Maintenance...Ride and Clean

Its been awhile since a real muddy ride..apart from the ride, the washing up brought back all the memories of every unimaginable crevices stuffed with the brown stuff and the never ending swearing that fills the bathroom walls when washing down.

A totally rusted chain after washing that probably needed to be changed soon but I was still trying to salvage by soaking in left over engine lubricant. Experimenting to see if in future a new but rusted chain can be saved.

Lesson learned....Old or new chain, never do minimal lubing before suspected muddy rides. 





About time to strip the drivetrain too and try to sort out the chain guide issues. Going through piece by piece usually yields things that are missed. Rear -deraileur cable was so badly rubbed, the plastic housing was worn through with the exposed inner steel braid all rusted. A close look shows the present cable run probably needs some fine tuning.

Need a run to the shop for cables.... next up, the wheels. Another "about time" component. Can't remember ever taking apart the rear hub myself on the Chris King. Easy enough though, Funn bolts off the heavy duty axle and set screw loosened on the collar, off it comes with a couple of turns to release the collar from the axle.
Freebody took a few wiggles and came free.

Next the usual routine. short of popping entire bearings, its just prying off the side that can be seen. A little harder with the sealed bearing used here with a solid C-clip. Rubber seal beneath seemed flimsy but overall conditions of bearing and race is good (still shiny and no signs of pitting) despite all these while with a fair share of wet rides. Quality stuff.
Clean, grease with CK ring lube and snapped everything back. repeat with rotor side bearing.

Surprise! Sealed bearing without a seal. Have heard from many people that they actually pop the seal on bearings that is inside the rear hub to make things smoother. Not sure if what I saw was meant that way when the hub was assembled ....  Anyway there is no water or grit on the inside, exposed bearing doesn't look worn either.

All the sealing from the outside has done its job. But just to be sure, after cleaning I double dose on the greasing of this bearing. 1 rimming of CK ring lube, let it sit in and followed by a cover layer of DuraAce bearing grease. Then more greasing on the ring drive and everything in between all the layers inside the hub



"exposed" sealed bearings in freebody all greased up with CK spline lube and a double dose topping of Dura-Ace bearing grease. Ok I'm neurotic...

















Chain guide realigned, add a spacer to the roller. Just need to tweak the front dee. Will have to wait and do all the shifting another day when the cables are here.

Ride Time -- 2.5 hours
Maintenance-- ~8 hours.

Got to figure out some easier way......