IGH lubrication; a smoking gun.

[Samuel D]

Alright. Thanks.

Considering all of the above, my current plan is to get some of the Land Rover grease (the Britpart STC3435 version that comes in a convenient bottle), remove the hub’s “internal assembly” if that’s easy enough to do, see what it looks like, and if it looks half-decent, simply squirt about 50 ml of the above semi-fluid grease over the parts with a syringe, and then reassemble the hub.

While the wheel is off, I’ll also squirt some Shimano Roller Brake grease (part number Y04120400) into the brake via the provided port.

Any major objections? Any oil would have to be specially purchased for the job. I have no gear oil, etc., lying around.

[Brucey]

it sounds like a perfectly reasonable plan to me.

cheers

[Suffolker]

Re: Hubstripping

This website is now, for me at any rate, less than usable. It has apparently changed its address from hubstripping.com to hubstripping.wordpress.com. The former returns a DNS error in Vivaldi (Chrome) and a "can't find server" error on Firefox.

The .wordpress address is reachable, and various links there point to .wordpress pages. However, it seems that all the ones I want are mostly still at wordpress.com and thus unreachable.

On the matter of Alfine 8 hubs, I managed to get the rusted hubnuts, NTWs, and corroded-in Centerlock disc off, strip it down and fill it with plenty of SFG. It seems a lot better, but has yet to be mounted in a cycle.

[Mick F]

3sp SA

What I've done - after advice from Brucey - was to buy some Hypoid gear oil and mix it with some CV joint grease.
I mixed it up 50/50 by volume, and tea-spooned it in from both ends with the hub ends removed.

I jiggled it about, spooned some more in, then reassembles and spun the wheel for a while. Then fully tightened up and adjusted, and re-fitted on my bike. All's been ok for some weeks and there's a nice tell-tale weeping of fluid out of the ends - but no great deal of it.

I'll give it a month or two, and spoon some more in.

[robc02]

Re: Hubstripping

This website is now, for me at any rate, less than usable. It has apparently changed its address from hubstripping.com to hubstripping.wordpress.com. The former returns a DNS error in Vivaldi (Chrome) and a "can't find server" error on Firefox.

The .wordpress address is reachable, and various links there point to .wordpress pages. However, it seems that all the ones I want are mostly still at wordpress.com and thus unreachable.

I've just successfully accessed https://hubstripping.wordpress.com/ (from a Google search result initially) and navigated to a few pages in both Firefox and Vivaldi on Ubuntu 16.04. So it looks as though your problem might not be Firefox/Vivaldi related.

[Suffolker]

Re: Hubstripping

This website is now, for me at any rate, less than usable. It has apparently changed its address from hubstripping.com to hubstripping.wordpress.com. The former returns a DNS error in Vivaldi (Chrome) and a "can't find server" error on Firefox.

The .wordpress address is reachable, and various links there point to .wordpress pages. However, it seems that all the ones I want are mostly still at wordpress.com and thus unreachable.

I've just successfully accessed https://hubstripping.wordpress.com/ (from a Google search result initially) and navigated to a few pages in both Firefox and Vivaldi on Ubuntu 16.04. So it looks as though your problem might not be Firefox/Vivaldi related.

I can get to the hubstripping.wordpress.com url easily enough, and, within there, navigate around to other links to subject matter in the site; that is, those with the .wordpress. url, or external links. However, some pages are still on hubstripping.com, which is where the problem arises.

Example:-
Start out with https://hubstripping.wordpress.com/nexu ... 8-shimano/
Under Reviews and Announcements select first topic "The Internal Gear Hub Review" with url https://hubstripping.wordpress.com/inte ... ub-review/
That's fine.

Under same section, go down to item "Not just one Speed more (The features of the INTER-8 hubs)" whose url is http://www.hubstripping.com/shimano-int ... ures_1.jpg
and it bombs out with "This site can't be reached".

As usual, the ones still with the hubstripping.com url link are those I want to look at!

Of course, some links go to external pages like Shimano sites, and these are OK.

[Brucey]

3sp SA

What I've done - after advice from Brucey - was to buy some Hypoid gear oil and mix it with some CV joint grease.
I mixed it up 50/50 by volume, and tea-spooned it in from both ends with the hub ends removed.

I'll give it a month or two, and spoon some more in.

Hi Mick, I've recently had a CS-RK3 in bits (same guts as yours) and the mystery of the missing actuator plate is solved....the planet cage protrusions that are used in high gear drive are actually spring-loaded plunger pawls, so no actuator plate is required. The hub in question had failed whilst in service on a tadpole recumbent trike (with a 26" rear wheel). Annoyingly the individual parts that are unique to this hub are not available separately so a new internal was the cure.

The hub failed by slipping in the high gear. The sliding clutch has six dogs that engage with three protrusions (plunger pawls) on the planet cage. This clutch had slipped and had been damaged. The debris then go into neighbouring parts and (unlike what happens in other SA 3s hubs) it appears to have immediately caused operational problems. It is impossible to say which was the chicken and which the egg (there were also issues with the cable routing and so forth) but it was clear that the plunger pawls were (presumably because of the shrapnel) not reliably extending any more. Two out of three engaged gives the illusion of something you can lean on, but it in fact will slip after a few turns of the pedals, thus creating further damage and so on.

That the factory lube was a bit thick and gloopy didn't help, and all the springs seemed a bit feeble to me; the main clutch spring seemed weaker than in an AW and the plunger pawl springs were a bit soft too. One of the issues was that the bare cable (including the barrel adjuster and pinch bolt) ran unsupported the full length of the chainstay, and (simply by jiggling up and down over bumps) could have pulled the high gear clutch out of engagement.

BTW I could access the hubstripping site OK. Maybe IT issues are best discussed elsewhere?

cheers

[Suffolker]

Agreed on the hubstripping access. My point on commenting on it was that someone posted a question linked to it in this thread. I find, as the former MD of a City IT consultancy, that I like unsolved things like that as little as I do technical cycle things.

[robc02]

Under same section, go down to item "Not just one Speed more (The features of the INTER-8 hubs)" whose url is http://www.hubstripping.com/shimano-int ... ures_1.jpg
and it bombs out with "This site can't be reached".

That fails for me as well.

[Suffolker]

Back on the theme of Shimano IGHs, I have run into a little problem.
I'm working on an 8-speed Alfine SG7000 hub (the one where the shift cable runs over the top of the cassette rather than under) and removing the internals in one unit is easy enough.
However, my understanding is that the internal can be split into two parts by removing the stop ring and just lifting off the upper (NDS) section.
When I attempt this, I can lift the upper unit so that it is clear of the lower (sufficient to squirt SFG into the thing) but then it stops and will lift off no further. Rotating it and attempting lift-off at various points doesn't solve it. It is, however, easy enough to put back in position and engage properly, with a bit of twidding, revealing the recess for refitting the stop ring.
What may I be doing wrong, or does this version of the Alfine have some differences, other than the gear shifting mechanism? A cursory look at A8 EVs doesn't reveal any notable differences. However, why are there different thicknesses of stop rings listed?

[Mick F]

Hi Mick, I've recently had a CS-RK3 in bits (same guts as yours) .....................

Thanks, very interesting.

Done 1,200miles with mine so far.
With using a friction shifter, it's not the best thing to "feel" the gear changes, and I do worry sometimes that I'm not exactly in gear.
1st and 3rd are easy of course, but it's 2nd that worries me.
My cable run is fine, and there's no long run to jiggle about, though there is a long run along the frame splitting area, but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

I intend to look at the idea of marking the shifter in a permanent way in the mid position, then adjusting the toggle to get the yellow mark on the chain into the correct place. There'll be a visual sign easily seen, to prove I'm in exactly in 2nd.

May look at that later today. I have to stay in all day waiting for a delivery, so I'm at a lose end.

[Mick F]

Well, that was easy!

I have an automatic centre-punch, so I sharpened it up.
I adjusted the lever to mid position, and adjusted the toggle so the yellow mark was correct, then centre-punched the shifter and the boss.
I'll see how I get on with that.

[Samuel D]

That looks pretty workable, Mick, though there’s always the risk of it slipping out of place (being knocked) without your noticing.

Speaking of deliveries, my Britpart STC3435 grease from http://www.lrdirect.com arrived in an empty package, which is to say it didn’t arrive at all. And I stupidly signed for it, not realising. First time I’ve ever had an empty package arrive in the post. €13.74 (with the expensive and apparently useless shipping) down the drain. Lesson learned.

[Brucey]

that is rotten luck. What a pain. If the package wasn't obviously damaged, I would have expected you to have some recourse?

cheers

[Mick F]

I'd email them, and ask for another.
How the heck could a company NOT put something in a package? It must have been tampered with before you received it.