Dear Colleagues -- I need to change the helicomatic (Maillard) block on my wife's French lightweight, but although the retaining ring came off without difficulty, the block itself appears seized on the helical splines. Moderate leverage by my LBS failed to shift it, and moderate tapping from the rear has also failed. I am reluctant to use a gear puller, because this would have to press on the axle which would in turn place considerable pressure on the hub bearings. Does anyone have experience of removing a stubborn instance of one of these blocks, and if so, what do you suggest ?
Dear Colleagues -- I need to change the helicomatic (Maillard) block on my wife's French lightweight, but although the retaining ring came off without difficulty, the block itself appears seized on the helical splines. Moderate leverage by my LBS failed to shift it, and moderate tapping from the rear has also failed. I am reluctant to use a gear puller, because this would have to press on the axle which would in turn place considerable pressure on the hub bearings. Does anyone have experience of removing a stubborn instance of one of these blocks, and if so, what do you suggest ?
Brute force and ignorance worked for me .. though it was a nackered hub anyway, so wouldn't have benefitted from being 'saved', I needed the block .. 😉
Dear Colleagues -- I need to change the helicomatic (Maillard) block on my wife's French lightweight, but although the retaining ring came off without difficulty, the block itself appears seized on the helical splines. Moderate leverage by my LBS failed to shift it, and moderate tapping from the rear has also failed. I am reluctant to use a gear puller, because this would have to press on the axle which would in turn place considerable pressure on the hub bearings.
Couldn't you use some sort of tubular drift so that the centre of the puller contacts the block mount (the hub side of the helices) rather than the axle?
It's been 14 years since I had a Helicomatic block, so I forget the exact layout of the bits - this may not be possible.
Quoted message said:
Does anyone have experience of removing a stubborn instance of one of these blocks, and if so, what do you suggest ?
Gallons of penetrating fluid and/or heat. Be careful with the "and" bit in the last sentence.
Couldn't you use some sort of tubular drift so that the centre of the puller contacts the block mount (the hub side of the helices) rather than the axle?
It's been 14 years since I had a Helicomatic block, so I forget the exact layout of the bits - this may not be possible.
Gallons of penetrating fluid and/or heat. Be careful with the "and" bit in the last sentence.
Quoted message said:
Brute force and ignorance worked for me .. though it was a nackered hub anyway, so wouldn't have benefitted from being 'saved', I needed the block .. 😉
Thanks, guys : in my case it's the hub that needs to be preserved (I've just acquired a new block), so I think that the tubular drift idea (wish I'd thought of that!) and the penetrating oil (I had considerered that, but but yet got around to trying it) will be my next two steps. Less sure about the heat -- don't really want to drive the grease out of the hub bearings -- and I'll let you know how I got on!
Thanks, guys : in my case it's the hub that needs to be preserved (I've just acquired a new block), so I think that the tubular drift idea (wish I'd thought of that!) and the penetrating oil (I had considerered that, but but yet got around to trying it) will be my next two steps.
Is a gert big socket a suitable candidate for being a tubular drift? Or will it be too short?
Is a gert big socket a suitable candidate for being a tubular drift? Or will it be too short?
Possible ideal :-) As I have another block with which to experiment, it will be easy to check whether the socket is small enough to pass through the socket aperture yet large enough to mate up with the hub.
