Old Alfine 8 slipping in all gears.

[MichaelW2]

My Alfine 8 has run very sweetly for about 9 years of daily commuting (2x6miles) so it has racked up some high mileage. I service it with an oil bath changed once every year or so. In the last few months it has started to slip and it is getting worse. It happens in every gear when I pedals with more force, eg on hills, it slips one or two pawls then settles down OK if I pedal lightly.
I have a new cable inner, adjusted correctly with the yellow markers lined up in 4th gear.

Any Alfine experts out there? What is wrong, can I fix it, what spare parts may I need?

I am happy to strip the hub for oil bath but I never taken the internals apart. Any tips or good guides to this if required?

 

[RoubaixCube]

Sounds like your cassette might be worn

 

[Tim Hall]

Sounds like your cassette might be worn

Umm, it's a hub gear, so doesn't have a cassette. Confusingly, the widget that holds the shifter cable in place is called a cassette joint though. I wouldn't like to say that's the cuplrit though.

 

[MichaelW2]

The sprocket and chain are fairly new and the cassette arm is clean and seems in good condition. Can the small plastic cable run on the cassette arm wear and does that matter?

 

[RoubaixCube]

Umm, it's a hub gear, so doesn't have a cassette. Confusingly, the widget that holds the shifter cable in place is called a cassette joint though. I wouldn't like to say that's the cuplrit though.

Sorry. I thought it was a more conventional setup. Should have Googled first.

 

[MacB]

The sprocket and chain are fairly new and the cassette arm is clean and seems in good condition. Can the small plastic cable run on the cassette arm wear and does that matter?

It's a possibility, if you do a scan of the hub gear forum section on Mtbr.com there are some good Alfine threads with links to full strip and rebuild videos. I was under the impression that the older 8 speed was a lot less finicky about precise cable setup than the new A11. However the distances/lengths are still pretty precise, one way to test is to deliberately set the yellow markers out of alignment. Try in both directions, there should be a barrel adjuster on the shifter that allows you to do this. If it still slips then it's more likely to be internal wear/mis-alignment. If one direction seems to fix it then maybe just a new cassette arm bit would sort it.

Hope that makes sense but the forum I mention above goes into a lot more detail on this stuff.

 

[mjr]

It sounds like worn pawls but try @MacB's excellent experiment to see if it's cassette arm wear - I've no experience with cassette arms yet.

Also, there are discussions on the cycling UK forum that Shimano's annual oil bath isn't really enough lubrication for UK conditions, especially coastal areas. I switched my out-of-warranty Nexus 3 to the suggested Landrover front swivel grease and so far so good, although I'm about to retire it in favour of a hub-braked SA hub.

As I understand it, the Alfine has the same situation as the Nexus: if you do take it to bits and find a worn part, Shimano often won't sell you anything less than a complete new inner, so unless you find someone on the classifieds or auction sites breaking one up and selling the bit(s) you need, you're stuck buying a new inner. That's another part of the reason I'm going back to SA.

 

[Cycleops]

Sorry. I thought it was a more conventional setup. Should have Googled first.

An enclosed hub gear, a complete anathema to derailleur aficionados. How we used to deride other kids with a Sturmey Archer set up.