March 9, 201610 yr Hello everyone, I hope all you pedelecs out there are well! I have an unknown e-bike which I have been repairing, improving, changing over the 3 years I have had it. Its had a new battery, frog type, new controller, bikes been fully serviced too so its in a fairly decent condition. Back on the road in early Feb I encountered some issues with my bike. After reading the (excellent forums) I quickly diagnosed the issue as lose connection on one of the power wires. Having repaired and seemingly fixed the problem, my bike is now struggling with a new problem. The Power bar is fully lit, I have checked connections and all seem good. The controller is only 2 years old as is the battery. I have deduced it must be the hub, I am not sure how old this. when I turn the throttle I can hear quite a high pitch noise coming from the hub when the electric engages, however more often than not, try and turn and either move a little and stop or not at all. I note when manually move the wheel with my hand, the wheel barely turns. There is certainly no way it could "free wheel" if I span it. I am hoping the descriptions are helpful for someone out there to provide a little support!? Thank you!
March 9, 201610 yr Hello everyone, I hope all you pedelecs out there are well! I have an unknown e-bike which I have been repairing, improving, changing over the 3 years I have had it. Its had a new battery, frog type, new controller, bikes been fully serviced too so its in a fairly decent condition. Back on the road in early Feb I encountered some issues with my bike. After reading the (excellent forums) I quickly diagnosed the issue as lose connection on one of the power wires. Having repaired and seemingly fixed the problem, my bike is now struggling with a new problem. The Power bar is fully lit, I have checked connections and all seem good. The controller is only 2 years old as is the battery. I have deduced it must be the hub, I am not sure how old this. when I turn the throttle I can hear quite a high pitch noise coming from the hub when the electric engages, however more often than not, try and turn and either move a little and stop or not at all. I note when manually move the wheel with my hand, the wheel barely turns. There is certainly no way it could "free wheel" if I span it. I am hoping the descriptions are helpful for someone out there to provide a little support!? Thank you! Two things I can think of that it may be. Either the planetary gears are stripped or there is an electrical issue affecting the hall sensors.
March 9, 201610 yr If it won't spin forward with the system switched off, it's likely to be the nylon internal gears chewed up and jamming. .
March 9, 201610 yr Author hi guys, thank you very much for the replies. there is definatley friction coming from the hub when I try and spin wheel. it barely moves! the sound also did seem very loud when I started riding again in Feb. almost a whirring noise which I guess could be the nylon gears chewed/chewing. are the gears repairable? or would it be best/easiest to replace the hub? I will do a forum search in the meantime on gear repairs, thanks again!
March 9, 201610 yr Author it makes the whirring noise now when I manually spin the wheel. the faster the spin, the quicker the whir.
March 9, 201610 yr hi guys, thank you very much for the replies. there is definatley friction coming from the hub when I try and spin wheel. it barely moves! the sound also did seem very loud when I started riding again in Feb. almost a whirring noise which I guess could be the nylon gears chewed/chewing. are the gears repairable? or would it be best/easiest to replace the hub? I will do a forum search in the meantime on gear repairs, thanks again! Can you see what type of motor it is? A picture would be helpful (both sides). The planetary gears usualy are repairable.
March 9, 201610 yr The gears are replaceable if it's one of the popular motors. N.B. Crossed with Emo Rider's post.
March 9, 201610 yr Author its a black disk with a silver outer rim there are no branding or sticker on the hub there is only a CE mark and on the other part of the rim the code XDQ4 0710 0248
March 9, 201610 yr Best guess is that the XD coding could be an older Xiongda hub, d8veh may be able to shed more light on it.
March 9, 201610 yr Author One side of the hub has screws to open up. I will open the disc and see if there are any other markings or stickers on the inside.
March 10, 201610 yr Author I opened up the disk last night and it looks a real mess in there. I cant fully remove as the wheel is still on the axle. photos are next to useless as they are too dark. The hub/bike I have had it 5 years now and I am not sure how long the hub has been used prior to that, it must be nearly 10 years old? the bike was in a real state when I purchased and I am wondering whether to bite the bullet and purchase a new hub? What is the lifespan of a hub motor?
March 10, 201610 yr Internally geared hub motor life is in miles rather than years, but it's very variable, some give way at a few thousand miles while others of the same brand can run for tens of thousands. Variables like motor internal alignment, greasing and how used, plus climate, dust pollution, dampness, salt water environment etc can add up to huge differences. Having opened the side, can you see the gears or just the windings?
March 14, 201610 yr Author good morning, frustratingly I now cant even open the side of the motor hub. One of the screws had seized which I managed to eventually get out, however I cant seem to remove the side of the motor hub now! I am thinking I may need a new hub as I cant even access this to repair it! Any ideas?
March 14, 201610 yr good morning, frustratingly I now cant even open the side of the motor hub. One of the screws had seized which I managed to eventually get out, however I cant seem to remove the side of the motor hub now! I am thinking I may need a new hub as I cant even access this to repair it! Any ideas? Tap the spindle on the other side with a mallet or hammer as if to drive the core out towards the sideplate, but be careful not to damage the spindle threads. This will usually separate the side plate from the hub shell. .
March 15, 201610 yr Author spent well over an hour last night trying to get the plate off. It simply wont budge. I tried with the hammer and other tools to get it to budge but it wont move. This is really frustrating! I would appreciate any links to hub replacement sites. and any guides!
March 15, 201610 yr Is there still a nut on the axle against the side of the motor you are hitting on? A picture would really help us help you.
March 16, 201610 yr Hi Ben, It could be your motor is a direct drive motor and the force of the magnets on the stator are holding the hub shaft and rotor in position in the hub body. It would require a hydraulic press on the non wired side of the hub shaft to push it out. The last time I had to do this I took it into my local Formula One car workshop (a kwikfit type garage) and they used their hand pump operated press to carefully remove the internal workings. If this is the case and you can repair it be warned that when you put it back together the shaft will be attracted by the magnets and if you are not careful then any stray fingers that get in the way could be easily damaged due to the very high magnetic attraction forces. Edited March 16, 201610 yr by shemozzle999
March 16, 201610 yr Author How do I disconnect the power cable to the hub? I am assuming I would need to remove from bike and take the wheel and hub in to perform the task you mention above??
March 16, 201610 yr Yes take the whole wheel. Trace the motor cable back to the controller box there is usually a connector you can disconnect at the controller end.
March 16, 201610 yr Author I am familiar with the controller and all connections. I replaced this a couple of years ago with help from Daveh. Is that the only way to disconnect? I dont fancy threading any cables back through my bike or taking them out to be honest as they are really tightly packed and some of the holes are very small! I am assuming if I were to buy a new hub or repair current one I will have to disconnect and re-wire anyway?
March 16, 201610 yr Attach a draw wire to your existing motor cable at the controller end, as you withdraw the cable it will pull the draw wire with it, you can then use it to pull the cable back when the hub has been repaired.
March 17, 201610 yr Author thanks again for your help, I will give this a go and take the wheel down to local kwikfit hopefully over the weekend. if that doesn't work can you recommend any front wheel hub sellers in case I need to replace the whole thing?
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