Squeaky noise when running

[cwah]

Hello,

When my motor is running there are some squeaky noise, like the one I use to hear on very old freewheel:

I am not sure if the noise is coming from the motor or the freewheel... and the freewheel is indeed very old.

Some notes:
- When it rains a lot, the noise tend to be much less prominent
- The noise is much stronger when I accelerate (so on load)
- The noise is less strong when I freewheel


I tried to put lots of grease on the freewheel but I still have the noise. I don't know what to do and I'm not sure if the noise is coming from:
- The freewheel
- The motor bearing (it's the leafbike direct drive motor)

Any idea what's best to sort that out?

Thank you

 

[trex]

grease the motor bearings.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

It must be something inside the motor. Two possibilites I can think of: Dry bearing, which needs a bit of grease, or a bearing is loose in the sidepate, which you can fix by glueing it in with Loctite.

 

[cwah]

Could that be the freewheel bearings? How can I find out the motor bearings?

 

[trex]

you can take the chain off and test the bike for noise.

 

[cwah]

you mean take the freewheel off? it's a lot of work to remove motor and test. Removing freewheel has always been one of my hardest task because they are always stuck

 

[trex]

No. Just the chain, leave the freewheel where it is. Use rubber rings to strap the chain to the frame while you test the motor. Without the chain, the freewheel will rotate with the motor, thus cannot make any noise by itself.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Could that be the freewheel bearings? How can I find out the motor bearings?

When you pedal, the freewheel bearings don't turn. They only turn when it's freewheeling, so, if the noise is the same whether you pedal or not, it's nothing to do with the freewheel.

 

[cwah]

Thanks dave.

I was hoping that durect drive would be maintenance free.... which is not.

I suppose i have to open the motor in order to do that?

 

[cwah]

I added some grease on the bearing and I'm going to use a new freewheel... Hopefully the noise should stop without having to open the motor or change the bearings!