DT SWISS 350 Hub puzzle

[drewskey]

Hopefully someone can point me in the stupidly-easy direction towards a diagnosis and fix.

I have a fairly new DT350 (<500 miles) straight pull rear hub that is slipping under torque. It is not the bike/hanger/chain/cassette/chainrings.

Has anyone ever experienced this?


THANK YOU

[vqdriver]

Need to find whats slipping before attempting fixes. Are the ratchet teeth slipping/look chewed?

[drewskey]

Need to find whats slipping before attempting fixes. Are the ratchet teeth slipping/look chewed?

They do not. Then again, this is my first DT hub.
I'll post a picture tonight.

[dave thompson]

Very cold weather? If so, maybe whatever lube is in the hub is too thick/viscous to allow the pawls to engage.

[AngryScientist]

Very cold weather? If so, maybe whatever lube is in the hub is too thick/viscous to allow the pawls to engage.

agree.

dt swiss hubs are very simple to understand. take everything out (both springs, both sides of the ratchet ring. clean everything thoroughly, including the sliding interface inside the hubshell. lube with light oil and re-assemble. you should be able to feel everything with your hand move quite freely.

[drewskey]

Very cold weather? If so, maybe whatever lube is in the hub is too thick/viscous to allow the pawls to engage.

The first time it happened it was in the 70s.
I stopped using that wheel until I tried it out again on Saturday when it was 75.

I waited until I had a whole new groupset and hanger to decide that it was not the bike/components. My other wheels do not have the slippage issue.

[AngryScientist]

there is not a whole lot going on inside a DT hub that can slip. gotta be the ratchet rings not engaging properly, either due to them not sliding freely, or too heavy of a lube preventing full engagement.

http://bikeco.com/files/PurposeBuilt/PBWdtexploded.jpg

[drewskey]

there is not a whole lot going on inside a DT hub that can slip. gotta be the ratchet rings not engaging properly, either due to them not sliding freely, or too heavy of a lube preventing full engagement.

http://bikeco.com/files/PurposeBuilt/PBWdtexploded.jpg

Preliminary internet forum diagnosis based on that information I'm going to go with: Too heavy a lube from the factory, which is strange that the problem would manifest after riding on them for 2 months.

How clean should the ratchet faces be from grease?

I have some Phil Wood bearing grease if that works for this.

[AngryScientist]

Preliminary internet forum diagnosis based on that information I'm going to go with: Too heavy a lube from the factory, which is strange that the problem would manifest after riding on them for 2 months.

How clean should the ratchet faces be from grease?

I have some Phil Wood bearing grease if that works for this.

NO.

clean the faces completely. use a solvent like WD40 or similar to cut the grease and get them CLEAN.

then use light oil, like 10W30 motor oil, NOT grease. the only grease that is OK is DT swiss's grease, which is still a little on the heavy side for these hubs.

[drewskey]

NO.

clean the faces completely. use a solvent like WD40 or similar to cut the grease and get them CLEAN.

then use light oil, like 10W30 motor oil, NOT grease. the only grease that is OK is DT swiss's grease, which is still a little on the heavy side for these hubs.

10-4!

Thanks for the help! +100 internetz points.

[AngryScientist]

here's a picture i took after servicing mine. that's how clean you want them before re-assembly with light lube.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T5Q1SrP_QwY/VPsWVy4bfMI/AAAAAAAAB9k/Uzxvs2dJCBw/s900/IMG_0580.JPG

[drewskey]

Gotcha, and nice prison shank.

[AngryScientist]

no problem.

you would be amazed at how manly little tasks i use that homebrew tool for! sometimes simple is cool.

[mcteague]

Had this issue on my older bike with DT240 hub. Yanked the freehub off with cogs still attached. Cleaned the ratchet rings with WD40, wiped them off, smeared with a little Mobil 1 and put back together. Only took a couple minutes with zero tools. You could not ask for a simpler process.

Tim

[Gummee]

I have a tendency to use Phil's Tenacious Oil in my DT Swiss hubs

...but only because I have a 30-year old bottle of the stuff I'll never use otherwise

M

[Mikej]

Had this issue on my older bike with DT240 hub. Yanked the freehub off with cogs still attached. Cleaned the ratchet rings with WD40, wiped them off, smeared with a little Mobil 1 and put back together. Only took a couple minutes with zero tools. You could not ask for a simpler process.

Tim

I know - my sons bikes are DT Swiss- after being a LONG time king user, I'm sold on DT Swiss 240 for my next wheels- I ordered the DT grease and upgraded teeth ratchets and was amazed at how small the grease tub was - looked like a much larger tub on the web!

[SpokeValley]

I have a tendency to use Phil's Tenacious Oil in my DT Swiss hubs

...but only because I have a 30-year old bottle of the stuff I'll never use otherwise

M

Ditto. My bottle isn't as old, though. ;)

[drewellison]

Ditto. My bottle isn't as old, though. ;)

My Tenacious oil still has the original price tag on it. I got it when I worked at the LBS mid '70s. Still going strong, but it's a little darker green now than then.

[drewskey]

Update: after taking everything apart, cleaning, and adding oil as advised, the issue still persisted. I took the wheel to my LBS, and after looking at it, concluded that the freehub body teeth were not correct. They are in the process of warrantying the freehub body.