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New Departure "D" coaster brake help

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bloo

I live for the CABE
I just tore down the New Departure D hub from my 53 Huffy for the second time. I've not had it on the bike yet, but it was making a bunch of noise. This is the version with steel-on-steel discs, and they really howl!

But forget about that (for the moment anyway). There is a ratcheting noise when the wheel is spinning. I've been closely inspecting the drive screw and the drive clutch because I thought one of them was probably bent, as unlikely as that seems.

It turns out the hub has serrations on the inside where the drive clutch contacts it. The drive clutch also serrations, like all the drive clutches I have seen before. When the wheel is free spinning (not drive, not brake), the serrations inside the hub bounce over the serrations on the drive clutch and it makes a bunch of noise.

I have another hub here, so I disassembled it and tried the drive clutch from it in the Huffy's hub. Loud. Then I tried the Huffy's drive clutch in the other hub. Quiet. It seems the trouble must be the surface inside the Huffy's hub, and It must have been made this way?

The hub is from 1953, and has steel-on-steel discs. It is stamped and has an oiler, but is not high polish chrome or nickel. Maybe cad or zinc plated, maybe Korean War chrome.

Has anyone run into this?
 
I just tore down the New Departure D hub from my 53 Huffy for the second time. I've not had it on the bike yet, but it was making a bunch of noise. This is the version with steel-on-steel discs, and they really howl!

But forget about that (for the moment anyway). There is a ratcheting noise when the wheel is spinning. I've been closely inspecting the drive screw and the drive clutch because I thought one of them was probably bent, as unlikely as that seems.

It turns out the hub has serrations on the inside where the drive clutch contacts it. The drive clutch also serrations, like all the drive clutches I have seen before. When the wheel is free spinning (not drive, not brake), the serrations inside the hub bounce over the serrations on the drive clutch and it makes a bunch of noise.

I have another hub here, so I disassembled it and tried the drive clutch from it in the Huffy's hub. Loud. Then I tried the Huffy's drive clutch in the other hub. Quiet. It seems the trouble must be the surface inside the Huffy's hub, and It must have been made this way?

The hub is from 1953, and has steel-on-steel discs. It is stamped and has an oiler, but is not high polish chrome or nickel. Maybe cad or zinc plated, maybe Korean War chrome.

Has anyone run into this?
Can't say I have. The ND D I took apart had copper discs, and I reassembled it without using 5w30 oil & grease. I ended up not using it Yet; was on a '53 Monark General .... 1 side should be slightly different so are you sure you have it together 💯% Right?
 
Ya, pretty sure. It's apart right now so I can see. ND were my favorite hubs when I was a kid and I have had several of them. I've never had any trouble getting one to work right before. The one on my 41 has the same grease and oil in it this one does. It is whisper quiet.

This Huffy is dragging one serration over another and going KTRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!. Now that I know what it is, I suppose I could ignore it because it's not tearing anything up. As for the howling noise I can probably fix that by sanding the discs or just putting bronze ones in I guess. Could they have really sent it out the door like rattling this when it was new? Seems doubtful. It isn't really that loud either, but if I heard this noise in a new bike I would think it was broken.
 
Ya, pretty sure. It's apart right now so I can see. ND were my favorite hubs when I was a kid and I have had several of them. I've never had any trouble getting one to work right before. The one on my 41 has the same grease and oil in it this one does. It is whisper quiet.

This Huffy is dragging one serration over another and going KTRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!. Now that I know what it is, I suppose I could ignore it because it's not tearing anything up. As for the howling noise I can probably fix that by sanding the discs or just putting bronze ones in I guess. Could they have really sent it out the door like rattling this when it was new? Seems doubtful. It isn't really that loud either, but if I heard this noise in a new bike I would think it was broken.
Hard to say but I rebuilt a hub not long ago because I kept hearing like a clicking sound in it during pedaling (almost the way a mtn bike sounds as the gears change & or rolling the chain back in free wheel) and No Matter what it wouldn't stop. The splines meshing was deep perfect serrations & I guess it wasn't worn. I Heavily Greased it with Red n'Tacky vs Marine grease. It lessened eventually with hard braking .... maybe put it back together or in a wheel & give it a test ride. Could just be an annoying unit but fine
 
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Yeah I might have to. The more I think about it, unless there is some miracle I haven't thought of, doing anything about it is going to mean replacing the hub shell. Its 28 hole and I definitely don't have any of those laying around. The wheel is already trued, new tire mounted, etc.

Another odd thing, the reaction spring is a brand new one because the old one was broken and hanging by a thread. The new one really drags, a lot. Can you have too much drag? I don't see any way it could cause the noise but it just doesn't feel normal to me.
 
Yeah I might have to. The more I think about it, unless there is some miracle I haven't thought of, doing anything about it is going to mean replacing the hub shell. Its 28 hole and I definitely don't have any of those laying around. The wheel is already trued, new tire mounted, etc.

Another odd thing, the reaction spring is a brand new one because the old one was broken and hanging by a thread. The new one really drags, a lot. Can you have too much drag? I don't see any way it could cause the noise but it just doesn't feel normal to me.
That I can't say. Mine was a 36h and it was quiet but looked like tar inside & was stiff both to pedal & braking. I had never tore into 1 that required oil but learned because this is the 3rd or so I have come to own. 1 being a 'CWC skip tooth with oil port
 
Unfortunately I haven't fully lubed & used 1 after so I wish I could give more assistance but thinking it shouldn't have much drag 🤔
 
How deep are the serrations in the hub? Could you use a small sanding drum and take them down a little? I might have a replacement hub shell, I will check.
 
Here are two 28 hole shells should you decide to go that route. One is pretty nice chrome and the other is probably like the one you have. Neither has serrations inside.
1430748
 
I don't really think you could sand on it without screwing it up. Its sort of a curved cone thing that needs to lock but release easy. I was plotting all day yesterday about some way to sand it a little without totally screwing it up, but came up empty. I'll have another look at it when I get home tonight and shoot you a PM. Thanks. :)
 
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