Sturmey Archer 3-speed parts

[Dingo]

Any chance someone has an indicator rod for a 1970 Sturmey Archer 3-speed hub? We have a Raleigh chopper with a broken rod, removed the rod and broken chain. So it's stuck in 3rd gear. We tried High Gear in Stirling but they said it's too old... Any other shops still around from the '70's that might have old parts?

 

[qclabrat]

try Steve Willis at the bike stand in scotch plains if still around

 

[Karate Monkey]

@Dingo you can use a modern rod, but you have to "guess" at the indexing (not as hard as it sounds). Get the next longest one available, it'll work (functionally) the same, but you might need to shift the pulley on the seat tube a bit to give yourself enough threads on the adjuster, one way or the other.

*edit*

Also, if you don't want to take it apart to clean it (you should if it's yours), you can add a couple of tablespoons of 1/2 20wt motor oil (the stuff they sell for snowblowers is fine, also 3-in-1 with the picture of a motor on it) and 1/2 kerosene. Ride it a couple of days, drain through the oil port, and re-oil with 20wt oil--this will help break down any hardened grease in the hub.

*edit 2*

This is a crib sheet of indicator rod sizes, and how to measure them. You might be lucky(?) and were measuring it wrong. That said, I think QBP/Action/Cyclone measures them "wrong" too, so...good luck?

 

[Dingo]

Thanks qc! They had one, found it after looking in all the drawers there. Charged $2.00. Is that a bargain or what. I never knew that shop is there. As for lubing the hub we will mess around with it. Im sure the grease is petrified. After 47 years.

 

[soundz]

I wish mine would just stay in 3rd geer.

 

[Karate Monkey]

@soundz , check/replace the clutch spring (also, do the idiot check, slack/nearly slack in 3rd gear).

Some SA humor (also works with most coaster brakes, sub oil for grease):

Q: How do you know if your hub needs to be oiled?
A: It stopped leaking.

 

[Dingo]

@soundz , check/replace the clutch spring (also, do the idiot check, slack/nearly slack in 3rd gear).

Some SA humor (also works with most coaster brakes, sub oil for grease):

Q: How do you know if your hub needs to be oiled?
A: It stopped leaking.

When I was a kid in the 60's... those SA always had a leather hub cleaner thingy hanging in there.. Got it rollin fast enough it would spin with the hub. That little chain always intrigued me. WTF does that do??? And, the clicking noise when in one of the gears. All good memories.

 

[soundz]

@soundz , check/replace the clutch spring (also, do the idiot check, slack/nearly slack in 3rd gear).

Some SA humor (also works with most coaster brakes, sub oil for grease):

Q: How do you know if your hub needs to be oiled?
A: It stopped leaking.

You sent me a post a while back. I have it bookmarked somewhere I think. Just haven't had time to look at it really.

 

[Karate Monkey]

That little chain always intrigued me. WTF does that do??? And, the clicking noise when in one of the gears. All good memories.

The chain was an ingenious (not to mention cheaper) way of aligning the shift rod with a pulling cable. It could work without any special bits, regardless of how the hub was oriented in the dropouts (remembering that the axle is fixed in every sense of the word). Just in case you don't know, you should never screw the rod in all the way (or try to force it past "just-screwed-in"), even if it lines up with the cable in that position--you can damage the shift key or break the threaded tip off the rod. If you haven't, you should get a new axle nut, too. If the chain was really old, the nut was probably chewed to shit, too, and it will badly impact the shifting of the hub.

The clicking is the hub shell over-running the pawls that hold the shell in "direct drive" mode (as opposed to 3-1 or 1-3). It also occurs in hubs with multiple planetaries, again, when they are turning, but not driving. It's mechanical music!

Special versions of the 3 speed hubs were used on chain driven lathes around the turn of the [last] century in England. I've never seen one in person, but I can imagine they were quite loud, if nothing else.