Cycling UK Forum

Recently had a broken pawl on my Sturmey Archer XRF8W hub on my Brompton. When I replaced it I cleaned the internals and oiled the parts using Finish Line wet lube. This lube is a bit expensive and I do not think intended for IHG lubrication. I was thinking that ATF could make some sense, but as there are a lot of different ATFs I watched a few ATF YouTube videos made by the Weber Auto channel. So now I consider the Ford Motorcraft Mercon ULV ATF as an option for oiling.
Anyone have experience with ATF in SA IHGs?

If you are going to use oil, I would suggest you use a Hypoid gear oil instead of ATF; it is a far superior gear lubricant.

However the 8s hub doesn't have a big lip on the inside of the shell so it doesn't retain very much oil (of any kind) and it is not clear that what is in the hub gets well distributed in use, either. Using a semi-fluid grease is probably the best thing of all, ideally one loaded up with solid lubricants (eg land rover front swivel hub grease).

A particular problem in the SA 8s hub is that the planet pinion bearings in the first (rightmost) gear stage tend to wear badly, and bad lubrication is part of that problem.

cheers

The Sturmey-Archer factory NLGI #00 grease for the internal mechanism is part number SA103A and HMA106. It's available in small quantities delivered to your door or perhaps through your local bike shop.

the SA grease is OK (it is about as good a lubricant as Hypoid gear oil, but stickier obviously), but you can do better both as a lubricant and in terms of corrosion resistance etc.

cheers

I've got Landrover Swivel Hub grease in my 3sp SA. I have a life-time's supply of it.
Would this stuff be ok for the 8sp?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LAND-ROVER-D ... 2749.l2649

mac_cycleface wrote:Recently had a broken pawl on my Sturmey Archer XRF8W hub on my Brompton. When I replaced it I cleaned the internals and oiled the parts using Finish Line wet lube. This lube is a bit expensive and I do not think intended for IHG lubrication. I was thinking that ATF could make some sense, but as there are a lot of different ATFs I watched a few ATF YouTube videos made by the Weber Auto channel. So now I consider the Ford Motorcraft Mercon ULV ATF as an option for oiling.
Anyone have experience with ATF in SA IHGs?

Dexron spec ATF (aka 'Mecron') is approximately +/- 10w and very likely unsuitable for SA IGH applications. It will readily leak out. Obviously ATF is fine for vehicle automatic gear box use as such gear boxes are exceptionally well sealed and the oil stays in.

I am sure Mercon ULV ATF has a low viscosity and I am currently considering Hypoid gear oil or manual transmission oil like Castrol Manual EP 80W API GL-4.
What do you think of that idea?

GL-4 is a Hypoid type gear oil specification.

cheers

Although gear oil is thicker than ATF it will still leak out if the hub is not sealed, leaving some oil coating on the moving parts. Even the thickest gear oil is still (AFAIK) just a very viscous oil.

Grease OTOH has thickeners and sometimes tackifiers that keep it where you want it, while shearing to a thinner consistency in motion. It can be made with very thin base oils or thicker ones, and with different thickening soaps with different properties.

I used a hypoid gear oil and grease mixture to lubricate a nexus 8 hub because I had both to hand, I didn't have any SFG at the time, and because I like making mixtures of stuff (I blame George's marvellous medicine). Also the hub was a project having previously rusted due to water ingress, so I wanted to flush it with regards additions of the mixture.
As I now have SFG I'd probably use it instead. If you are buying lubricant I don't see any good reason to buy gear oil rather than SFG like the swivel grease.

(I still treasure my jam jar of mystery mix though, and it has had various other additions since (ends of grease cartridges)).

I feel sad that this Sturmey eight speed isn't a bit better than it could be... it's such a tempting idea.

simonineaston wrote:I feel sad that this Sturmey eight speed isn't a bit better than it could be...

Care to propound on what you see as its shortcomings?

speaking solely of mine, I've found it hellishly difficult to adjust and keep so. Others have reported that elements can wear quickly and that they've found the same as me, with respect to the gear indexing. In between episodes of frustration, I thought mine neatly designed, with a range & number of gears that suited me well for a general-purpose commuter / shopper / day-trip bike, although not enough to use on its own touring. I did toy with the idea of adding a second chainring to extend the range, but decided against it in the end, due to the reliability question-mark and the way it inevitably, no matter how carefully I addressed the issue of cable-pull, occasionally missed a shift.

mac_cycleface wrote:I am sure Mercon ULV ATF has a low viscosity and I am currently considering Hypoid gear oil or manual transmission oil like Castrol Manual EP 80W API GL-4.
What do you think of that idea?

I have two bikes equipped with SA hubs, both 3-speed but different generations . The modern hub was maintained with the official fluid grease, following advice suggested here I purchased and will now use the seemingly superior LR swivel grease. My older hub is an AW with a oil port on the body. I tried some EP80w gear oil, it works OK but the hub was noticeably sluggish during the recent cold spell as the oil had thickened up. Sturmey recommend 30w oil in these hubs and I now use this spec. It is not expensive and often sold as lawnmower / horticultural machinery oil.

simonineaston wrote:speaking solely of mine...

Fair enough. I bought an XRK8(W) in the spring of '09, built it into a wheel and put a lot of miles on it since. Never missed a shift, and actually, I've never adjusted the cable. I stir it with a Jtek bar-end shifter.