Nexus 3 speed brake noise

[Uncle Stretch]

Ok I must be plagued with Nexus brake problems. I stuck one on the frame I'm building. It worked fine till you hit the brakes. Makes a loud squalling noise. I have several more , so I took the inside out of another and stuck it in that one. Same deal...squalled like a run over dog. So I think its a hub problem. Changed to another wheel. It did it too. So the only common denominator is I cleaned them all inside and lubed them with some expensive Phil Woods waterproof grease. I called Shimano....waited in line for 10 minutes to talk to a zip that had no idea what I wanted the answer too. He must be a reel guy , because he sure doesn't know anything about their hub noises. So now I can only come up with you have to use Shimano grease on one of them. They have come up with a new deal where they dunk the bottom part in some Shimano oil ( trans fluid works too )for a few minutes and then let it drip for 5 minutes . Then you lube just the brake ring with their grease. Another cool thing I found was you turn the chrome cover on the brake side and a little hole will appear and you can add grease without taking anything off....I didn't know that. :roll: :shock: So if anybody has this problem and has an answer tell me ...if not I am going to solve it and will post the answer when I get it.

 

[hubgearfreak]

if anybody has this problem and has answer tell me

the answer is to use sturmey or sachs/sram hubs. sorry, i'm not much help tinight am i

 

[scrumblero]

if they have a lube port, I flood em with solvent blow it out, then with outboard lower oil and they work great! if they don't have a hole I dunk em instead.. :roll:

 

[Rat Rod]

My wife's Electra Red Betty with a 3 speed hub does the same thing.

One day I rode it around and slammed the brakes on 6 or 7 times and that seemed to help a little.

 

[TheFlyingDingo]

My wife's Electra Red Betty with a 3 speed hub does the same thing.

One day I rode it around and slammed the brakes on 6 or 7 times and that seemed to help a little.

Actually, Yeah

I was cleaning my aunts bikes, and theirs howwelled. (spelling) I did that, and it worked.

 

[Uncle Stretch]

I'm heading over to a place tomorrow to find some real official Shamino grease. I will report if it helps. I stuck a little 30 weight in it to no avail. I have a sach's 7 speed that I love , but wouldn't give you much for a Sturmey Archer. My other 5 Nexus's work fine. :lol:

 

[Petrohead]

Every one I have had has done the same thing (5 or 6 of 'em). My LBS guy is very knowledge-able and says it is "normal" and sometime goes away at least somewhat once it has been broken in for a while.

 

[Uncle Stretch]

I thing its the grease I used. I put some regular wheel bearing grease in all three that make noise and everybody recommends high temp. I think when I finally take them back apart and change the Phil woods to something high temp it might help. I also looked and the inside brake surface wasn't the smoothest thing I have ever seen. I may polish one and see if that helps.

 

[Beau]

We use the Shimano Oil bath system. Phil is a little thick for coaster hubs though. We had a problem with one of these. I can't remember what we did. I'll call my Shimano rep tomorrow and see what he says. I have his cell number... :lol:

 

[Uncle Stretch]

I saw they came out with a new way to dunk the bottom in an oil bath. I saw somewhere trans fluid works too. Then they still pack the brake shoe in Shimano white grease. I would appreciate it if you find out anything post it.

 

[Beau]

Yup Shimano rep told me the same thing you have done. Oil bath, clean off the pads, apply liberal amounts of Nexus grease on the pads and you're good.

It doesn't work for us either.

 

[Uncle Stretch]

Ha ha thats funny. I'm going to take one and build something to polish that inside brake race. I looked at several and they looked a little rough. Maybe if they were really smooth that they wouldn't make noise. :roll:

 

[scrumblero]

Ha ha thats funny. I'm going to take one and build something to polish that inside brake race. I looked at several and they looked a little rough. Maybe if they were really smooth that they wouldn't make noise. :roll:

hopefully it will still stop... :shock:

 

[Petrohead]

Ha ha thats funny. I'm going to take one and build something to polish that inside brake race. I looked at several and they looked a little rough. Maybe if they were really smooth that they wouldn't make noise. :roll:

hopefully it will still stop... :shock:

I'm thinkin' the same thing. The roughness gives it the bite to brake.

 

[Beau]

I asked him if running a hone through it would help. He said no.

But it's worth a shot.

We had it happen on a BRAND NEW hub.

You just need to skid stop every time.

 

[Uncle Stretch]

I have a bunch of them and five or six work and about three squall like a scalded dog. I still haven't gotten time to start messing with them again.
Their tec guy listened while I explained what I had done and what didn't work. I stopped once and asked if he was still there. He didn't offer any earth shattering fixes. At the end he said if you can't fix them we will send you some new brake shoes to a dealer close to you. I wasn't real impressed. If I didn't have 5 or 6 that work perfectly I would think its all of them. Maybe if you take the brake shoes out and then weld a big stick to drag the ground when you want to stop. :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

 

[Rooski]

Did anyone ever find a real solution to this problem. I've used quite a number of these hubs with no problems, but the latest bike I bought with an NX3 is doing this. Before I spend time repeating all the same unsuccessful troubleshooting as you have already done, I figured I'd ask if you were you ever able to figure out why some squeal, and some don't??

 

[Uncle Stretch]

I never found that white high temp lith. grease they use. I still have some that squeel and some that don't.

 

[Rooski]

I never found that white high temp lith. grease they use. I still have some that squeel and some that don't.

Are you referring to the Shimano white Nexus grease? I do have some on hand, so I guess I'll rebuild it with some of that, and report back.

 

[Rooski]

Well, I tore the hub all the way down to the small parts, cleaned and rebuilt using generous amounts of the Shimano white Nexus grease. Threw it back on the bike a took it for a spin. Everything worked beautifully, until I applied the brakes. Still noisy as heck.

With light brake pressure, it's okay. Moderate pressure, and I start to hear a slight grinding sound, and can slightly feel it resonating throughout the bike. Heavy breaking brings out the squalling noise.

Ya know, it kind of does seem to be related to a "breaking in" thing, because it does feel like the brakes grab quicker, and stop the bike easier, when compared to my other hubs, so maybe the hub's breaking surface offers too much friction. it also seems to take less pressure to lock the wheel, with this hub. The previous owner had the bike since 2008, but said it wasn't ridden much. Plus, he lives in a flat area and didn't seem like the speed demon type.

Next chance I get, I'll swap the innards with one of my normal NX3's, and also compare the braking surfaces of the hubs, to see if there's a noticeable physical difference.