Bearing Failure on Crystalyte after 1K miles???

Sorry i have come to this thread a bit late... so a few quick notes

Dodgy bearings on Xlyte motors..well not so much the cheap chinese bearings, more a problem with poor machining of the side covers..I found with my first Xlyte 5304 the side cover holes were too tight, so compressed the bearings too much, so they turned very roughly. I spun my side covers up in a lathe and polished off a small amount to make the bearings a good fit. ..still an interference fit, but not so much that stopped the bearing from turning.



Opening any DD motor ...DOES NOT require a puller. In fact I'd say using a puller is more dangerous, and more likely to cause an accident than a quick sharp pull. I really must make a video to show this....but for now I'l try to explain.
When you use a puller, you risk the arms slipping, and you are in the 'danger zone' (where the magnetic field from the rotor is pulling the stator ) for a lot longer.
Most of these three arm mechanical screw thread pullers are crap wobbly pieces of shit...I wont't generally use them...just good Sykes Pickervant Hydraulic puller for me. but not for opening a DD motor.
here is how you open a DD motor.

Take off BOTH side covers...to do that:
take off all the side panel screws.
get hide/soft faced hammer...or block of wood and heavy lump hammer
Stand wheel up..as if fitted to the bike,
With nuts ont eh end of the axle..give the axle a good wack with the hammer
the axle will bounce out and knock the side cover free on one side...no the same both ways...DON'T HIT THE WIRES!!!!
once you have given a few hammer taps..and there is clearance..pull/ work the covers off by hand.

Now you should have stator sitting in the rotor ring.
Put the wire side of the axle in a good solid bench vice...or hold securely somehow.
Grab both sides of the tyre...and give good solid pull. in one action, pull the rotor, spokes wheel, rim and tyre off in one go..getting it clear of magnetic influence in one go.
 
This is now starting to drive me crazy. So I brought my wheel to an LBS in Golden, CO and asked if they could true my wheel, and to please look at the dish, round and wobble. When I had brought it to them it was actually fairly true when it came to the wobble, but I was afraid the spokes would again come loose and had no idea if the dish was good. I know it was out of round a bit too, which is why I wanted someone that knew what their doing to take care of it. I got the wheel back today $25.00 later and placed it on the bike this evening. On top of all this, the threaded hole where the bolt that holds the rear derailleur to the bike goes, stripped :evil: Back to the wheel I put it on and it is still out of round which is hard to see in any of the videos I had taken, but trust me it is. It is not the tire mounting either the rim is actually out of round. Plus the wobble, "not sure what you call this" is worse than it was????? :eek: :eek:

So I just stopped for tonight, because I think I am overly tired and should not try riding it tomorrow. If anyone knows what the size of the bolt that typically holds the rear derailleur that would be useful because I may be able to clean the threads with the proper tap. I posted a photo and the video of the current wobble and I am going to bed and not trying not to think about it right now. I am spending way to much time trying to fix this damn thing!!

[youtube]2-IyS34Y_PQ[/youtube]
 

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Is the derailleur threaded hole part of the frame or a separate bolt on part?
May be better to just buy a new hanger
Thread is 10mm x m pitch. Metric Superfine series

As for the wheel wobble, take it back to bike shop and get a refund they have obviously not done any work on that wheel at all. They just charged you and gave it back by the look of it.

Then do it yourself. You don't need a fancy truing frame, you are already set up exactly as I do mine. Wheel in frame and cable tie cut to length on frame.

Take tyre off and fit it back up again to the frame.

Start with the ' out of round'. Loosen a few spokes either side of highest part. Maybe 4-6 either side. Highest point may be one full turn, getting less than full turn as you move away. Then go to opposite side, to lowest part and tighten a few to pull rim across.
Try taking some of the left right wobble out too as you do this

A bit of time and patience, should see it done in half an hour to hour MAX.

Quick google search brings up many online truing tutorials
http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/quick-tips-true-a-bicycle-wheel/
 
NeilP said:
Is the derailleur threaded hole part of the frame or a separate bolt on part?
May be better to just buy a new hanger
Thread is 10mm x m pitch. Metric Superfine series

As for the wheel wobble, take it back to bike shop and get a refund they have obviously not done any work on that wheel at all. They just charged you and gave it back by the look of it.

Then do it yourself. You don't need a fancy truing frame, you are already set up exactly as I do mine. Wheel in frame and cable tie cut to length on frame.

Take tyre off and fit it back up again to the frame.

Start with the ' out of round'. Loosen a few spokes either side of highest part. Maybe 4-6 either side. Highest point may be one full turn, getting less than full turn as you move away. Then go to opposite side, to lowest part and tighten a few to pull rim across.
Try taking some of the left right wobble out too as you do this

A bit of time and patience, should see it done in half an hour to hour MAX.

Quick google search brings up many online truing tutorials
http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/quick-tips-true-a-bicycle-wheel/

Hi NeilP,

Thanks for the sizing on the hanger bolt. It is a bolt on, but I don't think I could have found one locally within a day. The tap is a temporary repair and has now gotten back in business in the interim. The actually tap size was 10mm x 1.00mm pitch.

I took your advice and tried truing the wheel myself. I got it pretty damn close although I feel it is still a bit out of round, but anything I tried to correct it seemed to loosen the spokes to much or the other way around. You can see in my video that is zoomed out and looking at the entire back of the bike that the bike is moving up and down a bit, this is due to the rim still a bit out of round, but believe it or not it is still much better than when I got the wheel back from the LBS :? ??? I am charging right now and will hopefully take it on my 20 mile trip to work in the morning, "Preferably with no problems". I am still worried the spokes may come loose again like on my Sunday evening trip, but I guess I will see tomorrow. It is supposed to be almost 20deg C here tomorrow and I don't want to miss out on that. I have already missed some really nice weather for this time of year around here. I am figuring as soon as I start riding again the snow will roll in. I want to go to the bike shop, but I'm sure if I go there tomorrow with the bike they will tell me it looks fine, no thanks to them :x. Lets just say I won't be going back to that shop anytime soon. I think every time a bike shop sees an electric bike out here they don't understand and want to brush me off.

Also, if you ever take apart your motor again, please video tape yourself pulling the cover off. I find it a little hard to believe, but I can always be convinced.

Thanks for taking the time to write.

Best,

ED
[youtube]aFavH0LopLk[/youtube]
[youtube]68ZDl7oVho8[/youtube]
 
Will do that video at some point yes.

The hardest bit is the tap to free the side cover and work the bearing off. Once both covers off, pulling rim and rotor away from stator is very easy , just one big tug,
 
Done the video.

Only small size for now. I have a crap internet connection and have been trying for 24 hours now to upload the video at 720pHD but the upload size is too lage and it keeps failing.

Will try via the mobile and 3G may get it in full res later.


[youtube]g-pcvtl73fo[/youtube]
 
NeilP said:
Done the video.

Only small size for now. I have a crap internet connection and have been trying for 24 hours now to upload the video at 720pHD but the upload size is too lage and it keeps failing.

Will try via the mobile and 3G may get it in full res later.


[youtube]g-pcvtl73fo[/youtube]

Hi Neil,

Great video, I think the resolution is just fine. You made it look a lot easier than what I went through. Live and learn as they say. May not be too late because now my bike has failed again after only another 80-90 miles of riding after reassembling my hub?? I think it may be a blown controller this time. Thanks for taking the time to make the video and posting it on my post so it will make it easier for me to locate in the future.

Best Regards,

Ed
 
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