Should I service my Shimano Alfine 8 myself?

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glasgowcyclist

Charming but somewhat feckless
Location
Scotland
My Shimano Alfine 8 hub has had just over two years of use (approx 8,000 miles) and I'm wondering if it's time to get it serviced. Everything's running fine and I haven't even had to adjust the tension on the shifter.

Is this something I could reasonably do myself or is it better entrusted to my LBS?
 

smutchin

Cat 6 Racer
Location
The Red Enclave
What do you mean by 'servicing'? It sounds like there's nothing that needs doing.

I have serviced my Brompton's 3-speed Sachs hub several times, as in completely dismantled it, cleaned and applied fresh grease, and put it back together again. It's not as hard as you might imagine, but I don't know if the same is true of the Alfine.
 
OP
OP
glasgowcyclist

glasgowcyclist

Charming but somewhat feckless
Location
Scotland
What do you mean by 'servicing'? It sounds like there's nothing that needs doing.

I have serviced my Brompton's 3-speed Sachs hub several times, as in completely dismantled it, cleaned and applied fresh grease, and put it back together again. It's not as hard as you might imagine, but I don't know if the same is true of the Alfine.

It's variously described as replacing the factory-fitted grease with new stuff, checking for damaged/worn bits, seals etc. I prefer preventive maintenance to sudden failures, which are usually more inconvenient and costly.
 

smutchin

Cat 6 Racer
Location
The Red Enclave
Is there a recommended service interval in the manual?

I doubt any of the parts will be significantly worn after 8,000 miles.

My Brompton hub has done considerably more miles than that and the only part that I've replaced is the piece that the gear cable attachment screws into - it's small and fragile and snapped due to heavy handed 'adjustment' by me, but the gear mechanisms themselves are much sturdier and still look like they have plenty of life left in them. I think this is true of hub gears generally.
 
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Tim Hall

Guest
Location
Crawley
If ain't bust, don't touch it. IME home servicing is restricted to taking the gubbins out of the shell, dunking it in Shimano Very Expensive Oil* for a couple of minutes and putting it back together. Sometimes this procedure can be lengthened by spending 15 minutes looking for a circlip that has pinged across the garage.

*I've used Power Steering Fluid as a substitute.
 
Location
Loch side.
Whether you service it yourself or have it done is down to your technical skills. However, it does need servicing in two areas:

1) The hub bearings are standard Shimano cup-and-cone bearings and require periodic maintenance as any other hub. They work the same as other Shimano hubs and the service procedure is the same.
2) The hub's internal oil needs regular changing. Because the oil isn't filtered, any swarf from the gears is recycled and suspended in the oil, which is not good for cogwheels. It requires special non-polymerising oil and the best is Shimano's own oil. There will be substitutes but I don't know of any brands I can quote. Oil also emulsifies water it acquires from the atmosphere (even in closed systems) and that's another good reason to change it regularly. It is important though to not use stuff like 3-1 etc. Changing the oil is easy but messy if you don't use Shimano's gadgets.
I don't know offhand what the service interval is, but the first one is soon - something like 500kms and thereafter at regular multi-thousand kilometer intervals.
 
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iluvmybike

Über Member
This might be useful if you want to tackle it yourself
http://www.14degrees.org/shimano-alfine-8-speed-internal-gear-hub-oil-bath/
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
1) The hub bearings are standard Shimano cup-and-cone bearings and require periodic maintenance as any other hub. They work the same as other Shimano hubs and the service procedure is the same.
Some other Shimano hear hubs use decidedly non-standard bearings (an unusual number of a less common size in an unusual-sized plastic cage IIRC) that I ended up buying from Singapore because there weren't any in stock in the UK. Find the service manual on the Shimano techdocs site and buy any special parts before you dismantle the hub IMO (but I replaced mine with a SA hub for this and other reasons).
 

A1kc

Active Member
Location
Cambridge
I invested in the shimano oil, and a big spanner. It was a lot more straightforward than the instructions appeared to be. No problems at all, and the gearbox has performed better - no more skipping.
 
OP
OP
glasgowcyclist

glasgowcyclist

Charming but somewhat feckless
Location
Scotland
Is there a recommended service interval in the manual?

I didn't get a manual for the hub, just for the bike it came with. However, I have found this Shimano document which recommends a service every 5000km or 2 years. I've covered nearly 13,000km so I think I'll get a service done.

"Shimano recommends performing maintenance on an internal geared hub every 5000 km or every 2 years.
When the bike is used in severe (weather) conditions, it may be necessary to shorten this interval."
 
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