Originally Posted by
VaBeachTennis
Wow! Thank you very much! Here are the replies:
"1. Do you have the brake side cone tightened to the reaction arm via the large nut that is on the outside of the reaction arm really tight?"
Yes, I made sure that I tightened it without over-tightening it. After I reassembled it the "right way" the brakes were responsive and perfect.
"2. Did you remove the spring from inside the clutch?
3. Was there a washer down inside at the bottom of the clutch?"
That, I did not do. I took it out and cleaned it and the put grease on the parts. I didn't take the clutch apart.
"4. Are there any nasty scars inside the hub shell?"
It's pretty clean, I also put lubrication on it.
"5. Are there any weird scars on the outside of the clutch or the inner surface of the shoes?
(could be mismatched pieces)"
They both looked in good condition to me.
"6. How much grease are you packing into the clutch-to-shoe and the shoe-to-hub shell area."
Good question, because now I am wondering if I even put any grease on the "clutch to shoe" area. In fact, I can almost say with certainty that I didn't pack any grease between the "clutch to shoe" , so I could make sure that I had the pieces match.
I did put a lot of grease on the outside of the "shoes" and the "clutch.
"Also, I'll ask again if it's a Shimano hub. "
Yes, it's a Shimano CB-E110.
Once again, thank you for all of your help! You are making me want to take it apart right now, I took a short cut that I saw on a video but I am pretty sure that it didn't entail removing that spring in the clutch and it advocated using a LOT of grease but you make sense when you say to put a little film on it. It seems like the clutch needs more servicing and or the brakes and the hub need less grease?
If you think about it, when you hit the brakes you are actually forcing the grease out of the shoe/hub interface. That's why the shoes have those skinny shallow grooves, to retain some of the grease. PACKING the hub just causes the shoes to rub all the time, unwanted, and can actually reduce the braking a ton. We want those shoes to RUB the hub when braking, not rub grease. The grease can serve two good purposes if you use enough but don't over do it. It will prevent the shoes from rattling around on bumpy roads and it prevents all the guts from ever rusting.
Hmmm. Everything sounds kosher.
Is the noise only when pedaling or only when coasting or only when braking or all the time?
Gimmie a better description of the off-centeredness thing that you described. I wanna tackle this.
Once, a long time ago I had a new hub that made a nasty metallic howling under heavy braking, and the brakes were too bitey, with very little modulation capabilities. I Took it apart, cleaned it spotless, couldn't identify any problems, so I reassembled it with my preferred grease. The squealing howl was still there. LOUD. And if I applied the brakes very firmly and abruptly it made a nasty single CLANK before the howl began. It sounded like something was actually breaking. I took it apart again and checked the hub for cracks and extra closely examined every part and then did a dry assembly. Everything fit perfectly and I knew my assembly was correct because I've only done this 37 million times.
With the hub bone dry it spun perfectly in my hands and the brakes worked OK other than sounding dry. So it was "Functioning Properly". I took it apart, cleaned, greased and assembled. On the bike it made the howl and it was louder than ever. I pulled into the garage and parked it and had a long think. The only thing I could come up with was that it was possible that the outside of the shoes weren't cast to the exact perfect arc to mate with the hub. They would only need to be off by a little bit for them to attempt to BITE the hub instead of RUB the hub. Or they had a slightly too sharp edge. Neither of which you'd notice while examining them. So I figured they need to be broken in. I came up with the genius plan to expose them to a LOT of LONG but LIGHT to MEDIUM braking forces. So back and forth I went on my street, from top speed to full stop, repeat, repeat, repeat. Firm braking, but not hard enough to make the squeal. After about six or seven passes, something just felt smoother in the pedals. You know what I mean. It just felt "Normal" like it should feel. So I made a sprint and let 'er rip and the problem was 100% gone. I was stoked. All I can figure is that my possible theory was possibly correct. Two (different) metals being forced against each other and being exposed to massive friction need to mate one another well. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.