bobn

Why do the pedals turn when walking bike? 3 speed Sturmey Archer hub. Chain is not to tight.

Thanks
Bob

Retro Grouch 

Squirt about a tablespoon of light oil into the hub. Then take the bike for a short ride and see if that fixes it.

I_bRAD

I've heard this can mean the hubs are too tight (i.e. adjust the bearings)

operator

The rear hub needs to be overhauled. otherwise known as "ghost riding".

dafydd

retro and brad are on the right track. AWs rarely a complete overhaul, and generally you can tell as the problems are generally dramatic (eg, hub locks up, a missed gear no matter how you adjust it). you might want to lube/purge with WD40 or similar to loosen up old oil, then follow up with a light motor oil. be prepared to wipe down the rim and spokes if you do this.

tellyho

+1. Things are gummy in that hub, as happens after 50 years. You may be able to loosen it up via repeat oil application. I ended up having to overhaul the hub on mine, but I was impatient and wanted to see if I could do it.

MnHPVA Guy

From https://bikesmithdesign.com/SA/SA-tips.doc (A Word file you can download by clicking in the URL)

"Pedals turn when you push the bike;
Your pedals should not turn when you push your bike. The most common reason is cones out of adjustment.
After removing the right hand cone locking washer, (it's the one with little tabs that fit over the cone flats) screw the cone in all the way by hand, then back it off at least ¼ turn but no more than ½ turn. Then adjust the left side cone so there is an almost imperceptible amount of play.

BTW this would be a good time to freshen up the grease in the channels that act as a labyrinth seal.

If the problem still persists you hub is likely gummed up with dried up oil. Best to tear it down and clean of all the "varnish"."


WD-40 should never be used to lubricate ANYTHING on a bicycle. It's a great solvent though.
Overfilling with oil isn't just messy and ineffective, it's dangerous. Oil soaked brake pads don't work. A few drops at a time is all you need

Al.canoe

I ran into that with mine once some months ago. Once in a while the pedals would turn. I had over-tightened the hub bearings very slightly.

Al

dafydd

labyrinth seals work by being labyrinths, not by having something that will hold crud in them. as far as WD40 goes, no in general it has limited uses on a bike, but it often does work well in this application; once again, you need to follow up with a normal oil, and you do have to clean the rims afterwards.

MnHPVA Guy

Sturmey Archer always recommended grease in the channels. I'm gonna guess they knew more about their hubs than you do.
How do you get the WD-40 out without taking the hub apart? Leaving it in there will dilute the oil you add later. I'd rather overhaul it than make a big mess. If you let it leak out slowly, how often do you have to clean the rims? And during that time the hub isn't being properly lubricated, as the film strength of WD-40 is almost nil.

When you take it apart, which is simple if you follow the instructions, you can check that everything is OK, and replace what isn't.

Thomasdregos

My suggestion: A can of starter fluid can be used to clean out the gummy oil and will evaporate. Some of the residue will leak out and will need to be wiped up immediately. Then re-oil the bearings.
Note I do not have an expensive bike too worry too much about, hence I tend to go the cheaper route.

exas

should pedals not turn at all when walking the bike? or does this only apply to bikes that have a 3 speed Sturmey Archer hub?

divergence

If it's a fixie, pedals should turn. Anything else, they should not.

EvilV

Re question posed here -

First off - don't take the hub apart unless you are pretty skilled. It has many tiny parts and little springs. Do not ess with it if you are not confident and if you do, use the guide here:


https://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hadland/aw.pdf


On the removal of solvent from the insides -



If you use a solvent or something like wd40 which is mainly solvent, after you've ridden it around a bit to wash the innards, you can open the little oil cap and turn the wheel so that the stuff can drain out again by turning it so that the cap is pointing downwards.

After draining, put in a couple of squirts of light non-gumming oil. I use SAE10/30 engine oil.

One last thing - if you didn't have this hub working properly before it gummed up, it could be wrongly adjusted. Maybe the cause is that the cones in the hub are too tight. This causes the exact same effect of pedals turning, as does a previous owner putting bearing grease on the planet gears or using too heavy a grade of oil, such as sae 90 gear oil.

Light oil is all that should ever be put into the pre 1990 sturmey hubs.



This wheel turning effect usually happens in the top gear. As you are ungumming the hub by the WD 40 or solvent route, you can put it in high gear, turn the bike upside down and crank up the wheel speed using the pedals. Then let it freewheel at speed and let go the pedal. You'll soon see when the dragging effect has stopped.


Post 1990 hubs are lubricated with special greases. Do not use ordinary grease on the inner parts. Special lightweight lithium grease is required. However, I use 10/30 engine oil in my 2005 hub. worls great as long as you don't put in too much. If you do, it pisses out everywhere until ony a few drops is left inside, which is in fact all it needs.

tellyho

The hub is not complicated, just requires some attention to detail. Sheldon has instructions; use those and your digital camera to document and you'd be fine. But everyone is correct that you should take a stab at flushing it first. Grease gets used in relubing the cup and cone, but only on the NDS side, as I recall.

bobn

Thanks for all the info folks-I added some super light oil (Military artic weapons oil) This stuff is as thin as water. I didn't get out of the driveway when it started spittin' oil. After a short run I turned the hub filler down and let it drain. Some dirty looking oil drained out. Pedals still turn a bit. It is a little better. There is absolutely no play in the bearings so I will back off the cone a bit and see what happens. It may have been a combination of both?
P.S.
If you try this method try not to use the rear brake. You will get oil all over the pads. Clean up is a PIA.
Thanks again.

EvilV

The manual says not to slacken either cone more than 5/8 of a turn max from being done up finger tight - ESPECIALLY THE NON-DRIVE SIDE. This is important as it effects the allignment of the central sun pinion and the planet gears. My advice is to let that thin oil work in a bit more before you mess with adjustments, but as long as you do it according to the manual you should be alright. The hubs can be opened up but there are lots of small bits that can come adrift. I know because I've experienced this. Another issue can be the little cross piece that connects to the indicator chain and pulls the clutch outwards as you change gear. I have twice experiened this part falling out of place during reassembly. It's not funny to get the thing back toegther and then have to take it down again. My advice on that is to make sure if you strip it down that you have the indicator chain in place before you reassemble the hub back into its case.