JC Higgins 8 speed

[GTs58]

Another interesting early Sears piece. Same pedals and stem as the Continental and the same Allvit RD version I have on my late 61 Conti. I just saw a set of those brake calipers that are almost identical to the Weinmann and the marking on the rear said made in Germany. The name slips my mind, but it only had four letters. I have never figured out what the deal is with the two early jockey wheel cages being used in the same time period. The 4 prong piece was specific for the Corvette 5 speeds and but the three prong is on my original 61 Conti and 63 Varsitys. The one on my 62 Continental is the 4 prong piece.

 

[juvela]

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forgot to mention above -

a bit difficult to tell from images but you may discover blades to be D-section

many Styria products of this type and era received them

expect blade ends to be crimped to form fork ends

although steerer is 26.0mm outside diameter the correct stem diameter is 22.0mm

chainstay bridge is ESGE plate style

the big long Sears item number stamped into the frame will begin with 503, the source code for Puch/Steyr

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[MN_Schwinn]

I

Another interesting early Sears piece. Same pedals and stem as the Continental and the same Allvit RD version I have on my late 61 Conti. I just saw a set of those brake calipers that are almost identical to the Weinmann and the marking on the rear said made in Germany. The name slips my mind, but it only had four letters. I have never figured out what the deal is with the two early jockey wheel cages being used in the same time period. The 4 prong piece was specific for the Corvette 5 speeds and but the three prong is on my original 61 Conti and 63 Varsitys. The one on my 62 Continental is the 4 prong piece.

View attachment 1672776

I haven’t figured out the 3-prong vs 4-prong thing either. Per the Schwinn volume 2 service manual, they only discuss the adjustment of the pulley spring and that it should be adjusted give the chain max tension. Nothing regarding the number of prongs one might encounter.

 

[juvela]

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dating -

in case you are curious for a date the two Juy pieces would be a helpful place to begin

you could check on them at velobase to see their respective years of production

this will give a date bracketing for you to begin checking the back Sears catalogues

as recalled, about the last year for the all metal L.J. 23 model front mech was ~1961

beginning in the early 1960's 4V gear blocks gradually disappeared

here is a Juy brochure page from Germany dated 1960

me dating guess would be the 1958-1961 window

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it was a common practice up into the early 1970s for department stores to sell derailleur geared bicycles fitted with 26" wheels

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[MN_Schwinn]

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forgot to mention above -

a bit difficult to tell from images but you may discover blades to be D-section

many Styria products of this type and era received them

expect blade ends to be crimped to form fork ends

although steerer is 26.0mm outside diameter the correct stem diameter is 22.0mm

chainstay bridge is ESGE plate style

the big long Sears item number stamped into the frame will begin with 503, the source code for Puch/Steyr

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I finally had the time to tear down the bike a little bit more. The below picture shows the source code / SN on the bottom bracket. The source code start with 503, though the 5 and 0 are very faint. It’s the same line-set of code numbers as HyperHal’s bike. My SN appears to be set prior to his, but who knows.

Also, I cleaned up the face of the freewheel, and unfortunately there are no markings (pictures also included below). Not even faint marking show up under a mangnifying glass. It’s a 17-19-21-23 freewheel, with six (6) slots on the back of the large gear… each slot being about an inch long. I would’ve guessed (hoped) this to be an Atom freewheel, but the early 60’s Atom’s typically had a bullet hole pattern on the back of the large gear, not slots.

From past experiense with these 2-prong freewheels, I’m very leery using my 2-prong tool. I’ve used a pin spanner wrench in the past to remove the bearing cover plate, but as you can see I cannot use that technique in this case. Once I figure out how to remove the freewheel from the hub (without destroying the 2-prong base), my guess is there will be markings on the inside rim of the freewheel.

 

[MN_Schwinn]

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dating -

in case you are curious for a date the two Juy pieces would be a helpful place to begin

you could check on them at velobase to see their respective years of production

this will give a date bracketing for you to begin checking the back Sears catalogues

as recalled, about the last year for the all metal L.J. 23 model front mech was ~1961

beginning in the early 1960's 4V gear blocks gradually disappeared

here is a Juy brochure page from Germany dated 1960

View attachment 1672853

me dating guess would be the 1958-1961 window

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it was a common practice up into the early 1970s for department stores to sell derailleur geared bicycles fitted with 26" wheels

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I haven’t tried further to remove the freewheel, but I believe I have figured out the manufacturer… Moyne. Manufactured in France. I found a very similar 5-speed on VeloBase, and the same was for same on EBay last night.

I read further on this forum about other techniques for freewheel removal… @GTs58 and @schwinnbikebobb both suggested using a #8 extractor. This is also in my Schwinn Service Manual. I will purchase the extractor, cut it down, and give it a try.

 

[juvela]

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thank you for the additional information - fine detective work

Moyne gear blocks require a two-dog remover with the dogs quite far apart

this is an outdated design so it may take a bit of looking to secure the correct remover, VAR & ELDI made them

if you go to a bike shop for help with this suggest to try one which has been in business for a very long time...
recommend you keep the Nr. 8 screw extractor as a "plan b" and attempt to find a correct two-dog remover first
with these two-doggers care must be taken to not permit them to shift under load
as experience has shown you, when they shift under load damage to the "ears"/"corners" of the removal notches results rendering removal more difficult

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dating -

spots to check for possible markings:

shell of rear hub

portion of handlebar stem down inside steerer

right end of handlebar, beneath grip

backside of crank arms

backside of chainwheel

centre section of bottom bracket spindle

steerer

portion of saddle pillar down inside seat tube

also possible that underside of the body of the Simplex front gear mech may exhibit a marking:

if you are curious as to whether the originall gear ensemble was Juy (Simplex) or Freres Huret the manufacturer of the bottom bracket cable guide/stop should be indicative

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back Sears & Roebuck catalogues are posted online by year
suggest beginning an exploration circa 1958-60 and move outward from there until you find a match

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[GTs58]

If the rear hub is alloy, forget about using the "correct" removal tool. Have you ever heard the horror stories on removing stuck stems? These can be just as bad or worse in some cases. I know of a few that had to destroy the hub just to salvage a two slot freewheel.

 

[MN_Schwinn]

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thank you for the additional information - fine detective work

Moyne gear blocks require a two-dog remover with the dogs quite far apart

this is an outdated design so it may take a bit of looking to secure the correct remover, VAR & ELDI made them

if you go to a bike shop for help with this suggest to try one which has been in business for a very long time...
recommend you keep the Nr. 8 screw extractor as a "plan b" and attempt to find a correct two-dog remover first
with these two-doggers care must be taken to not permit them to shift under load
as experience has shown you, when they shift under load damage to the "ears"/"corners" of the removal notches results rendering removal more difficult

View attachment 1676409


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dating -

spots to check for possible markings:

shell of rear hub

portion of handlebar stem down inside steerer

right end of handlebar, beneath grip

backside of crank arms

backside of chainwheel

centre section of bottom bracket spindle

steerer

portion of saddle pillar down inside seat tube

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back Sears & Roebuck catalogues are posted online by year
suggest beginning an exploration circa 1958-60 and move outward from there until you find a match

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View attachment 1676410

View attachment 1676411

Thanks for the additional info... and thanks for the vintage part spec sheets. Very interesting (all of them). As I continue to tear-down, I’ll give updates when I can.

 

[MN_Schwinn]

If the rear hub is alloy, forget about using the "correct" removal tool. Have you ever heard the horror stories on removing stuck stems? These can be just as bad or worse in some cases. I know of a few that had to destroy the hub just to salvage a two slot freewheel.

Yes, I have gone through those same headaches. I acquired a 63 Schwinn Sierra last winter. It was sitting outside at a farm for at least 20 years, maybe 30, or more. But it had all the original parts (even saddle, which I tried but could not save), so I went all-in on doing a full clean-up. To remove the stem, I used a trick that was discussed out on the forum threads…. Removed the stem bolt, plugged it with a rubber stopper, tipped the bike upside down and filled the head tube with PB Blaster. Waited a month and sure enough, I was able to remove the stem from the fork.

The Sierra also has the 2-prong Atom freewheel on a Normandy hub. As to not destory either, I removed the bearing cover with the pin spanner (after saturating in Blaster). I carefully lifted off the gears, colleted the bearings, and removed the pawls. I then did my best to saturate the freewheel core with Blaster, then wait for it to work itself in. I wrapped the core with a thin rubber cover, put it in a bench vice, then carefully turned the wheel until the core busted free.