"T i m" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 4 Mar 2020 04:28:06 +1100, "Rod Speed"
wrote:

snip

Where did I learn that. I don't know,

I do, by trial and error and being able to try different
things and see what worked and what didn't.

One of the neighbours kids presented me with a box
full of bits from a bicycle epicyclical gearbox. I had only
a vague idea of how they worked but was able to
assemble it again just by using the wear marks.

I've just stripped, cleaned and re-assembled 3 x Sturmey Archer X-RD3
hubs (3 sp with drum brake) and about to do an AW (3).

As you say, with the right viewpoint the parts on a worn unit often
speak for themselves. Polished, worn, not worn, burred or stained /
rusty are all clues re what was previously touching what.

And springs / ratchet pawls need to go together in a way the pawls are
being loaded against their respective ratchets.

I love seeing individual, clean, functional mechanical parts emerging
from a black greasy blob and knowing it has all gone back together
nicely and with fresh lube [1] etc.

Yeah, me too and it gave me a real buzz to be able to get it
going again with no spare bits left over without even a diagram
or anything and only a vague idea about how they worked.

It's rewarding to then use that equipment for years and have it work
reliably and well.

Cheers, T i m

[1] On the early maintenance instructions it mentions reassembling and
'greasing' whereas other and possibly later instructions it recommends
against using grease and using 'Sturmey Archer Oil' (what else g)
instead.

On the hub with integrated drum brake

That was definitely this one.

I used a very light waterproof
grease (inc the ratchet pawls) and it works perfectly and I feel it's
less likely for 'lube' to migrate through from the gearbox to the
brake.

Its been too long now since I did it to remember, 50 years now.
It worked fine for more than a decade or more until they moved
away so it must have been done right. I still have all those oils and
greases but havent used them much at all in the last few decades
with modern cars not needing any of that anymore and that being
the only hub gear I have ever had anything to do with maint wise.

Its also how I designed and built the house from scratch on a bare
block of land. The parents were getting a house architect designed
and built for them and I showed up in that town on the other side
of this country at the time, for a conference in my case. Unusual
post and beam construction which allows you to see how its put
together even when they had moved in. I kept walking around
looking that the detail and decided that it would be a pushover
to do one myself. Went home, grabbed a bare block of land
in what you lot call a new estate and spent quite a bit of time
in the long summer evenings wandering around looking at
the houses being built in that new estate. None of it is at all
complicated compared with cars and hub gearboxes.

Even had the local council tell the local builders to look at how
I had done the prep for the massive great concrete slab on the
ground, because that's how its sposed to be done. I just followed
the instructions that came with the free design that the reo suppliers
supplied when you sent them a copy of the house plan. The use
bar chairs to hold the mesh as the right level when the concrete
is poured. The builders don't bother, they use a long T shaped
tool with a hook on the end and pull the mesh up as the concrete
is poured. The council inspectors hate that because there is no way
to check that the reo is at the right level in the concrete.

On a non braked hub that wouldn't matter so much and so I'm thinking a
light Hypoid gear oil might be best, something that might resist wear
on the gear faces and spindles. It also needs to be heavy enough to
stay coating all the main moving parts, whilst being light enough to
get in all the fine spaces but not run out if the bike is laid on its
side. The outer bearings / cones I would still grease, simply because
I believe it would stay put better, offer better weather protection
and therefore be better for preventing wear.