My first Sturmey Archer AW Can of worms.

[nortonguy]

Was never a fan of 3-speed equipped bikes, which may be one of the reasons I gave a neighbor of mine a '63 Schwinn Tiger that was a barn-find equipped with the Sturmey Archer AW. Of course the darn rear hub turned out to not be functional, and feeling bad for the neighbor, I said "sure I will get it working for you.". That was right before winter last year so the rear wheel with it's shift lever attached sat in my freezing garage until this spring, when I had time to take it apart to see what was going on.

Initially I thought I was going to hit this thing with some WD40 and be done, but I ended up taking the whole hub apart and finding a broken gear in it, and whatever lube was in it was hard and glued all the pawls closed so they were not working. So it all came apart and I cleaned every single part of the hub guts with scrapers, brushes and kerosene. Then I noticed all the spokes were loose in the wheel, one spoke was missing, others were rusty enough I could not get the nipples off. So now the whole wheel is apart, and I am buying a gear, new spokes and nipples, cleaning the rusty rim with a brass brush, buying new pawl springs, bearing cone lock washers and a few other parts.

Today I finally got all the worms back in the can, the hub is back together and laced into the rim. I have to make a short screw to plug up the hole where the oil cap was that broke off. Now I can put it on a bike, true up the rim, put on the tire and make sure the shift leaver is adjusted, get it on the neighbors bike, make sure it is working perfectly and be done with it except hopefully see him riding the bike around the hood with his wife, who I also gave an early 60s Schwinn cruiser to so they could ride together. That is the dream.

 

[SirMike1983]

Frozen pawls, chipped gear teeth, and broken pawl springs are relatively common on older AW hubs that have not been properly maintained. The WD40-only washout method is OK for a hub kept in good shape and where the user refuses to take it apart. I take apart, wash, and rebuild all my AW hubs. Occasionally there will be hidden issue that a simple function test will not reveal. Hubs that show signs of improper adjustment, improper lubrication (heavy grease or no lubrication), or which have continuing issues should be taken apart, totally cleaned, and damaged parts replaced. The best thing for these hubs is an ultrasonic cleaner with small parts baskets, which make cleaning and inspection fairly straightforward.

 

[nortonguy]

Photos, of the hub parts, then the wheel back together, and a bag of S-A springs I got from an old bike shop for a dollar... I made a gasket with a leather-punch and a pair of scissors out of a piece of old inner tube to seal the 1/4-20 short screw I cut down which fit into the oil port hole nicely, maybe someday I will find one of the little caps to fit in there, but this works great, just need a screw-holding screwdriver to put it in and take it out. The little springs in the bag had the leg bent 180 degrees from the ones in the hub, so must be for a different model S-A, but I just took one and twisted it 180 to make it look like the one from the hub that got away from me and it worked fine.

 

[SirMike1983]

There are a few different variations of spring out there, bending carefully to fit works fine.

 

[FICHT 150]

Hmm. Might be a good time to have a look at his front wheel.

Ted

 

[bikeguy53]

but I just took one and twisted it 180

I ran into that a few years ago, and found a tip online that made sense. Straighten the bend, and make a new bend on the other end. That way there is only half the fatigue in the bend. It worked for the hub I was working on. I have the plastic caps for the hub oiler, but the solution you came up with seems pretty secure, so maybe not worth the hassle. Shoot me a DM if you still want one.

Good on you for standing behind your sale, not many would bother to rebuild a three speed hub. Not me, I do it every chance I get!

 

[nortonguy]

Hmm. Might be a good time to have a look at his front wheel.

Ted

The entire bike needs going over, but the owner has to do his part. I told the owner maybe I could rebuild his front wheel next winter, with new spokes etc.. He and his wife are 70 years old and are just going to ride very slowly around the neighborhood at five to ten mph, so the bike is going to have few demands placed upon it.

 

[nortonguy]

I ran into that a few years ago, and found a tip online that made sense. Straighten the bend, and make a new bend on the other end. That way there is only half the fatigue in the bend. It worked for the hub I was working on. I have the plastic caps for the hub oiler, but the solution you came up with seems pretty secure, so maybe not worth the hassle. Shoot me a DM if you still want one.

Good on you for standing behind your sale, not many would bother to rebuild a three speed hub. Not me, I do it every chance I get!

Thank-you. I twisted the leg on the spring instead of bending it because that is something I figured the spring had not had done to it yet. I know with spring steel bending it once it fine, but twice or more in the same spot and it will just snap usually.

I am supposed to get a Sturmey Archer parts stock from an old dealer near me who said he was thinking of throwing it all in the trash, so it will be at a good price, and maybe we can do some trading. I always loved mechanical things, and I like seeing the hub back on the Scwhinn Tiger making nice ratchet sounds, but I have a 90 year-old mother to take care of, a wife, a house, the mother's estate, cars to work on, a few dozen old motorcycles to work on, bikes to ride, you name it. Being retired sucks as you have no excuse to get out of things. Maybe someday when I get too old to ride a single-speed everywhere as I do now, I will try out a two or three speed rear hub myself, something to think about.

 

[nortonguy]

One thing I need to know is what the cable-stop looks like for the shift-cable that is being held by this clamp, as the bike's new owner lost the SOB when he took the wheel and shifter off the bike to give it to me to work on. It is the only part of the bike that is missing and it needs it to be able to shift. Thanks in advance to anyone that has one laying around they can shoot a photo of.

 

[FICHT 150]

Right here.

The best ones are from prior to 1960, and made of steel. The plastic version works, for a while. Same thing with the pulley wheels, steel was better, but, we got plastic later on.

Ted