Bendix Coaster Brake Hub
 

Today on a ride my girlfriend's 63 Schwinn Hornet ran into problems. A little over an hour into the ride the hub began giving problems. She complained that the hub became harder to pedal. She had the hub serviced recently by a local bike mechanic who repaired the bearings and added some fresh grease. She'd said at the start that the hub seemed tougher to push along than it was before slightly, but right at the end of the short ride she had a failure of the hub because the rear wheel began to struggle. Apparently there was more friction than there was before and the bike became very difficult to pedal. I looked some info on this problem up and one site suggested that it was old grease. I'm not totally convinced it's this because the hub suddenly became significantly more difficult only at the end of the ride. Any ideas?

Did he remove all the old grease and completely repack. Your not supposed to mix grease. Also its possibble he didnt use a high temp grease and the grease has vaporized.

Sounds like the "bicycle Mechanic" didn't know anything about bendix hubs--which is not supprising.I advise taking it apart yourself and doing the overhall again.These hubs have been rebuilt my more 10 year- olds than can be counted--they're made simple and tuff.Common tools are all that is required--but do an on-line serch for a "how-to" on the hub.And if the mechanic didn't get the lock nut set the hub just turned and set the brakes!---sam

I agree-it sure sounds to me that the hub was not serviced correctly. Suggestions to the problem: bearings installed wrong, not enough grease, brake band bearing cover rubbing on large outer bearing, brake shoes installed backwards. When you service these hubs you need to totally clean all the parts and use fresh grease. When the brake is reassembled , the hub should spin freely and you should be able to hold the 18 tooth sprocket , turn it backwards and cause the mechanism to brake. Also the entire brake assembly may not be centered on the axle. If, and I mean If, you know what you are doing, this should be a fairly simple job. However, it sure sounds like it was not done correclty.

There are some images in this thread you might find useful:

http://www.schwinnbike.com/heritage/...ad.php?t=31584

Bob Hufford
Springfield, MO

This particular model has 3 red bands running around the hub shell. Is this the one associated with disc brakes and 2 speed kick back? If so I suppose it's possible she changed gears without knowing it. I'm not very familiar with Bendix hubs, myself. I have most of my time in on S-A hubs and New Departure Model Ds.

That's a Bendix kickback 2 speed all right. Try backpedaling slightly, then pedal foward.

-Kurt

Messed around with the hub some. Turns out the gears were jammed somewhere between 1 and 2. Freed it and it runs now. Thanks for the help!