sturmeyaw

Hi lads, just registered after a month of lurking around. I've read a bunch on S-A and more specifically AW hubs, watched practically every YouTube video on the topic, but mine just isn't playing nice.

I bought the bike for 30 euro, completely rusted, but I always wanted to ride a geared hub. Doused most of the parts in rust remover and she's looking pretty nice now (for 40+ years anyway), but ironically the AW hub, the object of desire, is keeping me from riding it. Whenever I apply any moderate amount of torque -- which in my "'round the block" test rides has mostly been starting from a standstill (going uphill is out of the question) -- in any gear, the hub slips. I've taken the whole thing apart, cleaned, lubricated, she clicks pretty nice to my ears when freewheeling, but I can't for the life of me figure out why she slips.

I've seen the Sheldon Brown site and RJ the bike guy's YouTube videos (among others...), I've tried adjusting the cable tension up and down, even riding with the shifter detached and cable loose so 3rd gear is locked in place, I've added oil and grease and sweat and tears, but nothing seems to work. I've taken it apart twice more now to check the clutch and pawl condition. The gears seem intact, the pawls don't seem sticky to me. I'm adding a link to photos of the pawls as they are installed in the assembly (Somebody please tell me I've gotten it wrong and that I'm just dim and that that's that and the problem is solved! I'm desperate here!) and the clutch, which doesn't look worn to me. In fact, no part of the hub seems to me like it has as much as a dent on it. The pawls engage nicely, I think, but I can't try loading them with my bare hands since the torque applied by a man taking off on a bike ought to be massive compared to how much I can twist the hub in my hands!

Here are the photos of the left and right pawls and the clutch that I promised: start with "imgur dot com" and append "/a/F5InmLP" (I can't post links as a new user so this is the best I can come up with)(Also ignore the newspaper's puzzle section below the components, it's a guilty pleasure on summer vacation days! I store the paper as it comes in handy when dealing with dirt and such.)

Parts are scarce where I live since these hubs were rare to begin with so my replacement options are limited. If something need be replaced I'd sooner sell it off to the highest bidder, maybe replace the wheel with a coaster brake (I've scrolled through eBay and, taxes and shipping from abroad included, the pawls alone cost as much as a coaster brake wheel would).

Any help is dearly appreciated. And also, happy new year!

Andrew R Stewart 

First think I think of is cog/chain wear. Next was the pinion pin ends, but this would not affect all the gears. Next was the ball ring's threads slipping, again won't happen in all gears.

Could the chainring be slipping on its fit with the RH crank arm? Can you place the LH end of the axle in a bench vice, the wheel horizontal, and load the cog with a track chain width (1/8") chain on it. Then load the cog and see up close what might be slipping. Andy

tcs

Slipping in all gears would mean both sets of driver pawls have an independent fault. Unlikely then you have an internal problem.

Check the cog/driver interface. Before 1951 this was a threaded connection (standard track cog), afterwards it was the classic three tab interface later adopted by Fichtel&Sachs and Shimano. Rare but possible the tabs are worn or the cog is cracked.

Dan Burkhart 

Pretty much what I was going to suggest. I have seen the lobes on the cog worn to the point that they slip on the driver with any amount of applied force.

JohnDThompson 

I don't see anything egregiously wrong in the pictures. Probably not an internal problem, as others have noted. Pic assist:

sturmeyaw

Thanks for all the replies, and the help with grabbing the pictures. Really warm welcome The reason I took this long to reply was it took me a day to reattach the ring that secures the cog to the hub -- the whole thing is built like a tank, so the securing ring isn't exactly delicate, haha!

It was Andrew's reply that made the solution flash before my eyes, after I had given it some thought -- I had been beating my head for a week with the problem, looking at the pawls, clutch, the hub shell itself. I did look at the cog and the chainring, but the teeth look fine, and the cog's mount looks completely intact (it's a 1986 so it's the three tab config -- reading the reply by tcs made me think it would be possible to exchange it for something larger!).
This one got me thinking. I know I looked at the chainring when I took apart and cleaned the bottom bracket -- it's a cottered design, and made of massively heavy parts -- but the one thing I didn't pay attention to in this whole setup: The chain itself! Obviously, at this point, connecting the dots, the loose chain was what had been causing skips all along. Nothing to do with the hub.
Sure enough, removed two links, put her back, and took her outside. She even beat the hill leading up to the house now! Turns out, yet again, that the painfully obvious is sometimes only revealed after asking.

Massive thanks to all of you for your input.