Sunday, November 14, 2010

Sturmey Archer 3 Speed Hub Oil Cap Replacement Alternative

There are replacement lubricators (oil caps) available for the old Sturmey Archer 3 speed and other internal gear bicycle hubs for roughly $2.00, but then you can end up paying $9.00 or more for shipping. This is a really inexpensive alternative to replacing the oil cap.

I used a nylon, 1/4"-20 machine screw with the threaded part cut down to roughly 1/8" long. I used a hack saw blade to cut the screw. I paid $0.45 for a pack of 3 screws at my local hardware store. Simply unscrew your broken lubricator from the hub and replace it with your modified nylon 1/4"-20 machine screw.


These socket cap screws would work great because you can use a long Allen wrench to insert and extract it. I'll have to see if I can find one locally.

6 comments:

MK said...

This is genius. I had just been turned off by the $8.50 shipping for a $1.99 cap. I will have to try this! Thank you!

Dave said...

Thank you MK! I see that many people from all over the world stop by and read about this little fix, but you're the first to comment. If you use the socket head type screw, let me know how it works out for you. Every time I go by the hardware store, I forget to look for them.

MK said...

I had my tech install the screw during the routine maintenance, with the link to this page. He used the flat head screw just like the one in your picture, so I couldn't tell about using the socket head screw, but I can for sure tell you that this worked perfectly! Thank you!

Xtimmx said...

This is amazing, thank you for the suggestion. Couldn't bring myself to spend $10 for a $2 part and have just been using a piece of tape.

Scally McKerel said...

Brilliant!
I no longer have to spend $12 for a tiny piece of plastic.
Thank you!

Scally McKerel said...

following up from my comment above...

For an early '50s pre-Raleigh Hercules 'B type 5' hub one must use a 10-24 nylon screw instead of a 1/4-20 nylon screw.

This particular hub's hole threading is actually 26tpi, but since there is a short amount of threading involved, a 24tpi screw will work when cut to 1/8" in length.