My MUni has been making a clunking noise that I haven’t been able to identify for a long time. I thought it was something in my seat for a while, but I know everything is tight. The only thing left that I can think of is the Profile hub. With that theory in mind the sound makes more sense. When I ride slowly and reverse direction, thats when I feel the noise.
Does anybody have experience with this problem? Is there any way to diagnose it for sure? I’m pretty positive thats what it is, but it would be a shame to take apart my wheel and find out the hub is fine. Is this something I can fix myself, or can I get this warrantied?
Been there, done that. I fixed a loose keyway in my Profile hub.
When it slips you feel a little “thunk” and it feels like the pedal just sank a few millimeters. At first I thought it was the crank slipping on the splines, but I ruled that out. If the crank was that loose on the splines it would be very noticeable. My pedals were still fine. Only thing left was the keyway.
It’s not too hard to fix. You can fix it while the hub is still in the wheel, so there is no need to unbuild the wheel and then rebuild the wheel. I don’t know what Profile would say if you called them about the problem. I don’t think the warranty covers the hub itself (just the spindle and cranks). I never called up Profile about my keyway problem, I just said “hey, I can fix that” and did it. Since I was able to fix it without unbuilding the wheel I was all happy. You might want to contact Profile just to see what they say.
Check out page 3 of this thread: A picture is worth a thousand words
I described my procedure for fixing the keyway. Then George Barnes did the same thing to his hub and posted a link to a gallery showing the spindle pressed out of his hub.
It’s actually an easy fix. So far the fix is holding up great. No more slipping. I don’t know how long it will hold up. I think it should hold up just fine long term. If it does slip again I can always press the spindle out again and Loctite it again.
I didn’t go in to too much detail about how I pressed out the spindle. I used a 6" piece of 1-1/2" OD pipe, the Profile crank tool, a 12" by 5-1/2" heavy duty bar clamp, and a few other miscellaneous things to press out the spindle. If that doesn’t make sense I can post some pictures or try to explain it better.
Thanks for all that info John, thats the kind of reply I was looking for. So the Loctite in your hub has held up? It would be great if it was that easy to fix, although I don’t think I have all the tools I need on hand. Could you describe the process you used to press out the axle? I have a general idea, but I’m interested to hear what you did.
I’m a little concerned that the Loctite won’t hold up to multiple big drops. Does anybody know how resistant to impacts dried sleeve retainer is?
My other question is whether taking it apart and loctiting it will have any effect on the warranty. I’d probably have to call profile to find that out, but if anybody has any experience with warrantying this problem I’d be interested to hear it.
The purpose of the Loctite sleeve retainer is to fill in the gap that has formed in the keyway around the Woodruff keys. It will do that very well as long as the gap isn’t too big.
The Loctite isn’t going to be taking the full force of big drops. The spindle and hub are going to take the blow just as they do now. What the Loctite will do is fill in the gaps and slop in the keyway and prevent the keys from moving in the keyway due to any torque forces. As long as the spindle still fits tightly in the hub and the gap in the keyway isn’t too big, the Loctite will hold. I hope.
I’ll try to come up with some pictures tomorrow showing how the spindle can be pressed out using regular hand tools.
My Onza hub is doing the exact same thing- slight clunk (more of a feeling than a noise) when I change direction. If I hold the tyre and pull the crank a bit I can feel it too. It’s the same on both sides and the cranks seem fine. Should I try the same treatment with mine?? If so, I assume I need to remove the grease from inside the hub?
I had a slightly loose keyway on my Profile hub on my trials uni for a long time. I thought it was going to get worse but it never did, so if it’s not a huge amount and it doesn’t bother you, you may not have to worry about it.
Mine didn’t feel like it was getting any worse either, it was just disconcerting. It bugged me enough to get it fixed.
Profile was really great about it, fixed it no questions asked.
Tighten your cranks, and see if that helps. I have the same problem, and I’ve tightened them as much as they go, but I still get the slop. Does anyone know how to remove the axle of an Onza hub? The Profile crank tool doesn’t fit.
I would suspect that it is very similar to the Profile setup.
I used the Profile crank tool to allow me to press the spindle an inch or two through the hub body. Once the end of the spindle gets flush with the hub body you can’t push it through any further. At that point I threaded the Profile crank tool on and used that to allow me to push the spindle through another inch or two. You could use a wooden dowel or piece of pipe instead.
To get the axle out of my Onza hub, I just tapped thebearingswith a soft hammer and then pushed it out! Very easy! Got some loctite on order so I’m gonna try that and see what happens!
Be very very careful if you use a hammer to pound the spindle out of the hub. If you use a hard hammer (like a carpenters hammer or a small sledge hammer) you will mushroom the end of the axle, which will mess up the splines and make it impossible to put the crank back on. You’ll ruin the spindle.
Do not use a hard hammer directly on the spindle.
For the Profile cranks you can thread on the Profile crank tool and bang on that with a hard hammer or small sledge hammer. But whatever you do, do not use a hard hammer directly on the spindle.
I used a heavy duty bar clamp to press the spindle out of the hub. There was no need to use a hammer.
I’m not pounding anything- just tapping lightly on the edge of the bearings- not even at an angle. If you do it all the way round the bearing, it comes loose! I don’t mean directly forcing the bearings off by whacking them. And I use a small rubber or plastic hammer- not a sledge hammer!
My response about using a hammer wasn’t directed at you. It was just a general warning to everyone. I didn’t want anyone to get the idea of using a heavy metal hammer to bash the spindle out of the hub. That would be bad, very bad.
If you can, get some pictures of the operation on the Onza hub. It would be cool to see the way Onza does the keyway.
Hi all, I took apart my Onza hub the other day, cleaned down the axle and inside the hub, also the cranks and put loctite on the keyways. I put it back together and left it alone for a couple of days but I rode it yesterday and there’s no more clunking!!! Hurray! Did a couple 2.5ft drops and it has held up just fine! Thank you Mr Childs, I owe you one!
Cool!
We’ll see if you’re still happy in several months. I have noticed some slop in my hub again after last weekends muni ride. My Loctite fix may be breaking down. I’ll have to investigate some time later. At the moment there is less slop than there used to be before the Loctite fix.
If my keyway is slipping I’ll try using brass shim stock to snug up the keyway. The shim material should hold up better than the Loctite but I don’t know how easy it will be to wedge the shim stock in the keyway.
The operation to investigate will have to wait till later. I don’t feel like messing with it right now. It’s not a critical problem that demands immediate attention.
If the keyway has gotten loose again the shim stock may work better than the Loctite sleeve retainer. And hopefully it won’t be too difficult to get the shim stock wedged in the keyway. Hmmm… But at the moment I’m not sure what the state of the keyway is so this is just speculation at this point.
Here’s to hoping your Loctite fix works better than my Loctite fix.
I’ll have to investigate some time later. At the moment there is less slop than there used to be before the Loctite fix.