Cyclone motor / gearbox dismantling?

[JB_EB]

Fellow Spheroids,

Has anyone here dismantled a Cyclone 360W motor / gearbox assembly?

I have used a Cyclone 360W motor for about 2 1/2 years as a daily commuter. Over tha past few days, I have noticed the motor is getting a bit noisier. (I agree the Cyclone has always been noisy - someone on this forum referred to them sounding like a swarm of hornets on crack :lol: but mine has started getting louder.)

I have read of others dismantling the Unite motors and regreasing the gears to reduce noise and extend life. I though I might try the same with the Cyclone. It has travelled nearly 3,000km fitted to two bikes and I guess it might need a service.

BTW, I contacted Cyclone Taiwan earlier this year when I transferred the motor to my new bike and asked if they could provide information and they said the assembly didn't need any maintenance ...

Any links, tips or photos would be greatly appreciated.

JohnB

 

[Pete]

The square section of the housing contains a planetary gearbox. Remove the four socket head cap screw and the gearbox will slip straight off.

Best guess is the original grease was probably a Moly fortified Extreme pressure grease. Same stuff as you get in Constant Velocity Joints fitted to cars.

Strip the gearbox and give all the gears a good degrease. Don't degrease the bearings (if they have seals) Maybe even have a think about replacing any bearings that are rough, with good quality bearings. You will probably need circlip pliers to get the bearings off. Remember to wear glasses and cover the job in a rag when removing circlips, they have a lovely habit of shooting off and disappearing forever.

When you re-grease, don't completley fill the gearbox. You don't want the motor to be constantly thrashing all that grease around, very inefficent.

No pictures, sorry but the gearbox is simple and does not have anything that is just waiting to jump out and disappear. Except for when you are removing circlips.

 

[rkosiorek]

like the previous post says. just undo the 4 long M6 cap screws. it should just slide off.

if you want to remove the free wheel and it's adapter you will need to remeber that this is a Left Hand free wheel. it threads on opposite to regular freewheels. ie. to loosten it you have to turn it clockwise. the aluminum adapter uses a drive key and a set screw to fix it to the 20mm gearbox shaft. there is a large snap ring under that.

rick

 

[JB_EB]

Pete & Rick, thanks for the very helpful replies. I'll get a tube of Moly grease and attempt this on the weekend. I'll try to take some photos while I'm doing the overhaul.
Do I need to remove the freewheel and adaptor to clean & regrease the gearbox?
Pete - Good suggestion about replacing the bearings. I'll measure all the bearings with verniers and buy a set ready for a second go as I don't want to have the bike off the road during the week.
Regards, JohnB

 

[Pete]

Pete & Rick, thanks for the very helpful replies. I'll get a tube of Moly grease and attempt this on the weekend. I'll try to take some photos while I'm doing the overhaul.
Do I need to remove the freewheel and adaptor to clean & regrease the gearbox?
Pete - Good suggestion about replacing the bearings. I'll measure all the bearings with verniers and buy a set ready for a second go as I don't want to have the bike off the road during the week.
Regards, JohnB

John,
You don't _need_ to remove the freewheel for the clean / re-grease, though it will make the job easier and cleaner because you can immerse the planetary gear ring into some sort of degreaser without degreasing the freewheel.
If you plan to change the output bearing then you will need to remove the freewheel. But that is simple as. Just the setscrew and the carrier slides off. Don't loose the key though, it is not attached to anything and will fall off the shaft at some point. You will need circlip pliers to get the bearings off.