Gettin Shafted!

Hi

I recently ordered a Kh20 trials, for a friend named Kirk (he doesn’t
have internet access) from municycle.com and received it last Friday.

The day we received it, we noticed this clicking, the shaft moving
inside the hub – the dreaded keyway slop.

I informed Roland (at municycle.com) about the problem, and he asked if
we could repair it ourselves, because we live in South Africa, and he in
Germany so it would cost a lot and take time to ship back and forth.

I’ve spoke with Kirk and explained the situation, and what I’ve read up
on this (what seems to be a common) problem. And after all this felt a
bit more at ease. And decided to go ahead with the retaining compound
repair (as explained by john in a previous thread).

Last night we stripped the shaft out of the hub, and were actually
appalled, at the condition of the shaft and very bad engineering. The
shaft is far from a press fit, and there is what seems to be two “tack”
welding marks on two sides of the shaft in-between the keys, as a lame
attempt to try widen the shaft to fit in the hub. Some of the keys are
badly scratched and dented/pitted.

The shaft slides easily (with lots of play) into the hub until reaching
the welding marks. On the inside of the hub on the area that touches the
welding the aluminium is all scratched.

We doubt the retaining compound (made by Cat Earthmoving Equip.) we’ve
got will fill the size gap. (Kirks got the parts at work today to
accurately measure the difference)

After seeing all this, Kirk (and myself) are obviously not very pleased
with just repairing it and don’t think its right to have a brand new
part in such condition.

Do all the 2004 KH hubs look like this inside?

Have a look at the attached photos, and let us know what you think.
What do you think we should do? What would you do if this was your
hub?

In one of the posts from Kris Holm, mentioned trying to repair this
problem with epoxy or whatever will not affect the warranty of the part.
What is the warranty and how long does it last?

Thank
Shaun (&Kirk)


+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Attachment filename: shaft.jpg |
|Download attachment: http://www.unicyclist.com/attachment/254029|
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

--
smdO2 - UniT is One
------------------------------------------------------------------------
smdO2's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/7369
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/36752

Picture of the hub


+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Attachment filename: hub close up1.jpg |
|Download attachment: http://www.unicyclist.com/attachment/254030|
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

--
smdO2 - UniT is One
------------------------------------------------------------------------
smdO2's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/7369
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/36752

Welding on the shaft


+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Attachment filename: welding on shaft.jpg |
|Download attachment: http://www.unicyclist.com/attachment/254031|
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

--
smdO2 - UniT is One
------------------------------------------------------------------------
smdO2's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/7369
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/36752

YIKES. I would ask roland to take a look at those pics and see what he
thinks. Those keys/keyways dont look happy. Good luck.


--
mango - unity - as 1 stand together

http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albuv16

"I wet myself every time I get near a handrail now" -bevan
------------------------------------------------------------------------
mango's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3892
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/36752

Wait until you hear from someone with hands-on experience with this
problem, but it looks like your hub may be too far gone to repair and
make it ride-worthy. If this turns out to be the case, you should
communicate with Municycle.com on what to do. They owe you a working
hub, but shipping/duty costs are high. If your current hub is really
bad, they might just ship you a new one. But then again they probably
need the bad one to get refunded themselves.

Looks like some manufacturing defects, and the usual assumption "back at
the factory" that somehow nobody's going to ride one of them one-wheeld
thangs, so why should it need to be strong?


--
johnfoss - Walkin' on the edge

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
"jfoss" at "unicycling.com" -- www.unicycling.com

"It's good to find something that makes boys into men and men into boys,
my opinion is that unicycling fits the bill." -- Lloyd Johnson

"Read the rules!" -- 'IUF Rulebook'
(http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/rulebook/) -- 'USA Rulebook'
(http://www.unicycling.org/usa/competition/)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
johnfoss's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/832
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/36752

shaun, have u sent the pics thru to roland yet?


--
GILD - Waffle-Tosser and Time-bider

if you can't say anything good about someone, sit right here by me.--
alice 'roosevelt' (http://tinyurl.com/5ngze) longworth
I feel like a fugitive from the law of averages.-- William H.
Mauldin
'NAMASTE!' (http://tinyurl.com/4qcxw)
'Dave' (http://tinyurl.com/ywxgb)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GILD's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/657
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/36752

Thanks for the input guys.

Ya, sent and email to roland just before i posted this thread, with
these and other pics attached.

He did email me back, saying he will contact his distributor, And i
musnt worry they will find a solution, and will let me know ASAP

He didnt comment on the pictures, or wether we should go forward with
the repair or hold on.

Just incase you take this the wrong way, Im not trying to put Roland
down or anything, I have order other parts previously and my Quax for
him, he offer excelent sevice, speedy delivery and my Quax hasnt had any
problems whatsoever.

Just wanted to find out if all the kh hubs with the keyway problem, look
like this or if this is a bigger problem.

Wait until you hear from someone with hands-on experience with this
problem


So is there anyone outthere that could tell me, is this more of a
problem than the "standard" keywayslop problem. and do all the shafts
have these "welding" marks on them?....Roger....Darren....Kris... anyone
else?

Thanks
Shaun (&Kirk)


--
smdO2 - UniT is One
------------------------------------------------------------------------
smdO2's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/7369
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/36752

smdO2 wrote:
*

So is there anyone outthere that could tell me, is this more of a
problem than the "standard" keywayslop problem. and do all the shafts
have these "welding" marks on them?....Roger....Darren....Kris...
anyone else?
*

I have never personally taken a KH hub apart, much less one of the hubs
from that faulty batch that had so many slipping axles. I can't say if
that welding fix was used on other faulty hubs or not. It was not what
was done on the good hubs. Steve Howard has some pictures of the good
axle in his gallery. See the 'Dissected KH Hub gallery'
(http://gallery.unicyclist.com/KH_hub). And there are no weld marks on
that axle.

I'm frankly a little shocked that they would try to salvage that hub by
making those weld marks to attempt to make it fit tight. Yikes. It's
not clear whether the axle was machined too small or the hole in the hub
body was machined too big. Or maybe a combination of both.

If the axle slips in the hub body with no resistance (until it gets to
the weld marks) then it's going to be too loose of a fit to salvage with
Loctite. Loctite can't fill that big of a gap considering the forces
that are put on a hub. Some extra heavy duty super strong epoxy might
work. But I would not be willing to go that route on a hub with that
much slop because I doubt the epoxy would hold long term, or even short
term, with hard riding.


--
john_childs - Guinness Mojo

john_childs (at) hotmail (dot) com
Gallery: '' (http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/john_childs)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
john_childs's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/449
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/36752

So, Roland let us know yesterday that he will, check all his KH stock,
and if he has one with out this problem, he will send Kirk a new
wheel.

If all his stock has this problem, he will organise a hub&shaft with out
the problem & build us a new wheel.

Last night we tried to fix it temporarily with retaining compoud, so
Kirk can ride atleast.
Tonight we will see if the temp fix has worked.

later
Shaun


--
smdO2 - UniT is One
------------------------------------------------------------------------
smdO2's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/7369
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/36752