# Aluminum Musselman front hub



## junkyard (Nov 8, 2011)

I removed this from a badly rusted away drop center rim that came with a lot of both post and prewar parts and frames.

I've never seen another one like it, it uses a 3/8" axle and the same bearings as a rear hub. The matching rear wheel had an ND model D hub.
The rims were the older style waterfall style drop center rims. 

The hub shell is cracked, it's all aluminum, including the bearing race area. The hub flange is also larger than normal with a 2" diameter. The hub shell is also only 3 5/8" wide.


----------



## Mybluevw (Nov 9, 2011)

Looks like the front hub off of a prewar Elgin, but I don't think that the ones I have are made from aluminum.
Now I am going to have to out in the shop and check 
Hard to believe that the aluminum race would stand up the wear and tear from hardened ball bearings.


----------



## junkyard (Nov 9, 2011)

Its definitely aluminum or some sort of pot metal. The hub is cracked both at one flange and diagonally across the one race.
The bearing surfaces are all one piece, no steel cups or anything. There doesn't look to be much wear but there's no telling how long ago it got damaged. 
It does use larger diameter bearings, it had the same bearings in it as a rear hub. 

There's a casting seam down the middle side to side where it was cast in two halves.


----------



## Adamtinkerer (Nov 9, 2011)

Yes, the 'air cooled' Musselman hubs were used on Elgins, complete with 'Elgin' stamped brake arm, and later, JC Higgins. This would be the matching front hub. I've seen a couple bikes that looked to be original, but had mixed hubs, so I'd guess that there were occasionally shortages or they found a better deal and made substitutions.


----------



## junkyard (Nov 9, 2011)

I have other Musselman front hubs that are finned but they're not aluminum. The brake arms on their matching rears say Elgin.
The other hubs are wider and have fins that pretty much match the rear hubs. 
This broken hub has four fins and no raised 'bumps' and is oddly narrow. 
I've never run across one of these before.

I've seen Elgin air cooled front hubs with four fins and one bump in the middle, and a few with two fins and no bump with a grease fitting. 
Could this just be a very early hub or possibly from a smaller bike? Maybe it was respoked into a 26" wheel long ago?


----------



## slick (Nov 9, 2011)

That's the koolest hub I have ever seen! I'm on the hunt! I want one!


----------



## junkyard (Nov 9, 2011)

In my 40 years messing with old bikes I've never seen another one like it. 
Although I never messed around very much till the last few years with older bikes, I'd have remembered seeing or would have saved anything odd or different.

I can't see what they were thinking of using aluminum bearing races but maybe its from a kids bike or something that they figured would be used under a lighter load?

The fact that is used the larger ball bearings would held distribute the load better across the bearing race. 

Its a cheap looking casting that's been chrome plated, there's little to no attempt to clean up the casting seam before plating. It would have been easy to sand it smooth prior to plating but they didn't bother. Its also super light. The rim is was on was the very early style drop center style rim with the convex third angle on each side. It was a much flatter profile rim too. 
The tires were Allstate Safety Treads with the saw tooth tread pattern, the tires were rotted away to the point 1/3 of the tire was gone, along with the rim in that area. It was a 26" rim with double butted spokes and the long Torrington style nipples. 

The axle was broken, only half of it remained, the hub cones were basically the same as a Musselman rear hub but on a shorter axle.


----------



## chitown (Nov 10, 2011)

http://www.google.com/patents?id=GV...n&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q=101999 musselman&f=false


----------



## RMS37 (Nov 10, 2011)

Turn to the accessory pages of the Sears catalog, Fall/Winter 1937/38 through Spring/Summer 1942.

This hub was sold as a replacement front hub and labeled “fine quality for little money.” It is shown along side the standard air cooled Musselman coaster brake so I always assumed it was made by them but I need to look at mine more closely to see if thee are any markings to prove that.

They are made out of somethingium… which looks to me more like potmetal than aluminum but whatever it is doesn’t appear to have been a good choice. They are cool looking but I would be afraid to lace one let alone ride it. Considering they were listed in the catalogs for five plus years and only a handful are around today, I would assume the survival rate was low.


----------



## junkyard (Nov 10, 2011)

That's it! 
The model number on mine reads 101999.

By the looks of this thing, I doubt many survived. The spoke flanges are thin, so are the bearing cup areas. 

By the look of the hub wear wise, it shattered long before it saw much service.

I can just imagine some kid jumping a curb or ramp with the thing and breaking the front hub on impact.


----------



## Aeropsycho (Nov 11, 2011)

*I have one...*

I have one it is laced into a original Monark Silverking triple stepped 24" rim I have seen 2 others...


----------



## z-bikes (Nov 11, 2011)

I had 2 of them but one was broken & trashed but still laced into a junk wheel. It got stolen for scrap metal with some other junk out behind my garage. Here's a couple of pictures of the other one. The second picture has the typical Elgin air-cooled hub next to it for reference.


----------



## junkyard (Nov 11, 2011)

Yours hub looks a little better finished then mine is, the flanges on mine are rough, with a raw cast or punched out look. The seam is crude and uneven.
Does yours have the seam across the middle? 

The other Elgin hub you have is again a different model than either of the other two I have here. 
Both are also wider than the broken four fin aluminum hub. 

Is yours all aluminum? Is there any seam showing or is it better polished?


----------



## z-bikes (Nov 13, 2011)

junkyard said:


> Yours hub looks a little better finished then mine is, the flanges on mine are rough, with a raw cast or punched out look. The seam is crude and uneven.
> Does yours have the seam across the middle?
> 
> The other Elgin hub you have is again a different model than either of the other two I have here.
> ...




Mine doesn't appear to have a seam. The flanges and the overall surface looks like it would have been finished quite nicely when it was new. The spoke holes have a little radius to the edges.

Mine appears to be some sort of potmetal with the typical chrome blisters similar to what you find on Silverays.

I have 2 of the Elgin hubs not in wheels and they both look like the one pictured.


----------



## junkyard (Nov 16, 2011)

The broken hub I have here is rough, the seam is sharp and even has some flashing on it. The hub flanges are stamped looking although the hub is cast pot metal. The chrome is thin and the fins are even rough and not perfectly round. The bearing surface though is darker, sort of anodized brown or gray. 
The area where the bearings ride is less than 1/8" thick, maybe not even 1/16" in some spots.


----------



## cyclingday (Nov 23, 2012)

Although, this is an old thread, I serviced one of these hubs today, And I thought that I would include what I found out about it.

The one I have, has a steel insert inside the axle housing and also has removable steel bearing race cups.

There are nine loose ball bearings per side and the hub shell is cast out of pot metal and then nickle plated.

This hub was the front mate to the Mussleman model M rear coaster brake hub.(circa 1937/38) 

The Finned rear hub was a Sears/Elgin/J.C. Higgins exclusive, and it used a different front hub for its mate.

The hub that began this thread was missing its axle housing and bearing races, so that is why it appeared to be so vulnerable.


----------



## catfish (Nov 24, 2012)

You have to be real careful with these hubs. When you truing your rim, it's real easy to destroy these. 




junkyard said:


> I removed this from a badly rusted away drop center rim that came with a lot of both post and prewar parts and frames.
> 
> I've never seen another one like it, it uses a 3/8" axle and the same bearings as a rear hub. The matching rear wheel had an ND model D hub.
> The rims were the older style waterfall style drop center rims.
> ...


----------



## Euphman06 (Aug 3, 2014)

I know it's an old thread, but I have one of these hubs on my '37 CWC roadster.


----------

