Star Hub Conversion

[Bill Pedalino]

Hi...

I have several old star hubs with the usual flaking of the bearing surfaces. I would like have them converted to Timken Bearings and have a couple of questions:

1. Has any one out there had this conversion and if so, how did it work out?

2. Are all the original exterior parts still used (axle, spacers, collars, etc.) and can you tell by looking at the installed wheel assembly that the internal conversion was performed?

3. Do you still need to shim the hub ?

4. Does the conversion use standard Timken conical bearings and races that you can purchase from any local Timken supplier or bearing house ?

5. Does anyone have the names of the guys who do this? - I picked up busines scards at Oley and Harmony and lost them both !

6. What was the price?

Thanks,
Bill Pedalino
WPed@AOL.com

[Glenn]

star hubs

have not done mine yet but was told Star Hub Pros do a great job and from the outside you would not know it was done. The last time I looked they had the prices on line also

moose aka glenn

http://www.starhubpros.com/

[Bill Pedalino]

Thank You Glen...

[Bill Pedalino]

Star Hub Conversion

Well, after a lot of searching, it seems like nobody is still doing the star hub/timken converstion any more. Probably too labor-intensive to do it correctly.

If anyone knows of somebody still doing this, please let me know.

Bill Pedalino

[KDR]

Bill,

If you have a machinist, here's our repair kit. These are the same parts we've been using in our replacement hubs for years. Contact me off the forum if you want more info.

Kurt

[T. Cotten]

That makes a helluvalot more sense to me.

Although it would seem that the small end alone would 'fix' nearly all of them.
(If the fat end is bad, 1970's choppershop chrome-exchange is usually to blame, so the core is beyond "marginal" anyway. Unless it's a stepped hub of course.)

...Cotten

[MMasa]

Side Load?

I like the idea of the long needle bearings, but how is the side thrust taken care of? With the stock wheel components? Does the hub need to be hard bored to fit the bearing?
Thanks
Mark Masa

[KDR]

MMasa,

Yes, the original components make up the rest of the install.
And yes, the hub must be machined to accept the bearings. The bearing fit should be an interference fit only, not a tight press fit because it will destort the bearing race and cause problems later.

Kurt

[cdndewey]

I bought a book about 25 years ago titled "Custom Chopper Cookbook" by a fellow whose name is Mike Geokan. In it he has some plans for repairing those nasty pitted star hubs in which he uses two sealed bearings per side straight from your local bearing supplier and some machine work. I did it to my hubs 20 years ago and they are just great.

As for side thrust there is very little on a motorcycle...(remember you are leaning when cornering, applied mechanics involved here)... unless of course you have a sidecar or a trike. My memory isn't all that great being a little longer in the tooth but I think the bearings I used were sealed ball bearings.

If you're interested in it give me a shout and I will e-mail you the info.

[T. Cotten]

Am I the only one who has simply installed a race in the small end?

It was a couple of decades ago, but all of the Timkens and ballbearings available at the time required a lot of meat to be cut away, thinning the hubshell to the max. And a later axle would be required.
Internal shimming was the same pain in the patootie as modern units, as the spacer would always fall when you tried to insert the axle. And you had to cut a new shim spacer nearly every time you repacked them.

Kurt's choice of bearings appear to have a smaller outside diameter(?), saving the strength of the hub itself.

....Cotten

[KDR]

You're right Cotten, this is the smallest bearing the engineer's were comfortable with. There's still some machining to the hub, but enough that the hub is strong enough for normal use.

I ask that anyone with a side-hack to make sure the hub is magnafluxed before repair is done. Actually that's a good idea for all hubs even when they're being rebuilt.

Kurt

[Bill Pedalino]

Star Hub Conversion

Kurt,

Thanks for offering a sane fix for this problem. I have Emailed you a number of questions and hope that this will do the trick.

As far as I can see, the hardest part is machining the Hub's bearing surface, as it's most likely very hard - probably a Rockwell of 60 or so. I have a ceramic cutter that should do the trick though.

Good Job !!

[Bill Pedalino]

Kurt,

I have copied my email to you below so that other AMCA members who mat be interesterd in this service might be aware of my questions.


Kurt,

Thank you for your responses to my questions concerning the Harley FLH star hub conversion. I am interested in the system that you offer and I have a couple of questions. Please be patient as, beside from being a Harley mechanic for almost 40 years, I also became an engineer along the way and tend to be a little anal.....

I noticed that the needle bearings that you use are not full-compliment (individual needle bearings are spaced apart). This yields a descreased contact area as compare to say a full compliment Torrington or BCA. Does this adversely affect bearing life? How long (under 'normal' operating conditions) do these bearings last? Are these bearings standard replacement units that I can purchase from any bearing house?

You stated that the bearings are to be an interferance fit. That makes sense as you don't want to compress the inner diameter of the installed bearing surface, but certainly do want a tight enough fit to prevent spinning the bearing in the hub. However, not all people read the machinist handbook and different people interpret 'interferance' diffrerently. I would assume that the hub should be machined to exactly the same size as the bearing O.D. ? Maybe a couple ot tenths tight ?? I can probably achieve that tolerance using a ceramic cutter (I'll be that the bearing surface is about a 60 Rockwell !!).

Does the set-up provide the inner sleeve? Can I use my inner sleeve if its in good shape?

I would like to purchase two setups to start with. Please let me know cost and availability.

Good job in providing a fix for this problem!

Bill Pedalino

[bmh]

I was wondering if you could also post your answers to the above as I too would be interested in this but have some of the same questions on the INA bearings. I know your using them so that line boring is not as critical between the ends , but I have seen these bearings come undone and cause major damage in gearcases and other aps and shudder to think about riding a machine when that happens to a wheel bearing
Brian

[D.Mac]

Star hub rebuilds

OK Guys,
any verdict here? It seemed like this thread was heading towards an answer as to the best way to deal with these hubs, and then it petered-out. I had heard you could send your hubs to be done, now it sounds like you just get parts and have to try to find your own machinist that understands what needs to be done. Also it sounds as if there are some doubts as to whether this is the best way to go. I know there are some guys out there putting serious miles on thier old iron, what are you guys doing for hubs? I'd sure like to fix mine to where I don't have to worry about them for a lot of miles.
Doug.