Dissected Profile Hub and Keyway Fix



J

john_childs

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Just before the California Muni Weekend I decided to have another go at
fixing my Profile hub. My hub has had some problems with keyway slop.
The slop was getting worse and it was getting more and more annoying. I
had tried to fix it once before using Loctite sleeve retainer, but that
didn't hold. See the thread 'A picture is worth a thousand words'
(http://tinyurl.com/4zr65) for the details on the Loctite fix. This
time I went with JB Weld epoxy. JB Weld is much stronger than Loctite.
I'm hopeful that the JB Weld will hold and the hub will be trouble free
for years to come.

I made a gallery with pictures of the dissected hub and an explanation
of the JB Weld fix: 'Dissected Profile Hub gallery'
(http://gallery.unicyclist.com/Profile_hub)


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Good luck John, the epoxy I used didnt hold out as long as I was hoping.
It's back, and bigger than ever. Plus, I might not be able to get the
spindle out to try it again. I'll get around to it eventually (or when
I want to ride it).


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Yes, that is a potential problem with the epoxy. If the hub develops
any slop again I will likely not be able to pound the axle out again.
The axle is in the hub for good now.

If the epoxy doesn't hold then I'll take the hub to a machinist and have
a pin put in. The problem with using a pin is that you have to unbuild
the wheel so you can get access to the hub, and it requires a machinist
to do the work which will cost more money. Figure in the cost for the
machinist and the cost for rebuilding the wheel and this would be an
expensive fix. The epoxy fix is cheap and doesn't require you to
unbuild the wheel.


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You do have a big advantage in being able to build your own wheels and
do your own machining. If I was able to do all that myself I'd have
gone for the pinning option.

At the CA Muni Weekend, Ben Plotkin Swing had a freshly pinned Profile
hub. U-Turn did the work of unbuilding and rebuilding the wheel then
had a machinist do the machining for the two pins. We'll have to see
how that holds up for Ben. I suspect that it is going to work just
fine. I don't see why it wouldn't work.

I don't know what kind of pins would work best. That's something that
I'd take to a machinist and ask them for their opinion. Ben's hub had
two pins put in and they went all the way through the hub.


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Good work John! Mine hasn't developed any play yet, but if it does I'll
know where to look. Couple questions for you:


1. What did you use to prop the wheel up in order to drive the axle out?
Just looks like a piece of pipe that you can fit the axle into.

2. Does profile's lifetime warranty not cover this type of defect? It
says it covers the cranks and spindle, but is the keyway not included?


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TheObieOne3226 wrote:
> *1. What did you use to prop the wheel up in order to drive the axle
> out? Just looks like a piece of pipe that you can fit the axle into. *

It's a piece of 1" x 6" galvanized steel pipe. With the big bar clamp I
was using a piece of seatpost that I had. The 1" x 6" pipe worked
better than the section of seatpost.

> *2. Does profile's lifetime warranty not cover this type of defect? It
> says it covers the cranks and spindle, but is the keyway not included?
> *

I'm not sure if the keyway slop would be covered by Profile's warranty
or not. It might be. I decided to go with the Loctite fix and then the
epoxy fix because it's easy to do and cheap to do. To return the hub
would require unbuilding and rebuilding the wheel. I don't see the need
to go through the warranty return if I can fix it easily enough myself.
If the epoxy fix fails then I'll look into the warranty replacement or
else take it to a machinist for a couple of pins.


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Ah. Thanks.

If it were me I would try to get them to do it. In your case if it comes
to the machinist and the pin I would check with them first. You are
going to have to unbuild the wheel anyways, why not get a brand new hub
if you can?


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TheObieOne3226 wrote:
> *You are going to have to unbuild the wheel anyways, why not get a
> brand new hub if you can? *

And end up with a new Profile hub with the same "defective" design? I'd
rather fix the problem for good rather than get a new hub that may end
up with the same keyway slop in a few years.

I put "defective" in quotes because I don't consider the design of
Profile hub to be defective. It's tricky to make a tight press fit that
won't twist. I think that all hubs with this type of design (Profile,
KH, Onza, etc) are going to have similar problems with axle slop. The
real fix may be to pin the axle in addition to the keyway. Pinning
means more machining and a more expensive hub.


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john_childs wrote:
> *
> I'd rather fix the problem for good rather than get a new hub that
> may end up with the same keyway slop in a few years.
> *


Good point. Difference of opinion, but at least now I can see your
logic. :)


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( I mentioned this in last year's thread about Profile keyway slop. )

I decided to go to the source and called Profile when my hub
developed the dreaded slop. I sent the hub to them directly and they
fixed it at no charge. I had it back in a week or so. I had to break
down the wheel but I built it back up myself so it was no big deal. It's
held up fine since.
I doubt Profile would do anything with a hub once it's been been
epoxied though.

- Frank


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Frank A. wrote:
> *( I mentioned this in last year's thread about Profile keyway slop. )
>
>
> I decided to go to the source and called Profile when my hub
> developed the dreaded slop. I sent the hub to them directly and they
> fixed it at no charge. I had it back in a week or so. I had to break
> down the wheel but I built it back up myself so it was no big deal.
> It's held up fine since.
> I doubt Profile would do anything with a hub once it's been been
> epoxied though.
>
> - Frank *



Couple questions:


1. Did they send you back a new hub or the same, repaired hub?
2. If it was the same hub, any idea what THEY did to fix it?


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Frank A. wrote:
> *( I mentioned this in last year's thread about Profile keyway slop. )
>
>
> I decided to go to the source and called Profile when my hub
> developed the dreaded slop. I sent the hub to them directly and they
> fixed it at no charge. I had it back in a week or so. I had to break
> down the wheel but I built it back up myself so it was no big deal.
> It's held up fine since.
> I doubt Profile would do anything with a hub once it's been been
> epoxied though.
>
> - Frank *

Yes, I probably voided any chance of a warranty replacement if it comes
to that. I'm not too worried about that though, because I know I can
fix it for good with a couple of pins. I'm not going to end up with an
unfixable hub.

I have three Profile hubs. Two muni wheels and one trials wheel. Only
one of the hubs has gotten the Loctite or epoxy treatment. The other
two hubs have been left alone since they don't have any slop. If the
other two hubs have any problems I'll consider the warranty fix.

Here's last years thread about keyway slop: 'Loose Profile keyway'
(http://tinyurl.com/26tnm)


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TheObieOne3226 wrote:
> *
>
>
> Couple questions:
>
>
> 1. Did they send you back a new hub or the same, repaired hub?
> 2. If it was the same hub, any idea what THEY did to fix it? *


They did not replace the hub shell. I asked Corey (I think he's the
one who actually developed the hub) what he did. He said he replaced the
axle, didn't say much more.
Whatever he did it worked.

- Frank


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