[CR]servicing Chater Lea HF alloy hubs... help!

(Example: Framebuilders:Pino Morroni)

From: "Peter Brown" <peterg.brown@ntlworld.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 07:04:08 -0000
cc: dlr94306@yahoo.com
Subject: [CR]servicing Chater Lea HF alloy hubs... help!

Dave Ross wrote:

I'm cleaning these up and re-packinging them for the Hobbs BR project. The bals bearings are retained by a dust cap that may be threaded into the shell. There are three pin holes that look as if they require a special 3-pin wrench (with tiny pins) in order to turn them out. Anyone have experience with these? Will I need to make this tool from scratch? A photo can be seen at:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/HobbsBR?page=2

Yes, these caps are conventional right hand thread. Yes there was a special tool available, which I have never seen, and I have no idea where you will get one. I always seem to be able to remove these with the points of a pair of snipe nose pliers, with a large screwdriver blade passed through for leverage. Later models only had 2 holes. Some had rubber seals within those threaded seals, which many riders discarded due to the friction they caused. A lovely set of rare hubs, but do be careful about how close the spoke holes are to the edge of the flange, which apparently was the reason why C-L stopped producing them.

Peter Brown, Lincolnshire, England