BBSHD teardown, maintenance and greasing

[Sebz]

This tutorial is to do maintenance on the BBSHD

You better don't take any chances and order a paper gasket they break very easily, Click here.

Tools needed:

• You will need a small blade or razor
• Snap ring plier
• Set of Allen keys (Hex)
• Philips head screwdriver (big one or a good impact gun it you know how to use one)
• Flat head screwdriver
• Silicone
• Dielectric grease (optional)
• Mobilgrease28 or any high quality grease that will not damage the nylon gear.
  

Start by removing the motor from the bike, You can follow this guides in reverse:
Installation article part 1
Installing your BBSHD Part 1 (Luna Cycle video)

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Here you can see the difference it will make to do the cleaning and greasing:

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1) Remove the controller,
You can follow this video to remove it:

Pay close attention to the white connector that goes in the motor, you can use a small xacto blade and cut the silicone out to use the method in the video. Once all the silicone is loose you will need s screwdriver to press on the tab to release the connector. Do not force it, be gentle.

Like this...I know it's aBBS02.. but it's the same!
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Now remove the silicone around the phase wires (blue, green, yellow). There will be a grommet under the silicone make sure you do not break them. You can slide them out to the connector.

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2) Now that the controller is out of the way,
You should have this with all your tools and maintenance parts!
NOTE: pay no attention to the connectors on the phase wires, I used my own BBSHD and they were replaced because I changed the controller and couldn't get the Anderson version, so I replaced them with 5.5mm Bullets RC connectors.
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Now remove the 6 hex bolts on the secondary cover and watch this video on how to remove it (best way not to rip it off)

Put the paper gasket on the side.
Inpect the secondary gear for:

• Dirt mixed in the grease
• Creamy grey consistency (water mixed to it)
• Metal shavings
• Worn out gear teeth
• Are the bearing on the cover noisy or grinding?

If you have creamy grey grease , it means that water got into the secondary side, either the gasket is not good and need to be replaced of maybe through the secondary cover bearings. So replace as needed.
If the gears are worn or any metal shavings in the grease or it sound like a pepper mil, you will need to replace the secondary gear and cover and also the pinion gear (not is it's just noisy).
All can be bought here:
Gasket
Secondary gear
Pinion gear

Inspect the Clutch, are the pawls ok. please see the next picture, left is new the right is about a few hundred miles of single trails abuse, the used one is still good.
Replace if any signs of wear
Clutch .

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If you are wondering what is the plastic disk on the axle and the green circuit board under the secondary gear it's the PAS (pedal assist system) .
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3) Motor core removal
Ok so you removed the controller, secondary cover and secondary gear, axle, thrust bearing and clutch.
If you have version A controller (andersons connectors) you can remove the connector plastic cover, this will be easier to work on the core side as you will be able to remove the grommet and completely detach the core from the motor casing. I do not recommend removing the spade connectors (Version B).
There is a guide on how to remove the Andersons plastic cover. Click link here (about in the middle of the document)
Flip the motor and remove the hex bolts, and pry the case open with a flat head, work your way around it and be careful not to rip or damage the paper gasket as they are not available all the time. If you bear it (like I did) you can fix it with silicone.
NOTE: be careful when working around the printed circuit board (PCB) on the motor core, this PCB is the hall sensor board and if you break it you will probably need a new motor core

Yeah yeah ....BBS02 pic I know ;)

Now that the core is separated, be careful not to rip the phase wires connectors if you did not remove them.

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4) Nylon gear removal
For this part I used an impact driver with a high quality large philips head. But you can use a big standard philips head screwdriver and put a lot of pressure on the head to break the loctite and not strip the head.

Once you removed the 3 bolts, you will have to remove the plate. It won't come out that easy but there is a trick.
Do not pry it out, watch the video before!

Pinion plate is off, now you need to remove the nylon gear, watch the 2 videos below:
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PART 1

PART 2

Congrats all done!!! Now the fun starts... .

[Sebz]

5) You guessed it.... CLEANING!

I won't go into details but you can use many products to remove the grease. But I only used "scott towels" and "Shop towels" as I didn't want to remove any grease from the bearings. It took my quite a while but I wanted the motor super clean for the video and photo shoots.

Do you need to go that far? Well it's your call, but personally I wanted to be sure that I was not going to mix greases and didn't want any dirt or metal shavings in the motor as I oversized some phase wire holes :)

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6) Inspection

A crucial step!

• Inspect all the gear teeth
• Inspect bearing, make sure they are all free and not grinding.
• Install the pinion in the bearing make sure it's still relatively snug and not too much lateral movements.
• Inspect the motor core, make sure there are no visible debris in it. If you feel some try compared air. Do not try to remove the rotor from the stator as you can damage the helicoidal gears.
• Inspect the motor core tip (goes in the bearing in the motor case) it should have a orange washer and should be nice and polished, a hair smaller than 8mm in diameter, if it's eaten up you will need to change the bearing and the motor core! (SEE NEXT PICTURE)

Side note: the rotor won't spin on the stator because it's not supported on the other side, so don't stress out over this!
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7) Greasing the Nylon gear.

If the pinion gear is out, reinstall it in the bearing, no need for grease on the axle. the Nylon gear has a one way bearing that acts like a clutch no it needs to bite on the shaft, adding grease there could results in slipping.

Once the pinion is in place install the bottom snap ring (I forgot to show it on the video)

The nylon gear is directional so make sure know know which side to put it back on (watch video) Do not install it at this step, you just need to remember it!

Now it's time to grease the neck out of the nylon gear, I even added grease in the gear hole before putting the nylon gear in.
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Install the nylon gear and put back the snap ring in the slot
Install the pinion plate and make sure you still have some blue loctite on the threads.
Put the screws back in and secure them in a star pattern like the in the video below, no need for an impact gun, you can use your screwdriver and apply a good amount or torque.

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Finished product:
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8) Installing the motor core back.

You want to grease the gear on the stator like this:
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Next,make sure the white plastic connector on the hall sensor board is fully seated and it can come out a bit when you separated the motor core from the case and gasket.

Make sure you got the gasket on the case, trick I used: I used my kid's glue stick and applied a little on 4-5 spots to make it stay in place.

Make sure you have the alignment pin in the hole (see video).

Slide the motor in the casing, as straight as you can, pull the phase wires as you slide it in.

Video of the procedure:

Now you can screw the bolts in and voilà, primary side done!

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[Sebz]

9) Greasing the thrust bearings & roller bearings.

10) Greasing the secondary gear and pinion

Pay attention not to put some grease in the bolt holes like I did, you can mask the holes with painter's tape.

Put back the gasket on, make sure the pin is inserted in the second hole clockwise and second hole counter clockwise from the pinion gear.

put back the secondary gear and cover, make you the gasket is not pinched. and screw the bolts back.

11) Sealing the connectors and wires

Make sure that it's sealed correctly, no water should be able to go on the motor side. if you can't reuse the grommets on the phase wires make sure you make a silicone seal around the hole and place carefully the phase wire in the middle and let it dry. Then reapply a second coat around it after to make it more solid.

Plug the controller back in and put some silicone over the hall sensor harness at the bottom, and you can also use a small amount on the PAs connector to prevent any loosening.


put back the controller on make sure the gasket is not pinched and tighten the 3 screws .

Voilà you are done, it will be almost like new!

[paxtana]

If you have a BBSHD that is still relatively new but you have noticed it has gotten a bit louder, you probably only need to grease the secondary (the steel gear).
This is substantially easier than a complete tear down, watch the video below to see how this is done

[paxtana]

Another good video on greasing BBSHD, this video focuses on the nylon primary gear.

[Kinni]

I hope the director isn't implying that we not replace the screws on the primary gear cover :P

[TomBrenner]

June 12/2019
Hi fellow riders.Did a over haul when I broke the pinion gear. I used the mobile 28 grease and can’t say enough about the difference. Quieter is the number one. I now get better speed performance and now much faster. My first time taking apart the motor,although I did have 2 other motors to learn off that I beat up. Learned a lot about the mid drive.This motor is programmed for off road use is fast.If I can give a shout-out for the the guys at Luna Cycle,they helped me out. Thanks guys

[Ptcdavis]

Had a losing row with a suv. A leaky tire went flat in the middle of the night resulting in the bike falling on its side. Woke up to a puddle underneath HD, and can't see where it could leak from as all appears seamless. Need help finding origination of leak and guidance on restoring lubricant.

[calfee20]

Had a losing row with a suv. A leaky tire went flat in the middle of the night resulting in the bike falling on its side. Woke up to a puddle underneath HD, and can't see where it could leak from as all appears seamless. Need help finding origination of leak and guidance on restoring lubricant.

Whenever you have a milky fluid like that it is from water in the oil or grease. If you pull a dipstick on an engine and it came out looking like that it would mean head gasket cracked block or anything that could mix the oil and water.

You are going to have to find out where that water is getting in and seal it up. You may have to clean up some rust when you get inside. http://electricbike-blog.com/2016/09...winter-riding/

[Scoonie]

Why insist on continuing Karl’s ill advised use of a clay based grease. Call Mobil support. They’ll help. And not suggest clay based. SCH100 is developed for electric motors and won’t react to any left over lithium.

[Sebz]

Humm I never mixed them , I cleaned the motor thoroughly before switching to Mobil28 so I got good results on both my motors... but I can see the issue is you leave all the stock moly and lithium grease there and just add Mobil28... Clay and Lithium are not compatible.. Maybe that SCH100 grease could be a better product if you dont fully clean your motor. Thanks for the recommendation I will look into this!

[paxtana]

Are you saying mobil28 is made from clay?

[AZguy]

It has clay as a component (thickener)

[Scoonie]

The recommended SCH100 seems a better choice, at least that's the way I read the specs. Certainly won't hurt using the clay based, but SCH100 MAY be a better choice. In the end, sebz nailed it by a complete cleaning.

[thomas]

does anyone have tested to implement en grease port to his kit ? it seems a paine to dismount the kit every 1000 miles.

[AZguy]

The grease wouldn't make it to the primary reduction with a grease fitting and although it would be able to add grease to the secondary, the secondary doesn't really lose grease much, the secondary cover comes ff easily without removing the unit from the bike and then you can clean it which is probably more important since over time it gets full of metal particles.

I did the full job about 2-2.5Kmi into the life of it and everything looked great. I'm right at about 5Kmi. I'm planning on pulling that cover, cleaning it out, inspecting and if it all looks great just relube, close it up and be happy. If it looks crappy I'll pull the unit and do the full teardown.

I expect the secondary will see the faster degradation than the primary for several reasons - the tooth loading is much higher, both gears are metal and spur cut vs. one plastic and one metal helical cut and it's more likely to pick up external dirt or moisture...

[thomas]

ok, thanks. I allready put some grease on the secondary (last two gears before going out of the motor box).
I think it might be possible to put one grease fitting per stage. if you look at the picture, a grease fitting could be implemented close to the nylon gear.
I am using my bike to commut and make about 2 Kmi every year so dismounting all the electronique each year looks not so good.
BUT I understand a cleaning session might be also needed so...

[paxtana]

The above documentation in no way states this needs to be done more than once. While it would be a good idea to open and check it if it is making noise or has some mechanical failure, odds are you will never need to open it again past that initial teardown and greasing. So adding a grease port is unnecessary.

[AZguy]

I agree with paxtana - grease is not consumed so there's no replenishment necessary and no place for extra grease to go and while I might pop the secondary cover off just to inspect and clean it up I have no intention on messing with the primary again unless something is wrong

[pure_mahem]

So is this something you should do from the start or after you have 1000 kilometers on the motor?