CharlieFree

I have an Alfine 8 that's giving me problems. It's as if the internal spring doesn't pull with enough force to upshift and there is too much friction. The mechanism seems fine until I put on the cassette joint lockring, when everything then seems too tight. Any ideas on how to make this glide easily? I have taken this to the LBS and they tell me it looks OK and they are stumped.

If it matters, it is a belt drive.

fietsbob

spring pulls shift cable back, So,

replace the cable and housing and grease the cable as You Put it back together

use a Die slicked cable Probably stainless steel.

Dan Burkhart 

As you indicated the spring return is an upshift, I will assume you have the 7000 series hub. The older 500 and 501 series were low normal where the spring return downshifts the hub.
As fietsbob suggests, the problem most likely lies with the free movement, or lack of such with the shift cable. Ensure there are no tight bends, inspect for frayed or corroded cable, and replace if needed.

Mr IGH

Be sure the cassette joint's inner dust seal is orientated correctly, cup down, not cup up. If the seal is installed wrong the cassette joint sticks.

CharlieFree

Thanks for the tips everyone.

Correct, it is a 7000 series hub. I have checked the cassette joint dust seal and it seems oriented correctly, but will also replace the shifter cable and housing to be safe. I have some concerns that the locking washers are not correct for the dropout angle. It's more or less a vertical dropout, so I think I'm supposed to use the blue-green ones, but I'm told that it's ok to use others in some circumstances, reversed left and right? would this make a difference? The joint arm seems quite well aligned with the chainstay.

Dan Burkhart 

I have used other washers with vertical dropouts and switched left and right to get better orientation on the cassette joint with no issues. The blue green washers have a tab that extends all the way to the hole for better engagement, but any time I used other washers, I got good enough engagement.
I have an Alfine 8 in one of my own bikes with vertical dropouts, and I did exactly that to make it work better.
I'm using a grey/black set. (number 7)