Hubs seizing up.. fix it options?

ESK8 Mechanics
1

Hi,

so one of my hubs has started to seize up occasionally after riding and letting the board sit.

To be upfront its my fault in the first place but thats beside the point. So lets talk about what i got…i got a Meepo in oct. and ride the board hard and knowing i was going to build a diy in the near future AND im the kinda person who loves to really play with his toys till they die instead of coddle them in safety trying to make them last many years…

at any rate… ive ridden in the rain a few times (drizzle and wet conditions) but never major down pour… and where I think it went wrong is the first snow in NYC… it was wet snow on the streets, same as light rain and the streets werent salted yet…

at any rate I got home, wiped the board down and a few days later after all had melted and the streets were semi dry again i was ready to ride again… one wheel was frozen and took a fair amount of hand torque to free…

this has happened a couple more times lately, even after dry conditions… today as well which is why im posting.

I havent started removing the hub from the trucks to see what is what… but hoping to hear recommendations on servicing this hub… i assume there could be some rust build up or something…have sprayed a lil wd-40 here and there to help lube it up… but just reaching out to see what ideas you all have for me to bring it back to a nice smooth running condition.

thanks!

2

I’d be just pulling it apart and seeing if there’s anything visible inside. It might even be destroyed bearings. On a Meepo who knows how good the bearings are.

1 Like
3

Most likely the bearings. If you’re lucky, it’s just the outer one. Easily detectable if you turn the wheel and the inner part of the bushing rotates along with the wheel instead of it staying put.

1 Like
4

Definatly check bearings. IT could even been something like salt getting in the motor. The magnets float usually around .5mm off of the stator. If anything gets between this, it will clog the motor up.

Open it up and check bearings and make sure theres no foreign objects between the stator and magnets.

If you that looks good, if you have a multimeter with resistance, check all 3 phase wires resistance to see if you have a shorted motor.

5

WD40 is a bad idea to spray on bearings. It washes away the lube that keeps the bearings smooth. I destroyed my meepo 1.0 bearings riding on salty snowy roads and I will be taking them apart trying to fix them as a learning experience. They use some serious locktight to keep the hub together though.