Help sought : removing helicomatic block seized to hub



P

Philip TAYLOR

Guest
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 ?

Philip Taylor
 
Philip TAYLOR posted ...

> 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
... ;)

--
Paul

(8(|) Homer rocks .. ;)
 
Philip TAYLOR wrote:

> 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.

> 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.

--
Mark.
 
Mark Tranchant wrote:

> 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.



Paul - *** wrote:

> 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!

** Phil
 
On Fri, 28 May 2004 09:49:26 +0100, Philip TAYLOR
<[email protected]> wrote:

>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?



Tim
 
Tim Hall wrote:

> 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.

** Phil.
 

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