Thread: Dry Battery
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Old 03-09-22, 12:18 PM
  #31  
Tourist in MSN
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Madison, WI
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Bikes: 1961 Ideor, 1966 Perfekt 3 Speed AB Hub, 1994 Bridgestone MB-6, 2006 Airnimal Joey, 2009 Thorn Sherpa, 2013 Thorn Nomad MkII, 2015 VO Pass Hunter, 2017 Lynskey Backroad, 2017 Raleigh Gran Prix, 1980s Bianchi Mixte on a trainer. Others are now gone.

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There probably is a small place in the rear hub shell where you can add oil. I would add about half a dozen drops. Probably no need to add more, that would dissolve some of the hardened grease and with use is should work through. Use the thinest oil you have.

Front hub, just about any grease would work. I would use Phil bike grease because I have a couple tubes of that, but if I did not have any bike specific grease, car grease gun grease would work fine too. Some of the old Raleighs did not have locknuts on the front hubs. If that is what you have, that simplifies it but it also complicates it as every time you put the wheel into the fork you have to check bearing adjustment.

Same grease for bottom bracket and headset.

Headset probably has dozens of individual ball bearings that could easily get lost. Might be best to just add a drop or two of oil on the headset and avoid disassembly.

You probably can't open up the bottom bracket, as the cotter pins in the crankarms are likely hard to get out without damage, and you would probably have a lot of trouble getting replacement cotter pins. So, if you were to remove the chain so that the crank can spin freely, you could give it a spin and see if it has any gritty feel or cruching noise or not. If it spins freely, I would just add a couple drops of oil to each side where the spindle goes into the cups. If it has any gritty feel or scratchy noises, bottom bracket needs work. You might be best off finding a bike mechanic that has been around for a while to be able to disassemble, clean, grease, and assemble. Might need some good penetrating oil on some of the parts.

If you remove a wheel, you probably have already figured out that with rod brakes, that is a complicated process. If you have not worked on a rod brake bike before, it might be a good idea to take a photo before you disassemble anything, or maybe several photos from different angles.

I think that most bike shops will have never worked on a bike with rod brakes before and probably never worked on a cottered crankset either. Raleigh might have been the last holdout on that technology until the 70s. So, do not be surprised if some shops refuse and do not even have any suggestions on where to try to get help.

Good luck.

Yellow Jersey in Wisconsin might have some parts lying around if you need any parts, they used to sell a bike they imported from India that used rod brakes. I do not know if they still are in business or not, they moved about a decade ago and I have had no contact with them since. But their website still works.
Yellow Jersey, Ltd., Arlington WI USA Everything Cycling Since 1 April, 1971!

Some of the people on this other forum might have some input on this too.
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/
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