onespeedbiker

My brother inherited an old (1969) Schwinn Racer with a 3 speed Strumey Archer and wants me to get it running (but still look rustic). It looks like it was kept outside for a so the cables are toast, but the Strumey Archer hub was covered with oil and brake pad residue so it cleaned up looking like I just took it out of the box and shifts the same so I decided to not to open it up until there's a problem; the front hub, headset and BB also turn smoothly but I'll probably service them (already did the front hub). The only issue is I have is figuring out how much oil is supposed to be in the hub. The manual says to add a drops every now and then, but doesn't how much is optimal or how to figure out how much in in the hub. Any info or suggestion are welcome.

3alarmer 

I think the recommendation after a complete overhaul
was about a half teaspoon of about a 20 weight machine oil ?

Any excess leaks out and runs down the spokes, so you can't\
really hurt much. I mix in a little Triflow every third or fourth
"few drops" top off to take advantage of the PTFE.

Google Jobst Brandt and Sturmey Archer.

Airburst

Over-oiling is better than under-oiling, as 3alarmer said, excess just leaks out.

You may wish to flush the hub with white spirits (or whatever they call it in the US), to remove any gunk from it before adding any new oil.

Also, although Jobst Brandt has something against the Sturmey-Archer AW, bear in mind that the failures he describes occurred mostly under extremely hard riding. They're fine for regular use.

Finally, it's spelt Sturmey-Archer, although it's often rather hard to read the stamping on the hub shells to be fair.