Think I need a Panasonic bearing repair, BUT

prState

Pedelecer
Jun 14, 2007
244
0
Las Vegas, Nevada
Like here:

motorfreewheelrepair

My motor is noisy. Since the noise started with the plastic case off and getting wet some, I let it dry out (I think a month of riding and it's still noisy should be enough, and it hasn't seen rain since)

I'm not sure what it is, but that was the only reference I saw to noise.

NEXT Question: Where do I get replacement bearings? Or maybe I'm not understanding something.

Thanks
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,763
30,349
This is nothing to do with the motor freewheel that you've linked to, more likely one of the motor shaft bearings.

These are industry standard sealed bearing units with identification numbers on them and obtainable from motor trade bearing suppliers worldwide. Try a directory for those in your area, or if not ask any car repairer for the location of one.
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prState

Pedelecer
Jun 14, 2007
244
0
Las Vegas, Nevada
Thanks Flecc!

Do you know what the long term prognosis is for this sort of thing if not fixed? How long do you think I have until failure of some sort?

I'm bit intimidated on taking the motor apart -- also think I need a pull tool for the crank which I don't have at the moment. I think I have everything else I need, though should I purchase any grease maybe for reassembly?
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,763
30,349
The only source of excess mechanical noise I've heard of to date to date has been from the outer motor bearing in each case, but that's not to say that any of the other bearings could not be responsible. Equally the gears could be the trouble, though very unlikely, so the motor bearing is the favourite.

I doubt if it will cause any problems for a long time, assuming that is the trouble, but it's difficult to have any certainty since there has been only three instances of this bearing failure notified to me out of some 20,000 units exported from Japan, each of them replaced. It's definitely worth carrying on with it as it is to see how it lasts though, as the replacement is a complex job and the failing bearing won't cause any other trouble. The main crankcase halves will have to be split since it's nearly impossible to relocate the Hall sensor board on the motor without disconnecting the cable to it, and keeping the sensor board in place during reassembly is very fiddly.

There's no need for any additional grease, the liberal amount on the inner motor shaft and surrounds is ample, and the bearing you replace doesn't need grease as it's a sealed unit.

As for special tools, the crank puller you'll need as you've said, and it's best to use a bearing puller to get the bearing off, the two screwdriver method I describe needing care to not damage anything. Driving the bearing back on should only be done by pressure or evenly distributed tapping on the centre ring of the bearing, never the outer ring.

The only other special tool needed is patience for the fiddly stages. Please let me know how things go whether you carry on with it or replace.
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prState

Pedelecer
Jun 14, 2007
244
0
Las Vegas, Nevada
The only other special tool needed is patience for the fiddly stages. Please let me know how things go whether you carry on with it or replace.
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I may wait then, until I start feeling overconfident at least! :) I will let you know what happens.

If I have some sort of serious problem I may go ahead with my idea to convert the bike to a hub motor -- replace whatever metal needs doing after removing the motor. I'm pretty sure I can handle that or get a metal shop fabrication. I mean, I have a ready made battery space where the motor would be! (and since Giant did me the disservice to discontinue a perfectly fine product!! -- I wonder if they would appreciate some hate mail, dang em?)
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,763
30,349
If I have some sort of serious problem I may go ahead with my idea to convert the bike to a hub motor -- replace whatever metal needs doing after removing the motor. I'm pretty sure I can handle that or get a metal shop fabrication. I mean, I have a ready made battery space where the motor would be! (and since Giant did me the disservice to discontinue a perfectly fine product!! -- I wonder if they would appreciate some hate mail, dang em?)
A few have toyed with the idea of a hub motor on these, but of course there is no bottom bracket at all on the frame, the two frame down tubes terminate in a channel to mount the motor, Therefore all that would need to be cut off, the down tubes extended with the same size alloy tubes, terminating in a new bottom bracket.

Since the motor alloy casing isn't heavy, an easier way is to open up the motor unit, strip out all the content, motor, heavy gears etc, leaving just the pedal shaft parts. Then it could be used with the 24 volt battery or adapted to a similar size one and something like the Tongxin Nano front hub motor which now comes in a narrow version suitable for the forks.

Giant did continue with the Twist/Lite series for a while longer in their home market of Taiwan, there called the Lafree E612, but I think that was just using up their old stock of the earlier type motor units. This now appears on their 2007 Archive pages.

Giant always reckoned they couldn't make a profit on the series, hence constantly moving the models up market, but there's plenty of other make replacements now, like the Kalkhoff bikes. These other makes have a much wider range of model choices and with the current crash in the pound value they are reasonably priced for the US market if bought from Britain.
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