Stumey Archer Question
 

I recently acquired an old '72 Schwinn Speedster that has the Sturmey Archer AW
3 speed hub. The bike was purchased in '72 with the intent that it was to be
used to ride the previous owners small child around the neihborhood...First time
out the mother toppled the bike with child and she never road it again...The
only activity it had was from one of their other kids, but was minimal.

I'm sure the hub hasn't been oiled in 38 years..the mechanism still works but is
sticky due to the probable varnish build up inside and I intend to get my feet
wet this weekend in hub stripping. There are numerous posts and websites that
offer information on stripping this hub, enough so, that my arrogance tells me I
can do it, however, there is no information that I can find on the subject of
cleaning the parts and what I should use nor how much oil should go back into
the hub.

Any help with this as well as any pointers in the rebuild would be greatly
appreciated.

Sorry about the misspelled title...don't know how to fix it.

Find an old Sutherland's book. They have a good breakdown on the SA hubs. Any 20 weight oil will be OK to lube the thing with.
Try pouring solvent into the hub and see if that loosens it up.

From my experience servicing these hubs, it's really not necessary to take the thing apart. Dump WD40 or similar solvent into the oil port, spin the thing around and let it sit a few days for the solvent to evaporate (keep the oil port open). Add enough oil till everything seems well-covered inside.

If you want to take the thing apart and really clean every piece, just soak any metal parts in mineral spirits or something similar (dishwashing detergent in water works alright, too). Just make sure the parts dry out before you put the hub all back together. Probably the most gunk will just be inside the hub shell itself.

peripatetic's advice is good. Try it first.

I had to take apart a similar hub recently. I used a scratch awl to get the glue off every little part of the hub. Then it went back together well, and it worked well.

Hi and welcome to the magic that is Sturmey Archer hub stripping.

So your first stop place should always be Tony Hadland's site. Original instructions for every model SA hub ever made with high quality scans.

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ha...samaintind.htm

Your next place to stop should be Sheldon's site on SA hubs.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/sturmey-archer.html

So a little more concrete, just like peripatetic said you really don't need to take it apart (although i strongly recommend it because it's fun=). Spray some WD-40 inside, or mineral spirits, or anything that would thin out oil, go ride it for a bit, and later add some (1-3mL) motor oil (whatever you have for your car basically). A week or so later add a little more oil (1-2mL). since the hub loses a little bit of oil through the seals all the old stuff will get flushed out eventually. Your hub is now set for life (quite different from 99% of the buy, quick wear down, throw away componentry we have nowadays!)

-Carcinogent

P.S. Oh and do not forget to adjust it before you ride it! (See Sheldon)