Non-messy oiling of SA 3

[SA_SA_SA]

Is there any advice for oiling an SA 3 speed, through the oiler, without spilling some over the shell?

I have a bottle with a long spout, but the hole is small so sometimes my drops spill onto the shell

[Brucey]

if you use an oil can and position the oiler horizontal, the drips will go over the rim and tyre instead....

cheers

[Mick F]

Yes, lubing a SA does create a mess. If it dribbles down the spokes overnight, it gets on the rim and your rear brake squeals!

All you can do, is do it carefully, and mop up as you go.
Lube it little and often, rather than loads once a year.

[Kenn]

My shopping bike has a SA 3 without oiler port. I run two drops of oil down the selector chain every 2-6 weeks depending on bike use, then wipe of excess from the selector. I believe this puts the oil in the centre of the gear change mechanism. The oiling process is pretty clean but a film of oil still eventually develops over the hub ends - as the hub isn't really sealed, this is probably inevitable.

[iron legs]

Take your hub gear to a bike shop which can service a S.A. hub gear. The Tiwanese who now own Sturmey Archer produce a specific grease which should last between services (and is capable of being converted to oil lubrication if necessary). It is advisable to clean and renew the grease when the hub is stripped for servicing. If you do use oil for lubrication, DO NOT USE 3 IN 1. Use lawnmower oil from the like of Halfords. 3 in 1 is a vegetable based oil (and the same caveat applies to chainsaw oil as well) than contains acid which attacks the pawl springs and will eventually lose you the bottom gear as well as causing surface corrosion to the planet cage, gear ring etc. It becomes watery in hot weather and thickens up in cold weather. If I only had a fiver for every AW3 I've had to service where the bottom gear has stopped working, where the owner has proudly told me they lubricated their hub with 3 in 1 oil.

[Brucey]

3 in 1 is a vegetable based oil (and the same caveat applies to chainsaw oil as well) .....

chainsaw oil varies considerably.

It isn't much good as a hub gear lubricant, I grant you, but 3-in-1 is not 'a vegetable based oil'.

The SA hub is a gearbox. Perhaps unsurprisingly, gear oils (GL4 or GL5 spec) are very good lubricants to use, if you are going to use oil of any kind; vastly superior to SAE 30 lawnmower oil etc. which is basically stone-age lubricant technology.

The grease that SA specify (NB only for hubs without oil ports...) isn't very good either. There are much better lubricants than that to be had. The SA grease isn't very mobile within the hub (and this gets worse over time...), so the planet pins either run in their own abrasive slurry after a while or even run dry. Again, because it isn't very mobile within the hub, the SA grease does not resist water ingress on the ball ring at all well. Corrosion on the ball ring is a very common fault with greased SA hubs that are used intermittently in all weathers.

With oil, 'a little and often' is the best approach.

Adding oil to hubs that were originally greased is a good idea if you are not going to strip the hub down, but once you start with the oil, you must carry on adding it regularly.

With grease, there are better greases to use than the SA grease.

cheers

[Mick F]

..........DO NOT USE 3 IN 1. Use lawnmower oil from the like of Halfords. 3 in 1 is a vegetable based oil (and the same caveat applies to chainsaw oil as well) than contains acid which attacks the pawl springs and will eventually lose you the bottom gear as well as causing surface corrosion to the planet cage, gear ring etc. It becomes watery in hot weather and thickens up in cold weather. If I only had a fiver for every AW3 I've had to service where the bottom gear has stopped working, where the owner has proudly told me they lubricated their hub with 3 in 1 oil.

I always used 3in1 in my SA hub from 1966 when I had my first bike with gears until I gave the bike to our next-door-neighbour's son in 1983.

I'd hate to think how many miles I did on that bike, but the SA 3sp was working perfectly throughout its life. 3in1 was the only "general purpose" oil my dad ever bought and he used it liberally. I followed suit.