# Rohloff Strip to Axle and Rebuild Videos (English)



## Climbercraig66 (Oct 16, 2010)

Inspired by the spanish version recently seen on an internet near you, I decided to dive in and have a look.

Strip to axle:





Build from axle up:





(Less Interesting; I was testing to see what components were in play during coasting)

Powering the freewheel with drill and belt drive:





Another drill/belt drive view:





Listening to the high range/low range noise difference while belt driven (low range is the noisy one):





Also a slideshow:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/climbercraig66/sets/72157625035769545/show/

Craig


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## Leopold Porkstacker (Apr 21, 2010)

HOLY CRAP AWESOME!!! Don’t own a Rohloff, but this is really nice to know information! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:


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## UncleRobin (Dec 28, 2009)

That's quite a first post Craig. Nice.

UR


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## Climbercraig66 (Oct 16, 2010)

Glad you guys enjoyed the video. I've known about mtbr for awhile but only used it for gear reviews etc. I was glad to find the forum, and even better, a discussion specifically for IGH nerds like me.  

Got some great news today. My wife (who has teased me for years about paying so much for a single bicycle component) came up out of the blue and said "I want a Rohloff too". 

While I am happy for her and think it is cool she'll have one on her bike, the coolest thing is that I will never have to tune her bike before every ride. :thumbsup: 

She also said I could have the new one and she'd take mine, but I then had to explain how they get better with age, and I'd be happy to keep my "worn-in" SN 7xxx hub.:nono:


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## itsdoable (Jan 6, 2004)

Cool. I never made videos when I serviced my hubs, but then I didn't go as far as you or Tunin


Climbercraig66 said:


> Got some great news today. My wife (who has teased me for years about paying so much for a single bicycle component) came up out of the blue and said "I want a Rohloff too".


I switched my wife to a Rohloff over 5 years ago, she was also a bit sceptical about the cost, but after she adapted and learned how to shift it, she said "Why do people use deraileurs?". And she did get my primo 10-year old unit, and I had to break in a new one.


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## Climbercraig66 (Oct 16, 2010)

Thanks for calling it "servicing", but we all know it's just glorified bike porn. :eekster: Curiosity is the only reason 99% of Rohloff owners would ever have to crack the egg.

And I guess the second part of the conversation between me and wife is important, so I'm not the jerk husband who subjected his wife to breaking in a nice, tight new hub: 

It all came down to fashion. She didn't want my powdercoat red hub on her bike, and thinks brushed silver or anodized black would match better.

I wonder if old internals would fit in a new anodized shell? I remember something I read about Rohloffs a while back, in that they were engineered to always be backwards or upgrade compatible.


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## julk (Jan 25, 2008)

Craig,
I am sure your wife willl prefer the cool, laser etched, graphics on a new hub to the boring old Speedhub sticker on yours.
Another reason for you to stick with the old hub!
Julian.


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## bikeisbetter (Aug 15, 2009)

These videos are terrific, especially the (dis)assembly ones. The fact that vast majority prefers lady GaGa over them only means they have priorities ordered wrong!

Your understanding of what does what in the Speedhub is just as impressive too.

Do the planet gears on the third reducing gearset also have roller bearings, as the planet gears of the set #1 and #2, as it can be seen here: https://www.greenspeed.com.au/OldWebPics/Rohloff768.jpg ? These gears carry very high load as they output directly to the hub hell.


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## Climbercraig66 (Oct 16, 2010)

Thanks. I have spent way too much time studying this. Even with the hub apart, not all things are obvious and I spent plenty of time banging my head against a wall trying to figure out the "why" in a couple of situations. :madman: 

But, once you know, and you've had your mitts on every bit and piece, the ride satisfaction becomes even greater.

And to answer your question, yes the planets in the 3rd carrier do ride on their own individual needle roller bearing sets. The fit up, machining and tolerances are amazing. When you are disassembling, the pieces almost slide apart from each other like warm butter through your fingers.

Entry price is steep, but a Rohloff hub, if it is for you, is truly a lifetime purchase that will after a short time, completely squash the usual budget set aside for hubs, deraileurs, cassettes, shifters and all the other bits that go with a traditional drivetrain.


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## itsdoable (Jan 6, 2004)

Climbercraig66 said:


> It all came down to fashion. She didn't want my powdercoat red hub on her bike, and thinks brushed silver or anodized black would match better.


Oddly enough, my wife would happily ride a red powder coated hub... but not a black frame!



Climbercraig66 said:


> I wonder if old internals would fit in a new anodized shell? I remember something I read about Rohloffs a while back, in that they were engineered to always be backwards or upgrade compatible.


I would not. My first hub was sent back to be upgraded to disc - they just had to replace the cap. However, the early hubs were hand matched, and they could not get a cap that sealed properly, even after machining a custom one (so they told me). So they sent me a new one - which I had to break in again...


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## Climbercraig66 (Oct 16, 2010)

itsdoable said:


> Oddly enough, my wife would happily ride a red powder coated hub... but not a black frame!


Yeah, I thought it was weird too. She has a pink Kona and I thought the red hub would look nice on it. If anyone could stand to benefit from a new color, it would be me and my blue bike/red hub combo. 







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itsdoable said:


> I would not. My first hub was sent back to be upgraded to disc - they just had to replace the cap. However, the early hubs were hand matched, and they could not get a cap that sealed properly, even after machining a custom one (so they told me). So they sent me a new one - which I had to break in again...


That's interesting to know. I'm guessing mine qualifies as an early hub, with its 7xxx SN.


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## itsdoable (Jan 6, 2004)

Climbercraig66 said:


> Yeah, I thought it was weird too. She has a pink Kona and I thought the red hub would look nice on it.


... paint it pink - that would be cool!



> That's interesting to know. I'm guessing mine qualifies as an early hub, with its 7xxx SN.


I don't know the SN of my original hub, but the replacement is 51xx...


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## Welsh Dave (Jul 26, 2005)

Awesome how-to. 
Do you have a background in anything similar. or was it all new to you? Was there a point, when getting deeper into the hub, at which you thought "Oh, ****! - no going back now!"... ?

In my case, curiosity > technical knowledge has occasionally led to difficulties. And that terrible question of, "What are these extra bits for...?"  :???:


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## itsdoable (Jan 6, 2004)

Welsh Dave said:


> In my case, curiosity > technical knowledge has occasionally led to difficulties. And that terrible question of, "What are these extra bits for...?"  :???:


We all go through that stage in life. Some of us just never grew up...


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## Climbercraig66 (Oct 16, 2010)

Welsh Dave said:


> Awesome how-to.
> Do you have a background in anything similar. or was it all new to you? Was there a point, when getting deeper into the hub, at which you thought "Oh, ****! - no going back now!"... ?


Thanks Welsh Dave. I do have some background with such things, as I work at a tool and die shop. I've also researched the hub to death, so was pretty confident about being able to put it back together once apart. The point of no return for me was when I removed the twin planet carrier and all 4 of the sun gears first came off with it, then proceeded to dump out onto my work bench. Timing the sun gears to the planet gears is the trickiest thing about the reassembly. When I was first attempting it I could not see the timing marks clearly and fumbled with the process for the better part of half an hour. All that fumbling around cleaned the gears enough that I was able to make out the marks and get it timed up right.

All in all, definitely fun to play with and a good way to get your tinkering fix for a few nights. I goofed around with mine for a week or so before my wife convinced me to put it back together so we could actually go riding.


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## john95 (Jun 11, 2013)

Hi Craig,
can you tell me please,
How to recognise timing marks and How to 
align it?
Thank you very much
John


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## Climbercraig66 (Oct 16, 2010)

The timing marks are very hard to see; at first I could not see them on my planet gears. Clean the gears, and look closely. It is a very small indentation.

There are three planet gears, each with one timing mark. The central sun gear does not need to be timed. Arrange the gears planet carrier so that the gears resemble a triangle, tip pointing up. 

The planet gear at the top of the triangle should have its timing mark pointed straight down, toward the central axis of the planet carrier. The other two planets also point the timing mark towards the central axis of the planet carrier, but they are not directly pointed toward the central axis; they are both rotated up (or down?) by one gear tooth. The alignment of the two side planets timing marks should be a mirror-image if you were to flip one of them. 

Using this alignment, the sun gear should drop into the planets. This process is necessary for reassembly of all three planet gear sets. I would recommend mastering it using the third gear set (large sun gear that shifts the hub from the 1-7 range to 8-14 range) since this is easier than than working with the combined gearset 1 and 2.


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## Climbercraig66 (Oct 16, 2010)

Please see attached pic... This may be more helpful than my description.


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## john95 (Jun 11, 2013)

Hi,
I striped down and then builded hub just for cleaning.
I was trying put planet wheels back correctly by timing marks.(by your explanation)

All parts seems fits well.
Hub working ok like before.

BUT sometimes is hub missing(jump over) tooth or few tooths.
Its feeling like a chain is jump over sprocket tooth when I push.(but is not,chains ok)
Its happening a 3-6 times in 10 mils or sometimes not even ones.
Untill today I made about 800 miles on it.
It was not doing before.
Do you thing that timing is not set up correctly?
Thank you. 

John


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## Climbercraig66 (Oct 16, 2010)

John, sorry to hear you are having problems. If the timing marks are aligned then I don't see how this could be the issue. Everything I have seen and heard points to the importance of side-to-side clearances i.e. how everything fits together along the length of the axle. 

Most probable is that during reassembly, the innards and bearings of the hub shifted along the axle and now one of your drive clutches is not fully engaging at times. The Rohloff manual outlines a process for smacking the axle with a rubber hammer in a certain direction to press everything back into the right alignment.

The only two other things I can think of is possibly any dirt, grit or shavings that were dislodged during disassembly, or maybe a shim was not installed in the correct location.

Best of luck in solving your issue.


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## Climbercraig66 (Oct 16, 2010)

Another possible issue, your cog was installed backwards and thus no longer matches your chain pitch?


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## john95 (Jun 11, 2013)

my chain is tensioned so much that cannot skip over sprocket tooths.
If you think this but feeling is same..


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## hunter006 (Jan 20, 2012)

UncleRobin said:


> That's quite a first post Craig. Nice.
> 
> UR


Indeed, this is a hell of a first post. I only just noticed this thread, but I recently found this while searching for the internals of a Rohloff on youtube (as in, not through MTBR). Definitely a fantastic video. I think what surprised me the most was the speed that you managed to rebuild the Rohloff with; I expected it to take much longer.


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## Climbercraig66 (Oct 16, 2010)

Any luck John? Did you find the procedure I mentioned in the Rohloff manual?

Hunter006, glad you liked the videos. I got pretty versed about taking it down and putting it back together before shooting the vid (back then, YouTube had 10 minute video limits). I recently took some time to watch the videos again; fun stuff. The Espanol version that inspired me was even more detailed, as he literally took every single piece apart. Disassembly of the axle seems like the trickiest bit, and I might still be in my garage if I had attempted that.

I've seen your posts of your somewhat recent Rohloff build; sounds like you are enjoying your Rohloff and putting some good miles on it daily. I think we are in the same area and you probably ride by my place within a mile or so daily. Woo-ville over here.


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## Zoert (Oct 9, 2013)

Hi there, I also have some Rohloff problems.
Mine is bought second hand of ebay. I always thought it was a bit loud. More loud than the Rohloff of my friends. (two also got a Rohloff) It sounds like there is a clutch freewheeling while peddling.
Gears 1/2/4/8/9/11 are sounding OK.
Gears 3/5/6/7/10/12/13/14 are making a extra sound like freewheeling.
Does anyone have an idea what this can be?
I opened up the hub did a complete cleanup and reassembled all gears back.
Shifts ok but the sound still remains. Could not find any problems inside the hub whatsoever. Makes me go nuts...

regards,
Sjoerd.


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## Climbercraig66 (Oct 16, 2010)

Hi Sjoerd,

Interestingly enough, if I remember correctly, some parts of the Rohloff do "freewheel" while pedaling in certain gears. More accurately, some clutches and gears are rotating against each other in certain gears. In other gears, a clutch can be held stationary while an opposing clutch is dragged across it during pedaling.

I do not think there is anything you can do to prevent this. One of the most unique components of the Speedhub is the "Silent Ring", a small rubber ring that lives on the axle, somewhere in between planet carrier 1/2 and planet carrier 3. This rubber ring deadens the noise created by the reverse-driven clutches. I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall during the engineering of this solution. Anyway, you should note the existence and location of this ring; a broken or misplaced ring would certainly amplify the noises you are experiencing.

I would also suggest oil viscosity or quantity, as thinner oils and lack of oil both make a noisier hub. But since you have recently stripped and rebuilt, I assume you are topped off with the correct all-season Rohloff oil.

Lastly, I agree with another posters theory of each Rohloff being unique, and somewhat agricultural as opposed to a Rolex watch. Every hub has a bit of personality. Despite wanting a more reserved fellow, you may have been paired up with the chatterbox of the group =)

In my non-professional opinion, sounds like business as usual inside your hub.


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## Zoert (Oct 9, 2013)

Hi Craig,

indeed after some more Google-ing and listening to the Rohloff of my colleague I found out that also his Rohloff makes (very soft) freewheel rattles in the gears I mentioned. I was concerned about mine because unloaded and without hub it sounded very loud. (completely rinsed with Nebol) So there was no oil to be seen anywhere which made a somewhat noisy Rohloff even more loud...

Do you think If I replace the silent O-ring for one a tiny bit thicker this will make the Rohloff somewhat less loud?
It is hard to see on your video but looks like your O-ring is a little bit thicker than mine. 
I will try and see what it brings. Otherwise I'll move back to the original O-ring and accept my Rohloff is just more of a chainsaw drive trough the woods rather than a Silent geared hub...

regards,

Sjoerd.


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## selin (Nov 20, 2009)

Even the "simple" 3 gear hubs have that freewheeling noise. Look at 10:45 of the following video 



 . The speedhub has more than one star-ratchet type, clutches.


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## Zoert (Oct 9, 2013)

Hi Selin,
That I know, I also disassembled the the Speedhub. I've seen al the gears, pawls and clutches. After some more reading and thinking I understand what is going on. So yes, the ratchet sound needs to be there. totally cleaned whiteout hub and oil, this sound is pretty loud. Probably it will be less loud when in oil and inside hub.

Cheers,
Sjoerd.


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## Climbercraig66 (Oct 16, 2010)

Sjoerd, you are correct that every hub will make these same noises, although some will be louder than others for a host of unique reasons, mostly manufacturing tolerances. And right again, a dry hub is noticeably louder than one containing oil. 

Personally, I would resist the temptation to change ANYTHING inside the hub. But if you do change your Silent Ring, please share your results!


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## john95 (Jun 11, 2013)

*fixed*

I partly dismantled hub again(not planet mechanism,timing and etc.) and rode over 300mi.
Hub is ok.
Probably dirt or some of the shims from right side was not sitting properly.


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## void-star (Dec 11, 2015)

Reviving an old thread, I know, but I reckon this is worth contributing.

I took my hub apart the other day (and, pleasingly, put it back together successfully), having seen climbercraig's very useful youtube video. I have developed an improvement in the method though by removing the planet carriers and gear rings as single units, which keeps the planet pinions synchronised as they are meshed with the gear ring:















On an earlier occasion, a friend of mine (who took these photos, BTW) disassembled his hub the usual way, and spent several hours fiddling around trying to correctly time the planet pinions, even though we only disassembled the first stage (the first 4 sun pinions). Without needing to re-time the planet pinions, we were able to reassemble the hub much more easily this time.


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## mbeardsl (Sep 9, 2009)

The videos are always fun to watch. Anyone have a link to the Spanish version? Couldn't find it. 

Also, does anyone else remember seeing a blog post or forum post somewhere of a guy who drilled out the internals to lighten up the hub?

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


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## gatouille (Aug 17, 2009)

Mistake - Duplicate message


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## gatouille (Aug 17, 2009)

I haven't Spanish version of disassembly hub, only English version you can watch on the web and my own video I have on my harddrive.

There are several people who have lightened the hub :
- Alpinibis
Spanish. Image are no longer available on the web. I have image on my harddrive. It's a blue hub.
- Zingel
ROHLOFF Speedhub TUNING | Seite 69 | MTB-News.de
P1060186.jpg Photo by oldschoolracing | Photobucket
mein Trainingsrad wird abgespeckt! - Seite 4 - Light-Bikes Forum
- FHS
ROHLOFF Speedhub TUNING | Seite 78 | MTB-News.de
- TitanWolf
TR - Projekt "Deimos" - Das Trike [& Unterprojekte] | Seite 2 | Velomobil-Forum


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