Q128C replacement freehub body

[barod62]

Hi, after 10,000 miles of faithful service the freehub on my Q128C finally gave up the ghost a couple of weeks ago. Long story, but my LBS mechanic has managed to remove it - unlike other posters, who say it just slides off, this one was actually screwed to the motor body - hence no amount of pulling was ever going to get it off.
Mechanic says it's like nothing he's ever seen before - I've posted his photos of it. Does anyone recognise this, and if so can they suggest where we might source a replacement? Someone elsewhere has suggested it might be a Bafang freehub?

 

[barod62]

needed to compress the pictures, now attached (I hope)

 

[motomech]

It's not a part of the motor that is available, you would have to buy another motor.

I might have one in my box of parts (pretty sure the Q100C uses the same thing), but I'm traveling now and will be back in a week.

 

[motomech]

I guess it's worth a try to contact the factory. My Q100C's are made by Aikema and I would think the Q128C is too.

 

[barod62]

Many thanks Motomech - I'll get in touch with Aikema (I've done so previously, and they were helpful).

If there's no joy there and you do have a spare, then i'd be interested in acquiring it

 

[1N4001]

How did you manage to get it off? It freewheels after all.

 

[barod62]

Apparently you use the same 2 notch tool as you would to extract the bearings inside the freehub - a standard Shimano tool, I'm told? It was my LBS mechanic who discovered this (I think after a lot of frustration), but he managed it only after removing the side cover with freehub still attached and then applying heat to the inside.
The freehub looks very similar to one supplied by greenbikekit which is attached to a Bafang fat bike motor cover (link below). If I get no joy from Aikema direct then I might get one of these on the offchance - as well as potentially acquiring a spare from motomech if he has one...

https://www.greenbikekit.com/bafang-fatbike-rmg06-motor-cover-with-cassette-base.html

 

[pullin-gs]

Keep us posted on what you find.....
PS: 10,000 miles! That is impressive. I passed 1000 miles about a month ago. Motor still pulls strong.....but makes an odd swishing noise (one-way clutch is NOT slipping) that I can not pin down. My wife's Q128C is fine and is very quiet.

Thanks

 

[barod62]

So, I'm really happy to report that, following a recommendation from someone on the Pedelecs forums, I got in touch with Topbikekit, as they state they can order parts for the AKM motors. And indeed they can! I sent them photos of what I was after, they got onto AKM and came back really quickly with the offer of a motor cover and freehub (see photo) for 13USD each, plus shipping. Result!!

They did also point out the difficulty of removing the motor cover, and I was able to assure them that I knew about that, but the problem had been overcome thanks to the mechanic in my LBS.
All being well a couple of these parts will be arriving with me soon (seemed worth doubling up, when the shipping was 28USD ) and I look forward to the resumption of trouble-free ebiking soon.
Motomech, many thanks for the offer of looking in your parts box, but it looks as though that don't be necessary now.
Anyone else in the same predicament as me and who doesn't want to splash out on a while new motor, I highly recommend TBK, they seem great.

 

[pullin-gs]

I bought a new freehub body off Ebay for Q128C....cost me $25 including shipping.
My CST side plate assembly broke:The machined round mount that the freehub screws into separated from the rest of motor side plate.
I've heard of freehub failures due to broken or worn out freehub clicker paws, or stripped threaded mounts.....but never heard of a complete failure of the aluminum housing.

This explained the swishing noise I wrote about a few weeks back, as this was a progressive fracture that took a few months to "give way", there was slight rubbing of aluminum mount on steel one-way clutch plate inside of motor.

I went over inards of motor, cleaned and re-packed.....no detectable wear that I could find...and now I have a spare CST assembly.
Anyway, I ordered the part and it should be here within a two weeks.

PS: I had to cut side plate off. It would not screw off....odd, because it came off fine when I opened it up a few months back to chase down swishing noise (I thought it was slipping one-way clutch).

 

[d8veh]

The side-plates come off much easier if you heat up the hub between the spokes with a hot air gun until it's just about too hot to touch.

 

[pullin-gs]

I received my new Ebay side cover in only 8 days from China.....is great, but fit is not correct.
I expect there a multiple versions depending on when motor was made. :-(
The threaded CST mount is correct (the one-way clutch slides on outside...the CST free-wheel screws to inside).
However it has a stepped double-lip on inside of cover for CST mount: my original cover does not have a stepped double lip...only single lip.
The end result is that the one-way clutch sits at 1/16" more offset from inside cover that was not there before, causing motor internals to bind when motor cover is screwed down tight.
I had to grind the 2nd lip off. I do not trust integrety of modified cover now. The lip is what broke off original motor cover....I expect "new" cover version has double lip for added strength, but needs one-way clutch plate that is machined to match.
I'll continue to use it, but I ordered a new motor from BMS. :-(