JC HIGGINS BACK HUB HELP

BOXKARS
Advertise with us
Bike Wall
shop deals on amazon
Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum

Help Support Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
NICK1985

NICK1985

Joined
Oct 20, 2014
Messages
33
Reaction score
29
Location
London, UK
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Hi guys,

I recently purchased a 50's JC Higgins bike here in London but Im having a nightmare with the back hub and I am needing some help.

I took it to a local bike shop that was willing to have a look at it for me but they haven't had any luck fixing it and said it seems like a part might be missing? The wheel spins two or three times then locks up. Any ideas?

I dont suppose there is an exploded diagram of the hub so I can see if any parts are missing and pass it onto the bike shop?

Or does anyone have any photos of a hub and all its separated parts so I can see if anything is missing on mine?

below is an image of the same hub taken from google





Any help would be greatly appreciated
 
The only pictures I have on hand are of a new departure model d hub, they should be relatively similar. I have these pics so I remember how it goes back together. Not sure if this will help but....






All of the parts are layed out in order of how it came apart.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The most common problem with coasters is an anti-reversion device of some sort, usually a piece of spring metal, that allows the clutch release to only rotate in one direction relative to the driver. You can see it out of it's slot in RustyTank's first pick. He didn't remove it from the driven side for the "exploded" view, but you can see it on the part right next to the axle if you blow up the picture. That one can be put in backwards, often times they are broken. Every coaster hub has something to perform this function, and it's the most likely source of your problem. There are completely different systems in some old hubs, can't help you with those.

Found it. :forum: http://ratrodbikes.com/forum/index.php?threads/ucb-hub-project-musselman-rebuild.53531/ :thumbsup:
 
Yours should have the spring clip on the outside of the clutch, instead of inside as was the case for the New Departure.
IMAG0954_zps28c3e892.jpg
 
FYI when the spring clip in my new departure was broken you could pedal backwards 3 to 4 TURNS before you got brakes! :eek:
After replacing clip with NOS part it works perfect.
 
RustyTank said:
The only pictures I have on hand are of a new departure model d hub, they should be relatively similar. I have these pics so I remember how it goes back together. Not sure if this will help but....






All of the parts are layed out in order of how it came apart.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Awesome, thanks for taking the time to post some images. Im going to pass these onto the bike shop. thank you
 
Thank you to everyone taking the time to get back to me, I really appreciate it.

Im going to take these photos/info and pass it onto the bike shop and hopefully they can fix it!
 
Incidentally I'm having the same issue on a bendix (red band I think) on a columbia roadster. Pedal backwards for 3 or 4 turns then it slows down a little bit. This gives me a good place to start looking, I will have to tear it down and look at the spring clip!
 
kgmcpheeters said:
Incidentally I'm having the same issue on a bendix (red band I think) on a columbia roadster. Pedal backwards for 3 or 4 turns then it slows down a little bit. This gives me a good place to start looking, I will have to tear it down and look at the spring clip!
Click to expand...
Ya, I found my first test ride pretty unnerving having to pedal backwards so many turns for brakes!
 
kgmcpheeters said:
Incidentally I'm having the same issue on a bendix (red band I think) on a columbia roadster. Pedal backwards for 3 or 4 turns then it slows down a little bit. This gives me a good place to start looking, I will have to tear it down and look at the spring clip!
Click to expand...

Some good info on Bendix: Your red band single speed is about 2/3rds of the way down the page.
http://www.trfindley.com/pgbndxhbs.html
 
Well I picked the bike up from the bike shop. The diagrams and photos everyone posted on here helped the guys in the shop. Thank you!

I took the wheel home, place it on the bike and everything seemed perfect as I road up and down my street before something else went wrong

Now the wheel just spins and I cant pedal or break...its as if the chain has come off but it hasn't.

Sorry to be a pain but does this sound familiar? Im tempted to throw the bike off a bridge haha
 
Maybe they totally filled the hub with grease and it is jamed? or maybe some parts are missing or totally worn out? Have not taken a bendix hub apart since the 70's but I used to pull em apart clean out the old diirt and grease, put new grease in and go. Wasnt hard, no books, internet, nothing. Of course, the bikes were 50 years newer then... :giggle:
 
I'd say bring it back to the shop and see if they'll have another go at no add'l charge. If that doesn't work, really, you're gonna have to just pull it apart and repack it yourself.
 
found this video of a repair / clean & relube of a bendix coaster.


I don't think I'd take it apart as far as the guy did in the video, I usually don't remove the sprocket, or take apart the end of the coaster with the torque arm for the brake, just pull apart and clean it and relube and of course look for excessively worn broken or missing parts.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top