Nexus 3 speed wont stick 3rd... HELP

shop deals on amazon
Bike Wall
BOXKARS
Shop deals on ebay
Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum

Help Support Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
lobsterboyx

lobsterboyx

Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
778
Reaction score
45
Location
Sherman Oaks Ca
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I recently spent a lot of time (and money) trying to get a second hand nexus 3 speed hub laced up in my road bike wheel:

dfb46bfd.jpg


77c06872.jpg


2d4cfb10.jpg


I searched through the forums and had some one on one google time but to no avail. what i did learn is that shimano has some weird terms for discribing problems that i dont have.

first off, no matter how precise my adjustments are, the placement of the little yellow thing in the window is never quite accurate. i put it in to second then adjusted so that it is within the paramaters - when i do that... 1 and 2 on the shifter is 1st gear and 3 is 2nd gear. still following?

so i adjust it further in - (read: the yellow doohickey closer in to the bike frame) - then i can get 1=1st and 2=2nd - thats great and all but when i put it in 3 i feel it catch but it just never sticks, it dosent make any noise it just skips and slips. then as soon as i drop it out of 3 it goes immediately back to 1st gear even if i have the indicator on 2 it still goes to first gear. so i shift back to 1st then up to 2nd and its back to normal

I despise derailers - i thought i was free from malfunctioning gears!
 
I've never used a nexus hub but I have done a fair bit with sturmeys, a sachs and older shimano (non nexus).

I always set the gear that requires the cable to be fully tensioned first and then the others fall in line, with an SA hub the full cable tension is gear 1, the lowest, so i set the cable to pull the shifting chain all the way out (with the shimano it looks like the rod pushed all the way in is the lowest and out the highest?).

It might be simple to change the shifter to a non ratcheted deurallier type, then you can just guess the gear position (i.e. cable tension)

hope it makes sense
 
ive adjusted the heck out of this thing - i tensioned it to be pushed all the way in in 3rd only and it still skips... internal problems?
 
What shifter are you using, also how is cable routed? I have had issues trying to use a sturmey shifter with a shimano hub. I also have had problems with the cable anchorage point nearest the hub. If it moves when the cable is under tension then it will mess with the adjustment.
 
i just had it free floating for now - ill try to zip tie it up or something like that, im using the stock one that came with it. the reason its free floating is because i wanted to run the lines through the tubes - have to drill for that, and i wanted to make sure it worked and i was going to use it before i went drilling.
 
I have a very similar problem going on with a modern nexus 3 speed. Same bell shifter and everything.

mine was working fine till I changed a flat tube. I also changed the gear from the one that came with the hub to the original single speed gear. Now its slipping out of 2nd while Im riding.

I'm going to try switching back to the hubs gear to see if that fixes the problem. It looks like the one you've got on there is the one that came with the hub, right ?

I'll let ya know if it works.
 
Perhaps the axle has been moved from it's correct location during attempted service. If one side is loosened and the slack is taken up on the other, it can cause this sort of puzzle. :|
 
deorman said:
Perhaps the axle has been moved from it's correct location during attempted service. If one side is loosened and the slack is taken up on the other, it can cause this sort of puzzle. :|
Click to expand...

This could be whats wrong with my hub. I tried switching back the gear on mine to no avail. How do you know what the axle spacing is suppose to be??
 
I have a bunch of them and never have had any shifting problems with any. The set is to put it into second gear and then screw the adjuster till the yellow marker is between the two lines. They have to run that cable that has all the straight metal things inside instead of the ones with the twisted cover. You said that it came with the factory shifter so I am assuming that is not a factor. I have taken lots apart and even changed several axles . I never found a way that you could miss adjust the axle. If its screwed in wrong then you just don't have enough room to slide the shifter part on right. Too far off the other way and it will stick out too far to slide up against the nut. I will try to look at your pics real close and see if I can figure out what is wrong. If I can't see it I will do a quick video and post here tomorrow and maybe you can see the problem.
 
Ok here are a couple shots of mine. There are also two lengths on the rod that makes them shift. That might be your problem too. This one is 3 1/4'' inches long and I think its the short one. You can see how it fits from the picture. If yours is in more or sticking out more then it might be your problem.

nexus001-2.jpg


nexus002-1.jpg


nexus003.jpg
 
my pin sticks out less than that, im assuming that that might be the problem - ill head to my lbs tomorrow to see if they have the longer one. it feels like it almost wants to go, but it just cant go far enough in to the axel to make it stay... im guessing that this might be the problem...
 
Ive just dug out the destructions that came with my Nexus 3

At the wheel end of things, the Nexus housing should be slid onto the axle nut until the inner edge of the window is level with the end of the hub axle.

Then select gear 2 on the twist shft and then use the cable adjuster on the Nexus hub housing to set the yellow mark.

Hope this helps...................

Paul
 
I fixed the issue with my nexus 3 speed coaster. I had installed an aftermarket bike rack (the kind that has the struts slide onto the rear axle.) That small extra distance (the thickness of the strut) threw everything out of whack. So I removed the struts and anchored them to the holes where the derailleur would be, problem solved.

So I'm thinking that the only things that can be on the axle are the special lock washer and that's it.

Thanks for your help everyone. The suggestions here did lead to the fixing of my hub.
 
Lobsterboyx that could be your problem too. After looking ....you have maybe two washers on the outside of your dropout. All you need is just the big nut that comes with the Nexus. You might have taken up too much axle space to make it shift right.
 
Uncle Stretch said:
Lobsterboyx that could be your problem too. After looking ....you have maybe two washers on the outside of your dropout. All you need is just the big nut that comes with the Nexus. You might have taken up too much axle space to make it shift right.
Click to expand...

Yeah I didn't notice that till now but that maybe your problem as well. Hopefully it is because its a super easy fix.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top