Originally Posted by
vintagebicycle
Usually when I find one like that I just pull the hub apart and go through it completely.
It saves surprises later down the road and isn't that hard to do. I've found quite a few broken pawl springs, stuck pawls, and bad bearing surfaces just doing a simple tear down and reassemble.
At 40+ years old, it certainly can't hurt anything.
Before I understood and appreciated these bikes, I packed a hub with grease....
I learned my lesson and then did my research.
I've since worked on at least 50 3 speed hubs and can honestly say I've only
encountered 2 that had real problems
-warped axle (this was the one I had previously packed with grease)
-a very worn sun gear (hub was adjusted too tight)
I've had good results from flushing a hub
-varsol flush x 2
-vinegar flush x 2
-boiling water
let it dry out and then put in some oil.
There are some good youtube videos showing a disassembly,
cleaning and a rebuild.
Someone else here had a good trick of making
new springs out of guitar strings....
Once cleaned and rebuilt and adjusted properly,
a hub should be good for another 50 years.