Rohloff hub bearings

Has anyone ever had the bearings replaced in a Rohloff hub? I think mine have worn.

Can this be done easily at home?

Alternatively does anyone know of a place I can get it done in the UK rather than having to send it to Germany?

Back to Germany,I’m afraid………..Only 10 days,though.

Have you had them changed?

It may not be the bearings. I thought mine had worn a year ago, as I could rock the wheel in the frame and feel movement, where as a friend who has a newer hub couldn’t. I kicked up a bit of fuss as it was almost at the end of the warranty. Anyway, it went back to Rohloff, where they said the bearings were fine, but they replaced some nylon rollers, which they said had swelled/diformed due to solvent from power washing, I did that once, even though I knew I shouldn’t, but thought I was careful. They did say that they replaced the ‘driver bearings’ too, not the axle bearings. A year or so later and I can feel the movement again, if I rock the wheel from side to side in the frame, it doesn’t cause any issues and I remember Rohloff saying that it wouldn’t cause any problems, kind of normall or acceptable I think they desribed, amount of wear. The bearings and correct adhesive for want of a better word, are available from SJS Cycles website now, give them a call they may have a price for fitting.!?

Thanks for your help Woodsman. You have pretty much described the symptoms that my hub has, I can rock the wheel in the frame. If I take the wheel out and grab the sprocket I can waggle it. I thought it might be the bearings after having a look at a ‘cutout’ picture of the hub on the web.

I’ll call SJS first as I would prefer not to send the wheel to Germany unless I have to.

TBH I’d just send it back to Rohloff as they don’t charge for repairs.

After speaking to Ison (UK distributor) the hub is on it’s way back to them and they will forward to Germany.

Has anyone dealt with Rohloff direct? I had the impression from previous threads that people might have sent the hub directly back to Rohloff.

TBH with you i’d be very wary off sjsc’s advice .. i had a very stiff
freewheeling action which the guys had no idea about. they said they’d never seen it before and maybe change the oil. 5 mins spent reading the manual I identified the problem and a sharp whack on the axle cured all! Pay peanuts ..get monkeys.

but they replaced some nylon rollers, which they said had swelled/diformed due to solvent from power washing

I think this is disengenuous, whatever the state of the internals, whether seized or worn away completely, the only way for the hub to give sideways movement at the rim is for the main axle bearings to be worn, and they admit to replacing some of them. To say that such movement is ‘normal’ is just a fib, we all know well enough that once bearings show sideways movement, they are knackered and rapidly get worse 🙁

I had the impression from previous threads that people might have sent the hub directly back to Rohloff.

yes, I did, but it’s better if you get them to collect as they don’t ever seem to charge…

Chaps, i put this Q to Rohloff, here is their reply;

a defect or broken bearing is pretty much unheard of with the SPEEDHUB because the oil bath within the gear unit constantly feeds the bearings with enough lubricant to carry out their job correctly for (to date) an infinite amount of time. We have not yet had to replace a single hub shell/cap bearing due to a defect.

The bearings of the SPEEDHUB are industrial, sealed bearings. As such they consist of 3 parts:- an outer ring, an inner ring and the ball bearings themselves. The completed bearing MUST have a certain amount of play between the inner and outer rings so that the bearings can move and allow the rings to rotate. The “problem” of sideways movement is simply this completely normal play between the two rings. This tolerance of play is near impossible to control during the manufacturing process and therefore we time-consumingly check the bearings here (every single one) before building them into the SPEEDHUB.

The general idea that play in bearings means that they are broken is simply rubbish! Without play in bearings, they would either not work or have such an enormous efficiency loss due to this extra friction that the system using the bearings would be rendered useless.

The problem tends to be that the average cyclist simply measures the amount of play at the rim/tyre as it wobbles within the frame. This is not a fair test for various reasons.
Firstly, the wheel is a lever where the bearing sits at the pivotal point. The larger the wheel diameter (the lever), the further away from the pivot you go. Therefore the required amount of force needed to “wobble” the wheel is reduced whilst the noticeable amount of play increases the further away from the pivot that the wheel is “wobbled”.
This means therefore that play in a 28″ wheel is much easily more noticeable than the exact same amount of play within a 26″ or 20″ or 18″
wheel.

Secondly, the spoke tension plays a huge roll in the effect of “wheel wobble”. If the spokes are too loose, how can the customer be sure that he is feeling bearing play and not play in the entire wheel due to insufficient spoke tension?
Clearly not a fair test of play.

Due to the fact that the bearing in the hub shell (the sprocket side) is not fixed but rather floating, a defect or worn bearing will let itself be known if it is possible to push the hub shell to the left and to the right along the axle. Axial play here should not be felt.

Thanks Robin.

The hub has always had some lateral movement from new and I understood this, as your post has explained, to be the bearing. However this ‘play’ has gotten quite a bit worse and there is now a lot more lateral movement in the wheel – and a lot more than my friend’s Rohloffs (he has 2). After taking the wheel out to have a closer look I could waggle the sprocket by hand. I am not complaining about the hub as it has been fantastic in the 18 months I have had it and I certainly wouldn’t want to be without it through another winter – I do a lot of offroad riding. The reason I wanted it looking at was to make sure there was nothing wrong with it, or to get any worn parts replaced to prevent any damage, as I intend to keep using it for a long time.

For the record I did contact SJS but no one was available to talk to about Rohloff hubs so I left my number on Monday, I have yet to be called back about it though. That is a bit dissapointing as I have used SJS to buy all my Rohloff parts, sprocket, chain guide, etc and the mail order service is very good.

when i detect play in a hub by grabbing it at the rim and wobbling it, i replace the cartridge bearings, or service the cup&cone hubs i have, as applicable.
appreciate that they don’t have a an oil bath, so the rohloff’ll probably go for longer with play in it, but suggesting it’s not a fair test of wear?

I’ve used SJS for mail order & they’ve been good but don’t bother calling in the shop!
Ring Ison distribution, they’re knowledgeable about the hub & if it needs to go back I doubt Rohloff will charge for anything.

Snaps,

The hub was sent to Ison on Monday, I have spoken to them thanks and they said they would contact Rohloff if necessary to get it collected and sent to Germany (this thread is nearly a week old). I am hoping that they won’t charge!

I think they’re being economical with the truth – I noticed the play getting steadily worse – as one does with a Hope hub over time, never mind any play in spokes etc. – and they said they’d replaced the main bearings which had failed, not due to a defect but because they had rusted due to water ingress. There was no detectable play when the hub was new

Hub is now back and feeling like new. Total turnaround from local store, to Ison, to Germany, back to Ison and back to local store was just over 2 weeks. Pretty good I think.

Not entirely sure what work has been done on the hub, the letter just stated service work had been carried out and that the work was free of charge (as was postage). Full compliment of new bolts and seals etc from what I can tell and the lateral movement has now completely gone. Even with my 29er wheel I can’t feel any sideways movement so I still think that the hub bearings had worn.

There was a section of the manual attached and the information telling you not to steam clean or pressure wash the hub was highlighted. The whole point of the Rohloff for me is that I don’t clean it so the suggestion that steam cleaning or pressure washing had caused the wear was suprising!

Secondly, the spoke tension plays a huge roll in the effect of "wheel wobble". If the spokes are too loose, how can the customer be sure that he is feeling bearing play and not play in the entire wheel due to insufficient spoke tension?

Are they serious ?
Do they really think I can't tell the difference between a worn hub bearing and loose spokes ?
How long would a wheel last being ridden with the spokes so loose there was noticeable movement between the hub and rim ?

The general idea that play in bearings means that they are broken is simply rubbish!

but if the play increases, it does indicate wear

a defect or broken bearing is pretty much unheard of with the SPEEDHUB because the oil bath within the gear unit constantly feeds the bearings with enough lubricant

unless water gets in, in which case it's "Gute Nacht Vien" 🙁
typical Bog Trotter ride:
click pic for bigger

For the record, my hub had to go back to Germany again a year after I first had the bearings changed. Same lateral play that I had before and some problems shifting. All due to worn bearings though, main hub body and internal gear roller bearings.

Rohloff said they had no idea why they had worn like they had. No bog trotting, steam/power hose cleaning on my part. Regardless they collected the wheel, fitted new parts and returned it to me free of charge. Turnaround was roughly a week (although I was without the wheel for a couple due to the timing coinciding with the volcanic ash enforced flight cancellations at the time).

So I now consider the bearings to be disposable and would have to disagree with the comments from Thorn/Rohloff written above. I don't ride that much, as far as I am concerned but my Rohloff bike does all of my winter offroad mileage ~ 10 hours a week. Oil level is looked after too with reasonably regular changes so I don't think lack of lubrication is the issue.

A few months on the bearings are still solid, including racking up an Alps holiday and I can't detect any movement by hand.

I still wonder about my 29er theory….. I have 3 other mates with Rohloffs on 29ers so will see if they have the same issue that I have had. They don't ride as much as me though so I could be waiting a while for the result of that experiment!

IMO Rohloff are in denial

IMO Rohloff are in denial

I agree, you have a hard time finding out what they have actually done if you have to send it back. It's annoying though as I would prefer they were more transparent. They seem to think that it will effect their image. Regardless I would still buy one again and the service I have received from them when needed has been good.

Regardless I would still buy one again and the service I have received from them when needed has been good.

I liked it fine apart from the water penetration thing. My son thinks having to send it to Germany once a year for new bearings is worth it, but I prefer kit that I can fix myself and doesn't have to be mollycoddled…

simonfbarnes – Member

IMO Rohloff are in denial

I think that too. So much so that i sold mine as soon as it came back from having it's second set of bearings fitted.
When ever i see a bike with a Rohloff on now i have a quick check to see if there's any play and in most of them there's a fair bit. 😕

I liked it fine apart from the water penetration thing. My son thinks having to send it to Germany once a year for new bearings is worth it, but I prefer kit that I can fix myself and doesn't have to be mollycoddled…

Yes I wish there was a Rohloff service centre in the UK. However I haven't had to pay any postage to return the hub to Rohloff as of yet so its not that bad. When I looked though it was circa £100 to send a 29er wheel with insurance to the appropriate value, which is not cheap. It would be verging on the ridiculous to start paying that amount annually to get bearings replaced.

Anymore comments on the hub bearing issues? Haven’t seen these problems rise up elsewhere.. A bit alarming in considering biting the bullet on one. But as for many people, round trip shipping or the short 2 year warranty period could make this a moot investment point over another gruppo investment. Those costs could be as much as replacing most wear parts of another drivetrain.

If you look elsewhere on the web you WILL find other people who’ve had problems …….just browse the sjsc forum for a start.
I sent mine back this year and postage with insurance (admittedly £500 ..but bought 2nd hand anyhow)was only about £35 . I did have to spend a while looking for a good deal (DPD’s interlink direct) and also had to remove the tyre and pack the wheel tightly to get within dimension limits otherwise the cost would Skyrocket up!

I’ve been thinking about sending my hub back recently, as it has developed quite a lot of bearing play.
I’ve actually got three hubs and they have all been back for shifting problems via my LBS at no cost to me, even though I bought two of them second hand.
I was told though, that Rohloff will not accept drive side bearing play as a warranty claim.

I checked the side play at the rim and got 3.22mm and 1.54mm on the two 29ers and 0.83mm on the 26er.
3.22mm doesn’t sound much, but it feels a bit odd to ride.

It’s item number 3 on this diagram that’s causing the problem.

Click for the big version.

It looks like it should be relatively easy to remove the bearing with a proper puller once the sprocket and seal are out the way.

All I need to do is find the dimensions of the bearing and seal.

Edit;
That first picture won’t show, you’ll have to click the link.
And, thinking about it a bit more, splitting the hub body would allow the bearing to be pushed out from the back without a puller.

Surely if there is mm of play in a rim the bearings are fubared.

googling givces a few folk that can do / have replaced bearings.

http://tricolour.net/rohloff.html
http://www.cyclemonkey.com/rohloff-speedhub.shtml

As written above in this thread I have twice had the bearings replaced in the hub due to wear and the lateral play that others also experienced. My advice to anyone who experiences a similar problem is to contact Rohloff direct, they were quite happy to enter into a dialogue with me last time the wheel went back. I have not paid a penny to have any repair work done, or for carriage to Germany. I wouldn’t bother contacting your local store/dealer as most have very very little experience or knowledge of the hub. Even SJS, who it is probably fair to say are the UK experts, had little experience of the problem.

Last time I asked Rohloff if there was an alternative to the bearings that I keep having problems with, but they said no. I don’t really have a problem with bearings wearing out, the real problem is that they don’t have a UK service centre so it is a ball ache to get the work done – even if it is free. Even if I had to pay I’d probably send it to Germany rather than DIY, as I don’t really want to spend my free time faffing with the insides of a complicated hub. I’d rather be riding my bike!

For the record (again) the bearings have worn out (again). So will have to start the negotiations process for the third time to get the wheel back to Germany.

In 3 months!? What yeah doing, 25,000RPM?

Anyone up for the challenge?
Exploded drawing

I replaced the bearings on one of my hubs.
It uses two 61807 bearings, 47x35x7mm, which cost about £3 each from a local bearing stockist.
They have only lasted a few months before getting slight play again, but that may be because of the way I fitted them. I didn’t have a proper press, so I tapped them in with a socket. The outer edge of the socket was rounded, so I was actually pressing against the inner race which is not the right way to fit a bearing.

I have now had this made.

There’s a spigot to locate the bearing and the face is undercut to clear the inner race.
I welded a long bolt on to act as a built on drift and to help guide the bearing in straight. As they are so narrow, 7mm, it’s very easy to get them slightly out of line in the bore.
I haven’t tried it yet, although I may change the bearings this week if I get around to it.

Blimey – good luck and well done!

Mine are wearing again but I’ll happily (?) pay the £60 to get the wheel back to Germany and let the Rohloff chaps do it again (every two years)

Mtg, are the bearings greased and sealed or open in the oil bath? Nice tool, may have to pop up and see you if my hub ever shows any symptoms

There’s one seal outboard of the bearing on each side to keep the oil in.
The bearings are in the oil bath with the rest of the hub.

Gotcha. Makes sense

Just a thought but has anyone tried roller bearings as an alternative to a ball race? Nice press MTG wouldn’t mine some dimensions to get one made.

roller bearings don’t take kindly to side loadings. I don’t know how critical this would be but I would guess that bicycles can put enough side loads on a wheel to cause issues

Yes, it would need either parallel roller bearings which won’t take a side load, or tapered roller bearings which would need some means of adjustment.

The bearing is 47x35x7, so the OD of the press is 46.8 to give some clearance in the bore.
The ID is 35 to match the bearing. I gave the guy an old bearing as a pattern, it may actually be 34.95 as it doesn’t need to be a press fit.
The undercut is 3mm wide which leaves 3mm to contact the outer race. It only needs to be 0.5mm deep to clear the inner race.
The spigot is 7mm deep to match the bearing.
The total thickness is 20mm.
It would have been easier if it had a hole bored through the middle to attach it to a length of studding with nuts instead of having to weld the bolt on.