Replace old coaster brake with SA 3 speed or Shimano 333 hub?

[horsefarmer]

Never re laced a wheel, but I'm wondering if I took an old SA or 333 rear hub from a lightweight bike could I use the to replace a
coaster brake or even a freewheel on a ballooner or middleweight rim?
Which spokes would I use?

 

[Wildcat]

I've never laced a wheel either, but those same hubs were used with the rims of the ballooner and middleweight size rims. I've ridden a few of them. Same spokes too, 14 gauge I think,

 

[deorman]

Due to variation of rim and spoke nipple type, I have experienced both success and failure swapping 3-spds into stock spoke coaster wheels. Right shift non-brake Shimano is probably the most likely to work in original config.. You can also sometimes change up the lacing pattern (3-cross/4cross/radial/etc.) and use one set of spokes or the other. If there is sufficient thread, too-long spokes can be ground down to keep from popping the tube.

 

[deorman]

There are spoke calculators online to find the correct size, but I've never used one.

 

[RustySprockets]

I'd love to tell you that a perfect, trouble-free swap is guaranteed, but variations in rim diameter (ERD), flange size, and hub spacing combine to make that prediction a crap-shoot. It's even possible those hubs don't have the same spoke count. Length calculators are indispensable, but get ready to take mind-numbing, critical measurements...usually with some makeshift tools.

 

[idiotboy]

I recently laced a swap meet find Sturmey Archer coaster brake 3 speed into a wheel that had a Komet hub, reusing the same spokes but switching from a cross 3 to a cross 4 pattern, you may have similar good luck

 

[Bicycle808]

Anytime i re-lace a wheel, i'm likely to wanna use new spokes anyway. Measure up your rim's ERD and get the hub specs (flange pitch diamter, center-to-left and center-to-right flange distances), then plug it all into the EDD or similar spoke calculator (use 3 cross or 4 cross patterns; radial lacing a CB hub is not a wise move, especially on the NDS.). Reusing decades-old plated spokes and nipples is false economy; splurge on some stainless steel jawns with some shiny new brass nerples.