Rohloff Speedhub 500/14 cleaning and inspection
Rohloff Speedhub 500/14 cleaning and inspection
./02/19:
./02/20:
./03/08:
./03/09:
This is the rear hub from this vehicle. As you can see, it is being used on a tandem recumbent trike in conjunction with a Schlumpf speed-drive for a range of 12-120 gear inches.
It has been used to tow 3/4 tonne on this trailer and I had no issues with the hub itself. I've had problems with shifters and cables wearing out, but that's the result of some extreme weather and harsh abuse.
Some co-ordination is needed with the stoker to back off on the power when shifting, since shifting force is proportional to pedal force. I once sheared a shifter cable trying to shift under full power of the stoker.
That Rohloff-Schlumpf hub combination rocks on a recumbent trike because you can be winching up a ridiculous hill with piles of luggage or a trailer and if you find yourself in the wrong gear, you simply lock the disks and stall-shift both to the right gear and then keep pedalling. You don't fall over. :)
The chainline on this beast is about 5 standard chains linked together. I've finally had the spring in the chain tensionner break. I was able to re-form the spring by fabricating a jig to repair it. I've ordered a replacement.
Q: Did you use special tools to dismantle the hub?
A: As for special tools, the most important one is the cog remover (being used properly) in conjunction with a chainwhip. A torx screwdriver also helps. For internal disassembly and maintenance, a C-spring tool helped.
Rohloff recommends the hub paper gasket not be re-used, but I was careful not to damage it on disassembly and have been able to reuse it no problem. Same thing with the 9 shear pins, but I re-used them too. Part of the issue is finding parts here in Canada. The canadian distributor is not that helpful. Rohloff also recommends their own bearing seal removal/installation tool. Since reusing the worn seals isn't a good idea and they are readily available through local bearing dealers, I was simply careful in installing the new ones. I also got a tube of bearing seal goop locally as well. Removing the bearing seals and bearing cartriges was done carefully with a screwdriver and hammer. Re-installing both was done carefully with tools avoiding sharp edges and gently tapping stuff into place.
Q: What was the result of your inspection?
Q: Did you have to change some parts?
Q: Were there sediments inside?
A: As for parts that needed changing, I tore the hub apart to inspect it because i had had it for 6 years and over 20,000 km under some harsh conditions and had noticed some sediment settle out of oil that I had changed from the hub. I've changed the oil every 6 monts to a year, depending on the grade of oil I had in stock. There's a 47mm hub bearing on each side of the hub and a pair of ~20mm bearings on the cog side of the shaft. The 47mm and the outer ~20mm bearing at the cog were both contaminated and had started to rust. I presume this was because of salt that had gotten in. I figured I might as well replace both pairs of bearings since I had it apart. The 47mm originals were ~$35 retail single-sided seal bearings which I replaced with a higher quality French SKF around $45 each. Same story with the ~20mm bearings. I suspect the inner of the two stacked ~20mm bearings was somewhat protected by the oil bath in the hub. I found a fine coating of sediment on all the parts inside the hub. I was a bit reluctant to let it soak in a solvent for fear of damaging non-metal parts. I hand-cleaned all the parts with a mild biodegradable solvent and a toothbrush.
Re-assembling the hub proved to be a bit of a challenge. The careful disassembly in order on the table certainly helped re-assemble it, but there was one stage that wasn't obvious. The meshing of the planetary gear systems was it. There was an index tooth on each of the planetary gaers. I lined them up all pointing inwards. This worked fine for one mating race with a number of teeth divisible by 3 mating with the corresponding planetary gear divisible by 3, but the other race mating with the second set of teeth on the planetary gear divisible only by 2 didn't mesh. While describing the problem to a work colleague, I had an "ah-hah!" moment when I realized I needed to turn each index tooth by 2/3 of a tooth to get it to mesh. Ta-da, it meshed effortlessly.
I've got other internal hubs... My winter bike has a Sachs Super-7 internal 7-speed hub with a coaster brake. Awesome for winter because there isn't an exposed cluster of cogs or a derailleur to ice up. Also, the coaster brake just always works, not depending on a wheel rim or brake pads that can ice up or a cable that can freeze. The front hub is a Shimano dynamo with a cable-activated roller brake that similarly doesn't depend on a rim or brake pads that can ice up.
I've also got a Russian 24-inch wheel folding bike with a single-speed coaster brake. I have a spare hub for that just in case.
I also have a spare Sturmey Archer front dynamo hub from around 1950 that I want to build up and use...
I'm also tempted to replace the front single-sided hubs on my trike with the new 20" Son single-side hub dynamos to power my LED lights.
For my other bike stuff, see here.
Some more references...