Motor staying tight

[knightrider]

Have built many e bikes with both Bafang and CYC drives. But this Photon unit I have on a steel framed marin el roy refuses to stay tight. I don`t want to lock tight it as I have done on some bafang drives. I always wrap a 1/2 in. wide tie wrap around all the builds to keep the motor from ever rotating downward. This unit just refuses to stay locked in. Just wandering if anyone else has dealt with this issue on the photon mounting. Yes the shimming is spot on and the build is right. Just doesn`t figure.

 

[nicobie]

Don't be afraid of red loctite. A little bit of heat will defeat it.

 

[knightrider]

Don't be afraid of red loctite. A little bit of heat will defeat it.

Yea blue will hold just fine I just would prefer not to use it. The damn jamb nut should hold but is not. If you load the jamb nut as to hold the large nut it puts too much preload on the unit. Read up on the bearing problems others like high voltage are having. I chose to not preload very much and have, knock on wood, had no failures yet. The lack of proper set up info from the factory and the BS from all the self appointed experts on the net create a lot of problems for people. I have built a lot of ebikes in my shop and have learned from experience on the motors, chainlines and setups that work. Just have noticed that the photon is giving some problems with a lot of areas. Hoping cyc reads the complaints and problems and corrects em.

 

[motomech]

I slather Blue Loctite on the threads everytime the wheel is off and never clean it. After a while, it builds up a grungy paste that holds my axle nuts in place

 

[rondi7]

I use a piece of tie wire (home depot-- like is used to tie rebar together) and wrap it around the seat tube down under the photon, up thru the fins and twist the ends. I've used this for over 300 miles miles. I don't want the side loading of the bearing, so this was a pretty simple solution. In an update to the CYC installation manual (7/28/2023 page 9) they had a pix of a "Mounting Hanger" used to secure their bigger motors to the frame. I looks like a curved piece of metal probably to go over the down tube, with a long bolts and a nut at the end of the bolts. A cyc poster said it would soon be standard for the photon. That was 3 or 4 months ago!

 

[Eastwood]

So why don’t you want to use Loctite?
Could you post a picture, I’m not familiar with that mid-drive?

 

[Mongo]

I used a little bit of blue loctite on the Left BB Cup ("bolt") threads, and tightened it up with a 3-foot breaker bar (keeping in mind it's aluminum) - similar to the way I tighten up my BBS motors. I don't snug up the Retaining Lock Ring ("jam nut") at all, and I don't think its job is to hold the Cup in tension - instead IMO its job is to stop the spindle from sliding sideways. So far, the motors have stayed put on my two CYC Photon builds, and the spindle backpedals freely.

On my installs, the motors butt up tight against a frame down tube water bottle boss. I'd consider adding an insurance strap, thinking a quality HD nylon wire tie would do fine - maybe next time the bike is cleaned. I'm so-so on that hanger they now apparently provide.

IMO, CYC is less than helpful in many ways - this design/install detail being but one. 68mm and 73mm spindle options would be nice, and would reduce the spacer needs.

Perhaps all of the Photon mysteries are unveiled over CYC's, closed to outsiders, Facebook forum.

P.S. Not self appointed, don't rep for CYC, not an engineer, just a motor owner, etc.