Hi folks,
I stripped down my alfine 8 at the weekend and gave it a bath in some ATF and a bit of a scrub. I dropped a bit more ATF in the shell and reassembled. All was well till i went for a test drive and after shifting up the block and starting back down i lost all drive (it had actually defaulted back to 1st gear, so i was spinning out)
So, on closer inspection i can replicate the issue in workshop conditions. Essentially what seems to be happening is that the lock ring used to hold the gear assembly on is being “undone” by the action of the shifting i.e when shifting up the gears the housing appears to catch the lock ring, and the action of going back up the gears seems to be loosening it to the point where the assembly just jumps right off the hub. its incredibly frustrating!
nothing has changed on that side of the hub i.e. cable length, tension etc is all the same. The dots still line up in 4th, but it seems when you shift up into the higher gears it seems to grab the lockring, and shifting down again undoes the lockring. Its only plastic and its not very tight, but i’ve never had this issue with it before and the reality is its only been off once before to fix a puncture. New lockring required perhaps?