How To Install Hub Motor On Bike

Hub motors often come with a pile of odd looking washers. Information technology can be confusing to decide exactly what each is for and how to install them.

However, installing these washers properly is crucial, because failure to practise so can easily pb to damaging the bicycle or the motor. If the motor were to work its mode out while riding due to improper installation, y'all could find yourself in a very unsafe state of affairs. But don't worry, this can all be avoided with a niggling education on hub motor hardware.

Hub motor hardware

Allow's kickoff by taking a look at the diagram higher up with the unlike types of hardware that might come with your hub motor. Every hub motor should come with a minimum of axle washers, torque washers and axle nuts. Many come with spacer washers also.

Axle washers are simply flat washers with a hole either 12 or 14 mm in diameter allowing them to slip over the axle of the hub motor. These can be placed anywhere on the axle, but generally become inside of the dropout and are the beginning type of washer placed on the axle.

Spacer washers are thicker than standard flat beam washers, ordinarily 2-5mm thick. They too generally have a not-uniformly circular hole, as seen in the diagram to a higher place. These can go anywhere on the hub motor axle and are used when extra space needs to be filled. The near common uses are when the dropouts are too broad and thus the spacer washer goes inside of the dropouts, or when a torque arm needs to sit further away from the dropout, and thus the spacer washer sits outside of the dropouts.

Torque washers are used either in improver to, or in place of torque arms. They have a tooth that sits downwards in the dropout and helps apply the torque of the motor further from the heart of the axle. The further abroad the force from the torque is applied, the smaller the magnitude of the force. For small geared motors of 500 watts or less, torque washers are usually sufficient. For direct drive motors of 750 watts or greater, torque arms may be required depending on the bicycle'southward dropout cloth and design.

Axle nuts go on the outside of the dropouts and are the concluding affair to exist placed on the axle. They secure the axle in the dropouts by keeping a constant forcefulness against the bicycle. Most beam nuts should be torqued to at least 25 newton meters. If y'all don't have a torque wrench, a adept strong turn on a half-dozen inch wrench is plenty. Some hub motors can have their beam threads strip when the axle basics are torqued over 50 newton meters. This often occurs when someone uses a long wrench and actually tries to tighten down difficult. The nuts should be closed tightly, but you don't need to overly exert yourself.

Installation of hub motor washers

When you lot install your hub motor, starting time with an beam washer up against the shoulder of the hub motor'due south beam. This washer will go inside the dropouts and give a larger surface than the axle's shoulder to clench confronting the within of the dropouts. There should be an axle washer on both sides of the hub motor axle, inside the dropouts.

Next, if the hubmotor slips into the dropouts easily and there remains extra room for the axle washers to move up and downward the length of the axle, you may need to install a spacer. One or two millimeters of jerk room is more often than not ok and can be removed when you tighten the axle nuts, but whatever more than than ii millimeters can crusade chain or disc brake clearance problems and overly stress aluminum frames.

If y'all have extra room on your axle due to extra dropout width, either use a spacer washer or a torque washer on the inside of the dropout. This should take upward the extra infinite on the beam and may even require you to spread the dropouts slightly to slide the motor beam downward into the dropouts.

If y'all don't accept extra room on the axle, your torque washer tin proceed the outside of the dropouts. The important thing to note with a torque washer is that the molar must be down in the dropout for it to work finer. This is rarely an effect with 12 mm torque washers, but sometimes the tooth on fourteen mm torque washers sits up too high. If this is the case in your setup, simply accept a hammer and lightly tap the molar dorsum down. Sometimes information technology helps to use the bract of a cold chisel or an old flat caput screwdriver (that vanquish up flat head screw driver y'all go on effectually for prying things would be perfect) to transfer the strength of the hammer directly to the molar of the torque washer.

Lastly, add your beam nuts on the outside of the dropouts as the last slice of hardware on the axle. Tighten them down securely but don't over torque them. Equally mentioned higher up, a good strong plough on a 6 inch wrench is plenty for nigh hub motors.

Keep in mind that this isn't the only right way to society your hardware. The of import points here are that in that location is a washer upwards against the hub motor axle's shoulder inside the dropouts, that the torque washer'due south molar is in the dropout gap, and that the axle nut is closed from the outside. This could also be accomplished past placing the torque washer on the beam beginning with the tooth facing out, then the beam nut on the outside of the dropout. This style the torque washer acts like the first axle washer in the images above by distributing the strength of the hub motor beam's shoulder confronting the inside of the dropout while simultaneously working like a normal torque washer by applying the torque load further from the eye of the axle. In this scenario, there would simply be ii pieces of hardware used: the torque washer inside the dropouts and the axle nut outside the dropouts.

Torque arms

Torque arms protect your motor and frame similar to the style torque washers exercise, by resisting the rotational moment about the beam. However, torque artillery are much stronger than torque washers. I wrote a whole article about torque arms, and so I propose starting with that every bit a primer if you don't know if you lot need a torque arm or not. To summarize, if your hub motor is going in an aluminum fork, aluminum dropouts and/or your hub motor is over 1,000 watts, you likely demand a torque arm.

A torque arm is almost always installed outside of the dropouts and earlier the axle nut. It is usually connected to the either the dropouts with strong glue or bolts, or to the frame with hose clamps. Here you tin see a torque arm being included on the aforementioned instance bike.

In conclusion

As you lot can see, installing your hub motor washers isn't rocket science. The of import factors are:

• A washer is inside the dropouts confronting the shoulder of the hub motor beam
• A torque washer is installed with the tooth inside the dropout gap
• A torque arm prevents the axle from rotating in the dropout (optional depending on system)
• An axle nut secures the axle from the exterior

As long every bit those conditions are met then you should exist skillful to go. Just recollect to reinstall the washers in the correct order if you lot e'er remove the wheel to fix a apartment tire. This is peculiarly important if y'all accept your ebike to a local cycle shop for a repair because most cycle shops are not familiar with ebikes and might unintentionally reinstall the motor incorrectly. Always verify that your washers are correctly ordered and aligned.

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Source: https://www.ebikeschool.com/install-hub-motor-washers/

Posted by: pellegrinoturam1981.blogspot.com

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