Ribble Ale - Failed Freehub, what's a reasonable response?

[IanSmithCSE]

Good morning

OK, The metal annular ring was undamaged and the three white plastic pinions in your last picture look fine - so what was the fault that you found? Pawls?

I can't find the fault as I haven't yet worked out now to separate the freehub from the mounting plate.

The motor unit is not like a normal freehub body attached to the hub, the unit achieves freewheeling by a freehub being permanently attached to a cover plate which is screwed to the toothed ring.

If you look again at the left picture you will see that there is a wheel bearing in the cover plate that covers access to whatever pawling mechanism exists. You can hold the coverplate and drive/freewheel the hub, that is where the action takes place, not further in after the coverplate is attached to the motor.

Bye

Ian

 

[Espresso vecchio]

Yes, I understand what you say in your last post, ie that the pawl action is out of sight in the part you have unscrewed with your (expensive!) tools this morning, ie between the inner face of the bearing in your first picture and under the outer surface of the hub as viewed from the right hand side of the bike. That is exactly what the YouTube clip shows in your penultimate post (post 74 above). Surely the outer part of the whole piece is held by the 3 simple screws which you unscrewed as per the video to get the spanner on, ie onto the inner, screwed part of the piece you have removed. In the advert for the new part, the recessed holes for 3 flat-headed screws are clearly visible - as in the picture I'm attaching - just as the annular ring is attached on the inner face by another three screws shown in the pic of the new part you have bought.

I think the cover plate youve taken off is made up of two halves (I can't tell from your picture of your original piece but are the splines still part of it?). As you seem to have removed the two sets of 3 screws already, is it possible that the two halves of the whole piece (the outer side with the splines and the other half with the screw thread to screw the whole onto the hub body) now just need a slight tap to un-mate them if they are just lightly stuck together by time? I would not have thought that a press would have been used to put them together. I can't see how it would be possible to put in the pawls otherwise, even if it really is a one-piece cover plate into which the bearing was pushed. German engineers design things in a better way than that.

What happens when you turn the splines on your piece compared with the new part?

It sounds a very bad idea to spray WD40 or whatever into the bearing. Much better all round to inspect the pawls and springs and to clean them

 

[Brandane]

I had an issue with what I assume will be the same part fitted to my e-bike, a Merida e-Scultura with Mahle X35.. Although mine hadn't got to the stage of freewheeling in both directions it was making strange noises as if it was on it's way out. After just under 2 years and only 1400 miles! I returned it to the dealer who told me the same BS about being a consummable and not covered by warranty. Replaced at a cost of £90. I have the old part and I suspect the only fault with it is the press fit bearing. If the "new" one fails, I will be going down the road of replacing the bearing in the original one and trying that. I will of course need to fork out the £80 for the tools to remove the failed part first. They have us over a barrel!

Update to above for info of @wafter @IanSmithCSE and anyone else who is having issues with the freehub unit on their Mahle X35 freehub.

I suspect that the replacement unit which cost me £90 2 years and 1000 miles ago is also on its way out!

When that was done, I asked for the old part. I have now dismantled that and knocked the bearings out. What I found was that the inner bearing seemed to be in good condition, but the outer bearing obviously being more exposed to the elements (even although I tend to avoid riding in rain whenever possible) was a bit rough. Inner bearing is marked "61902RS" and measures 15mm (inner) x 28mm (outer) x 7mm (width). The outer bearing is marked "6901RS" and measures 12 x 24 x 6mm. I have ordered replacement bearings from "simply bearings" and waiting for delivery. I noted that the price of the smaller bearing varied from about £3.50 to £22.00. I suspect that the original bearings are probably the cheapest which is maybe why they are so prone to failure. For that reason I have chosen one of the more expensive bearings, in the hope that it will last. We shall see.

I will not be replacing the freehub unit until the one that is fitted to the bike just now gets worse, so will be unable to update as to whether or not this small project has been a success or not. And there is of course still the issue of having to buy the freehub removal tools at a cost of £80. This e-bike thing is proving to be far from cheap. I just hope the battery lasts longer than some are reporting.

 

[wafter]

Update to above for info of @wafter @IanSmithCSE and anyone else who is having issues with the freehub unit on their Mahle X35 freehub.

I suspect that the replacement unit which cost me £90 2 years and 1000 miles ago is also on its way out!

When that was done, I asked for the old part. I have now dismantled that and knocked the bearings out. What I found was that the inner bearing seemed to be in good condition, but the outer bearing obviously being more exposed to the elements (even although I tend to avoid riding in rain whenever possible) was a bit rough. Inner bearing is marked "61902RS" and measures 15mm (inner) x 28mm (outer) x 7mm (width). The outer bearing is marked "6901RS" and measures 12 x 24 x 6mm. I have ordered replacement bearings from "simply bearings" and waiting for delivery. I noted that the price of the smaller bearing varied from about £3.50 to £22.00. I suspect that the original bearings are probably the cheapest which is maybe why they are so prone to failure. For that reason I have chosen one of the more expensive bearings, in the hope that it will last. We shall see.

I will not be replacing the freehub unit until the one that is fitted to the bike just now gets worse, so will be unable to update as to whether or not this small project has been a success or not. And there is of course still the issue of having to buy the freehub removal tools at a cost of £80. This e-bike thing is proving to be far from cheap. I just hope the battery lasts longer than some are reporting.

Great work - well done for finding an alternative to just replacing the whole part en-bloc. 1000 miles seems like a bloody awful lifespan tbh; especially considering that the assistance could well be expected to mean more miles covered than a conventional bike.

At least the bearings fitted were standard size -did the originals have any lip seals present? Did you buy replacements with seals?

Could be a nice little earner to refurb these on an exchange basis if this venture is successful

 

[Brandane]

At least the bearings fitted were standard size -did the originals have any lip seals present? Did you buy replacements with seals?

The old bearings are sealed units, as are the new ones. There is also a weather seal protecting the outer bearing, which looks good and will be re-used with plenty grease packed in.
These are the ones I removed (cleaned up). The smaller one is the outer bearing, which had signs of rust seepage and runs quite rough. The bigger one seems ok but will replace it anyway since I've gone this far.

Could be a nice little earner to refurb these on an exchange basis if this venture is successful

The thought has crossed my mind! Once I buy the Mahle tools it would be quite a straightforward job to remove freehub and replace bearings. Just send me your wheels, people.... The problem being, by the time you charge for good quality bearings, postage, packing, etc., people are going to think it's more cost effective to get an LBS to fit a new unit with its bearings of cheese...

 

[wafter]

The old bearings are sealed units, as are the new ones. There is also a weather seal protecting the outer bearing, which looks good and will be re-used with plenty grease packed in.
These are the ones I removed (cleaned up). The smaller one is the outer bearing, which had signs of rust seepage and runs quite rough. The bigger one seems ok but will replace it anyway since I've gone this far.
View attachment 771416




The thought has crossed my mind! Once I buy the Mahle tools it would be quite a straightforward job to remove freehub and replace bearings. Just send me your wheels, people.... The problem being, by the time you charge for good quality bearings, postage, packing, etc., people are going to think it's more cost effective to get an LBS to fit a new unit with its bearings of cheese...

Good work; sounds like you have it all in-hand!

That's a fair point about the cost relative to a new replacement; although hopefully you'll have a better experience with the new bearings which could be used to illustrate the value of taking this route. Will be interested to hear how you get on