show wear (shiny) but, to my eyes, didn't look "broken". I put 4 pictures here, in case anyone else can comment on the state of the axle/pawls/carriers. We shot a small video of the pawls moving as I twisted the shifter lever, which is fun to see, but its 174MB and too big to upload.
This first one perhaps shows some wear on the pawls etc. towards the middle of the pawl section [3rd, 4th, 5th "pawl" sections from the left] ? Is this relevant ?
This last one again shows the roller which is just AWOL.
Re: Alfine 8-speed ?clutch? problem in gears 2, 3, 4
in your photos all the sun locking pawls are fully retracted so any wear on them cannot be seen.
This position (gear 1) is the correct one to allow removal of the planet cage assys; that you managed it by working the gear selector is probably a coincidence; the most common problem with removing the planet cage assy is that the tabs alongside the sun pinions swing into the gaps in the axle assy and this prevents the planet cage assy from sliding off. In all the other gears (apart from gear 5) at least one pawl ought to be lifted and this will prevent the planet cage from sliding off; if the planet cage is forced off whilst a pawl is lifted damage can result.
If you connect the cassette joint and the gear cable etc to the bare axle assy and work the shifter you will see the pawls lift in sequence and you will see the sliding clutch operate too. This will give you the chance to verify that the pawls are in fact fully lifted in each gear when the timing marks are correctly set; commonly this isn't quite the case (because of wear and/or manufacturing tolerances) and this too can cause slippage mostly in gears 2,3,4,6,7,8.
If the pawls are labelled 2,3,4 from left to right and the sliding clutch is labelled 1 (L or H) then
..............1.....2......3......4.
Gear 1......L......-.......-......-
Gear 2 .....L.....F.......-.......-
Gear 3......L.....P.......F......-
Gear 4......L.....-........P.....F
Gear 5 .....H.....-.......-.......-
Gear 6 .....H.....F.......-.......-
Gear 7 .....H.....P.......F......-
Gear 8 .....H.....-.......P......F
where F = full lift and P = partial lift
Making small cable adjustments in either direction will show if the relevant pawls are fully lifted or not. Quite small differences in pawl lift may cause gear slippage.
BTW I have a suitable roller in amongst my stash of parts.
cheers
This position (gear 1) is the correct one to allow removal of the planet cage assys; that you managed it by working the gear selector is probably a coincidence; the most common problem with removing the planet cage assy is that the tabs alongside the sun pinions swing into the gaps in the axle assy and this prevents the planet cage assy from sliding off. In all the other gears (apart from gear 5) at least one pawl ought to be lifted and this will prevent the planet cage from sliding off; if the planet cage is forced off whilst a pawl is lifted damage can result.
If you connect the cassette joint and the gear cable etc to the bare axle assy and work the shifter you will see the pawls lift in sequence and you will see the sliding clutch operate too. This will give you the chance to verify that the pawls are in fact fully lifted in each gear when the timing marks are correctly set; commonly this isn't quite the case (because of wear and/or manufacturing tolerances) and this too can cause slippage mostly in gears 2,3,4,6,7,8.
If the pawls are labelled 2,3,4 from left to right and the sliding clutch is labelled 1 (L or H) then
..............1.....2......3......4.
Gear 1......L......-.......-......-
Gear 2 .....L.....F.......-.......-
Gear 3......L.....P.......F......-
Gear 4......L.....-........P.....F
Gear 5 .....H.....-.......-.......-
Gear 6 .....H.....F.......-.......-
Gear 7 .....H.....P.......F......-
Gear 8 .....H.....-.......P......F
where F = full lift and P = partial lift
Making small cable adjustments in either direction will show if the relevant pawls are fully lifted or not. Quite small differences in pawl lift may cause gear slippage.
BTW I have a suitable roller in amongst my stash of parts.
cheers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Re: Alfine 8-speed ?clutch? problem in gears 2, 3, 4
Brucey, thanks,
I'll "private message" you about the spare roller.. perhaps there is some hope... I stayed up way too late on Sunday searching online for any generic bearing supplier with anything similar, without success.
This is a very useful diagram. I'll try this out and take some photos in each gear. Might be useful for other people as well. I can now see that connecting the cable up properly will be (in the end) much easier than just twisting the shifter by hand, fighting the spring. I''m still not quite sure what pawl combination activates the (**) clutch to the hubshell which is active in 2, 3, 4 and 6, 7, 8 which seems to be my symptom and where one of my rollers is missing. On the table, there doesn't seem to be a single pawl which would activate that clutch. Unless, perhaps, if ANY of pawls 2, 3, 4 are partially OR fully up, that would be the correct combination logic to activate my problem clutch (**)? Is that actually what activates the clutch (**)? An alternative would be that ANY of pawls 2, 3, 4 need to be FULLY up. The first option would be quite tolerant of a worn pawl, whereas the second option would probably be much less tolerant of a worn pawl, in terms of clutch (**) operation. Am I on the right lines?
Andrew
I'll "private message" you about the spare roller.. perhaps there is some hope... I stayed up way too late on Sunday searching online for any generic bearing supplier with anything similar, without success.
This is a very useful diagram. I'll try this out and take some photos in each gear. Might be useful for other people as well. I can now see that connecting the cable up properly will be (in the end) much easier than just twisting the shifter by hand, fighting the spring. I''m still not quite sure what pawl combination activates the (**) clutch to the hubshell which is active in 2, 3, 4 and 6, 7, 8 which seems to be my symptom and where one of my rollers is missing. On the table, there doesn't seem to be a single pawl which would activate that clutch. Unless, perhaps, if ANY of pawls 2, 3, 4 are partially OR fully up, that would be the correct combination logic to activate my problem clutch (**)? Is that actually what activates the clutch (**)? An alternative would be that ANY of pawls 2, 3, 4 need to be FULLY up. The first option would be quite tolerant of a worn pawl, whereas the second option would probably be much less tolerant of a worn pawl, in terms of clutch (**) operation. Am I on the right lines?
..............1.....2......3......4.
Gear 1......L......-.......-......-
Gear 2 .....L.....F.......-.......-
Gear 3......L.....P.......F......-
Gear 4......L.....-........P.....F
Gear 5 .....H.....-.......-.......-
Gear 6 .....H.....F.......-.......-
Gear 7 .....H.....P.......F......-
Gear 8 .....H.....-.......P......F
There are two (roller) clutches that take the drive onto the hubshell (one used in gears 1 and 5, the other used in 2,3,4,6,7,8 (*),(**), a sliding clutch that is only engaged in 5-8, a roller clutch (or pawl clutch in some variants) that is used in 1-4 (*) (and is takes the drive from the driver to the primary ring gear) and three pawls that lift from the axle and are used in 2,6 or 3,7 or 4,8 (*), (**) respectively.
Andrew
Re: Alfine 8-speed ?clutch? problem in gears 2, 3, 4
the drive to the hubshell is taken through the small roller clutch (at the left end of the internal) in gears 1,5 and through the central roller clutch in gears 2,3,4,6,7,8. The roller clutches are passive in nature; whichever one is moving fastest transmits the drive. In gears 1,5 the central clutch is not driven, and in the other gears the central clutch is moving faster than the LH roller clutch so the drive is transmitted accordingly.
If the relevant 'F' pawl is not fully lifted and it slips, usually it slips only a short way before drive is taken up again by the same F pawl or is taken by the P pawl. If the F pawl slips it is virtually certain that neither pawl is able to transmit the full drive, and slippage is only limited by the fact that by now, the pedal is probably at the bottom of the stroke and the applied torque is reduced. More slippage is likely on the next pedal stroke.
Note that the pawls are spring loaded and can function as a freewheel; when the F pawl transmits drive, the 'P' pawl is overrun by its sun pinion, so the backs of pawls 2 and 3 often show wear through the black coating, where they have been overrun in gears 3,7, and 4,8 respectively. Pawl 4 is never a 'P' pawl and is never overrun.
If any pawl is partially lifted , it is capable of transmitting some low torque. The idea is presumably that if the F pawl fails entirely, you have some drive rather than none through the P pawl.
Note that the table is not 100% accurate in that the next pawl to be used (in an upshift sequence) often manifests a slight lift too. Thus in gear 3 pawl 3 is fully lifted, and pawl 4 is often very slightly lifted too. It doesn't engage with its sun because any contact is only between the radiused noses of the pawl and the ratchet form within the relevant sun pinion.
I strongly recommend checking the pawl lifts vs the cassette joint markings. It isn't unusual to find that the best setting is about 0.5mm more cable pull than the CJ marks suggest.
cheers
If the relevant 'F' pawl is not fully lifted and it slips, usually it slips only a short way before drive is taken up again by the same F pawl or is taken by the P pawl. If the F pawl slips it is virtually certain that neither pawl is able to transmit the full drive, and slippage is only limited by the fact that by now, the pedal is probably at the bottom of the stroke and the applied torque is reduced. More slippage is likely on the next pedal stroke.
Note that the pawls are spring loaded and can function as a freewheel; when the F pawl transmits drive, the 'P' pawl is overrun by its sun pinion, so the backs of pawls 2 and 3 often show wear through the black coating, where they have been overrun in gears 3,7, and 4,8 respectively. Pawl 4 is never a 'P' pawl and is never overrun.
If any pawl is partially lifted , it is capable of transmitting some low torque. The idea is presumably that if the F pawl fails entirely, you have some drive rather than none through the P pawl.
Note that the table is not 100% accurate in that the next pawl to be used (in an upshift sequence) often manifests a slight lift too. Thus in gear 3 pawl 3 is fully lifted, and pawl 4 is often very slightly lifted too. It doesn't engage with its sun because any contact is only between the radiused noses of the pawl and the ratchet form within the relevant sun pinion.
I strongly recommend checking the pawl lifts vs the cassette joint markings. It isn't unusual to find that the best setting is about 0.5mm more cable pull than the CJ marks suggest.
cheers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Re: Alfine 8-speed ?clutch? problem in gears 2, 3, 4
Okay. I have a ton of photos now of the gear-change pawl sequence, which make nice "flick-pics", and I took a load of detailed pawl down/up measurements with vernier calipers, and noted the optimal cable adjust positions for upshift and downshift (which are different). On upshift, my optimal alignment is a cable loosening of about 1 click (1/4 turn) on the handlebar adjuster from the original "yellow mark" alignment. On downshift, my optimal alignment is a cable tightening of about 4 clicks (1 turn) on the handlbar adjuster from the original "yellow mark" alignment. These values seem to be repeatable. So, on average, my optimal (compromise for up and downshift) alignment when finally re-assembled will be to align the yellow dots and then tighten by 1-2 clicks (1/4 to 1/2 turn anticlockwise) on the handlebar adjust.
I'm trying to write up all my photos into a handy guide, but I didn't finish yet and its way past bedtime, so this will have to roll over to tomorrow. I'll post it or put it online as a pdf guide etc. when I'm done.
Andrew
I'm trying to write up all my photos into a handy guide, but I didn't finish yet and its way past bedtime, so this will have to roll over to tomorrow. I'll post it or put it online as a pdf guide etc. when I'm done.
Andrew
Re: Alfine 8-speed ?clutch? problem in gears 2, 3, 4
Here is a small zip file, which contains 2 sets (from 2 different viewpoints), each of 8 photos showing the pawl sequence from gear 1 up to gear 8.
If you view them in sequence it makes a kind of mini-movie.
The file is too big to directly upload so here is a link, albeit temporary:
http://personal.strath.ac.uk/andrew.j.roscoe/xfer/Alfine%20Gearchange%20Pawl%20Action%20flickPics%20-%20Views%201%20and%202%20-%20compressed.zip
If you view them in sequence it makes a kind of mini-movie.
The file is too big to directly upload so here is a link, albeit temporary:
http://personal.strath.ac.uk/andrew.j.roscoe/xfer/Alfine%20Gearchange%20Pawl%20Action%20flickPics%20-%20Views%201%20and%202%20-%20compressed.zip
Re: Alfine 8-speed ?clutch? problem in gears 2, 3, 4
Just an update on this one.
Back in May, I managed to rebuild the hub with a new spare roller to replace the missing one.
It seemed to fix the problem initially during a 2-minute gentle test ride, but I had also realised that I had made a mistake orienting the large radius bearing (spherical bearings) which comes off when you separate the two halves of the main unit. This was fairly obvious because the main axle bearings wouldn't adjust properly. So I was very gentle in this first test-ride, although it suggested I might have fixed the clutch problem it. So, I stripped the hub again and put it back together with everything exactly right, expecting to have properly fixed it. But, to my dismay, the slipping problem was back AGAIN, and to be honest, I kind of gave up at that point. I summised that something was slightly "off" inside and that having a different bearing misaligned was perhaps making the clutch work better for some reason, although how I had no idea. I also didn't need the bike for about 6 weeks. So it was parked.
Yesterday I thought I'd give it one last go, so I stripped the whole thing again. To my surprise one of the rollers on the same roller-clutch used in 2-4 was missing AGAIN - just like the photo in the post from 20th May. The missing bearing cannot have fallen out inside the hub shell because I would have noticed that. So, my conclusion is that the bearing race holder is slightly worn (but still okay when all is assembled), and it is very easy for these rollers to come out during the assembly and dissassembly process, even if you are watching out for it. I must have lost another roller, during my own reassembly, despite the fact that I was being very careful to be gentle with that clutch bearing during re-assembly, and I was watching out for these things coming out (but didnt spot it).
Anyway, I then put in ANOTHER new roller. When I tried to re-assemble the hub, ANOTHER one, (or the same again, I cannot be sure), fell out AGAIN. Eventually I got the whole lot back in, without any rollers falling out, and with everything seated just right. I also added a couple of capfuls of new EP90 into the shell before final re-assembly, since I'd lost quite a lot of the Shimano lubricant during the many dissassemblies.
Now if I stamp on gear 2 really hard to wheelie it, I can still slip the clutch a tiny bit initially, but then it locks. Apart from that, gear 2, 3, 4 (and all others) are all back to normal, finally, with no slippage under normal hard commute riding. If it was a new bike from a shop and I gave it a test ride, I wouldn't spot a problem. I can get up the steepest hill on my commute in any of those gears without it slipping.
So, watch out for wear in that bearing race holder... and those roller bearings falling out during servicing.
I wrote myself a nice guide to dissassembly which I'd happily share as pdf, but it's 3.5MB and I can't seem to upload it here. Nor do I have access to a personal webpage any more...
Back in May, I managed to rebuild the hub with a new spare roller to replace the missing one.
It seemed to fix the problem initially during a 2-minute gentle test ride, but I had also realised that I had made a mistake orienting the large radius bearing (spherical bearings) which comes off when you separate the two halves of the main unit. This was fairly obvious because the main axle bearings wouldn't adjust properly. So I was very gentle in this first test-ride, although it suggested I might have fixed the clutch problem it. So, I stripped the hub again and put it back together with everything exactly right, expecting to have properly fixed it. But, to my dismay, the slipping problem was back AGAIN, and to be honest, I kind of gave up at that point. I summised that something was slightly "off" inside and that having a different bearing misaligned was perhaps making the clutch work better for some reason, although how I had no idea. I also didn't need the bike for about 6 weeks. So it was parked.
Yesterday I thought I'd give it one last go, so I stripped the whole thing again. To my surprise one of the rollers on the same roller-clutch used in 2-4 was missing AGAIN - just like the photo in the post from 20th May. The missing bearing cannot have fallen out inside the hub shell because I would have noticed that. So, my conclusion is that the bearing race holder is slightly worn (but still okay when all is assembled), and it is very easy for these rollers to come out during the assembly and dissassembly process, even if you are watching out for it. I must have lost another roller, during my own reassembly, despite the fact that I was being very careful to be gentle with that clutch bearing during re-assembly, and I was watching out for these things coming out (but didnt spot it).
Anyway, I then put in ANOTHER new roller. When I tried to re-assemble the hub, ANOTHER one, (or the same again, I cannot be sure), fell out AGAIN. Eventually I got the whole lot back in, without any rollers falling out, and with everything seated just right. I also added a couple of capfuls of new EP90 into the shell before final re-assembly, since I'd lost quite a lot of the Shimano lubricant during the many dissassemblies.
Now if I stamp on gear 2 really hard to wheelie it, I can still slip the clutch a tiny bit initially, but then it locks. Apart from that, gear 2, 3, 4 (and all others) are all back to normal, finally, with no slippage under normal hard commute riding. If it was a new bike from a shop and I gave it a test ride, I wouldn't spot a problem. I can get up the steepest hill on my commute in any of those gears without it slipping.
So, watch out for wear in that bearing race holder... and those roller bearings falling out during servicing.
I wrote myself a nice guide to dissassembly which I'd happily share as pdf, but it's 3.5MB and I can't seem to upload it here. Nor do I have access to a personal webpage any more...
Last edited by AndrewJR on 13 Aug 2018, 10:31pm, edited 3 times in total.
Re: Alfine 8-speed ?clutch? problem in gears 2, 3, 4
those extra rollers came in handy then!....
glad you seem to have fixed it....
cheers
glad you seem to have fixed it....
cheers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Re: Alfine 8-speed ?clutch? problem in gears 2, 3, 4
Yeah! I used the 2nd of 3, with 1 still left in-hand in a brown envelope stuck on with sticky tape!
Anyone who has an Alfine that is getting retired, keep the rollers ... someone will have need of them!
Thanks!
Anyone who has an Alfine that is getting retired, keep the rollers ... someone will have need of them!
Thanks!
Re: Alfine 8-speed ?clutch? problem in gears 2, 3, 4
AndrewJR wrote:Anyone who has an Alfine that is getting retired, keep the rollers ... someone will have need of them!
Very true. I am basically missing the carrier3 unit and I could put together another A11. The rollers and sleeve ensemble have been shattered due to corrosion and the whole carrier3 unit is basically scrap. But all the other bits and pieces are fine. It's not worth shelling out the 60 smth pounds for a new unit as I already have two working A11s so I'm just keeping the other pieces in case I may one day need them.
I wonder how many hubs could be put together in perfect running order just using bits and pieces people have lying around.
Re: Alfine 8-speed ?clutch? problem in gears 2, 3, 4
Lucky you if you can get a new carrier for £60!
For the SG-S501 the hub carrier is ~£150 minimum as far as I can see, if you can find it anywhere... and any smaller spares don't seem to be available through any shops.. so when I can't keep my single SG-S501 going any more with basic servicing and lubrication, I'm going to need to just replace the whole thing at ~£190 with a newer generation unit...
For the SG-S501 the hub carrier is ~£150 minimum as far as I can see, if you can find it anywhere... and any smaller spares don't seem to be available through any shops.. so when I can't keep my single SG-S501 going any more with basic servicing and lubrication, I'm going to need to just replace the whole thing at ~£190 with a newer generation unit...
Re: Alfine 8-speed ?clutch? problem in gears 2, 3, 4
Well after another couple of years continuing to run this bike with gear 2-4 "slippy" due to the clutch problem, and then passing it on to my son to commute with, I finally picked up a replacement SG-501 carrier for £150 from Holland. Slotted it in with a bit of ATF for lube, and the hub is A1 perfect again. Didn't even need to adjust the cable, So, no problems with the shell or the cable. Now I have the "dud" carrier out. At some point I might take it apart for spares or to try and work out what was/is really wrong with it, just for interest. I have the tools to remove the drive-side cone on a 7001 now, so could strip the old carrier right down if I wanted to, and no big loss if I can't get it back together again.
Have a new bike now with a SG-7001-8 and I am not impressed with the sealing. The drive-side cone seal destroyed itself 2 months from new, was replaced at the vendor shop, and destroyed itself again after another 2 months, allowing all the oil out and salty commute water in before I realised, and it coincided exactly with Covid lockdown. It should be a warranty replacement but lockdown and the sale of the shop chain by Halfords means nobody appears to be honouring the warranty on this new bike. Dissappointing. I've now replaced the drive-side cone and seal myself (Shimano tools cost £30 but the part itself is <£10), cleaned it out, re-greased and put ATF in. Carrier roller bearing is a bit rumbly now as the shell surface is clearly slightly pitted, but is now clean and the balls themselves look okay. I'll just have to run it and see how long it lasts.
Have a new bike now with a SG-7001-8 and I am not impressed with the sealing. The drive-side cone seal destroyed itself 2 months from new, was replaced at the vendor shop, and destroyed itself again after another 2 months, allowing all the oil out and salty commute water in before I realised, and it coincided exactly with Covid lockdown. It should be a warranty replacement but lockdown and the sale of the shop chain by Halfords means nobody appears to be honouring the warranty on this new bike. Dissappointing. I've now replaced the drive-side cone and seal myself (Shimano tools cost £30 but the part itself is <£10), cleaned it out, re-greased and put ATF in. Carrier roller bearing is a bit rumbly now as the shell surface is clearly slightly pitted, but is now clean and the balls themselves look okay. I'll just have to run it and see how long it lasts.