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Bitex MTB270 and XD driver separating

1113 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by Cary, Oct 29, 2021

David Mackintosh

Discussion Starter · Oct 26, 2021

I've been using an MTB270 rear hub with XD driver from BHS since 2015, which has been fine, but the last time I removed the rear wheel (I don't need to often), the driver fell out of the hub body as soon as I pulled the wheel out of the dropouts, which wouldn't have been too bad, except that the pawls also flew out and scattered. I was able to find them, clean everything, and reassemble with the wire spring clip, but there's still nothing holding the driver in place. I recall that it use to take some force to separate that the driver from the hub. Is the large seal (shown in place on the driver) that goes between the two worn out, or is there another part missing?

I also tried reassembling with a sticky grease and found that the pawls don't all engage easily, will need to clean and use something else.

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huckleberry hound

· #2 · Oct 27, 2021 (Edited)

Your axle is broken that is why the freehub body falls off. The screw on end caps don't have any loctite on them and they loosen up which then allows some play in the freehub body. Which in turn causes a grove in the axle and then it snaps. You can get a new axle but make sure that you put loctite on the end caps. Bikehubstore has axles listed on their website both aluminum and steel. It looks like the steel one are out of stock.The steel ones are a little more durable.

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David Mackintosh

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 28, 2021

huckleberry hound said:
Your axle is broken that is why the freehub body falls off. The screw on end caps don't have any loctite on them and they loosen up which then allows some play in the freehub body. Which in turn causes a grove in the axle and then it snaps. You can get a new axle but make sure that you put loctite on the end caps. Bikehubstore has axles listed on their website both aluminum and steel. It looks like the steel one are out of stock.The steel ones are a little more durable.

Bitex MTR / FatBike Conversion Axles

BikeHubStore.com Selling High Quality, Lightweight Bike Hubs and Rims

www.bikehubstore.com

Sh!t, it looks like you're right, I'm kicking myself for not figuring that out! I guess that riding with just my aluminum thru-axle wouldn't be a good idea. I may have been doing that for some time, but the TA isn't bent or anything. Hopefully it won't be too difficult to extract the two axle halves. The hub has about 2,500 miles on it, although close to a third of my miles are riding roads to the trails, and I don't ride big hits. I weigh about 185-190, fairly strong rider. I guess I'll be on my road bike for a few more days.

The other thing I haven't been stoked about with this rear hub is spoke breakage. I've built a lot of wheels (using a tensiometer, stress-relieving techniques, etc.), and this rear hub is the only one where I've broken spokes (all at the elbows). From inspection, my suspicion is that the aluminum is too hard and the spoke elbows don't deform the flanges enough to support them well. I've now replaced all spokes with Sapim Strong (2.2/2.0), while I originally used Sapim Race (2.0/1.8/2.0) in these (and all other recent wheels). I don't like having to use a less elastic spoke, but fingers crossed that will do the trick.

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huckleberry hound

· #4 · Oct 28, 2021

I weigh 260 with pack and gear. I too am using the Sapin Race spokes but I haven't had any issues with mine breaking spokes.

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Cary

· #5 · Oct 29, 2021

David Mackintosh said:
Sh!t, it looks like you're right, I'm kicking myself for not figuring that out! I guess that riding with just my aluminum thru-axle wouldn't be a good idea. I may have been doing that for some time, but the TA isn't bent or anything. Hopefully it won't be too difficult to extract the two axle halves. The hub has about 2,500 miles on it, although close to a third of my miles are riding roads to the trails, and I don't ride big hits. I weigh about 185-190, fairly strong rider. I guess I'll be on my road bike for a few more days.

The other thing I haven't been stoked about with this rear hub is spoke breakage. I've built a lot of wheels (using a tensiometer, stress-relieving techniques, etc.), and this rear hub is the only one where I've broken spokes (all at the elbows). From inspection, my suspicion is that the aluminum is too hard and the spoke elbows don't deform the flanges enough to support them well. I've now replaced all spokes with Sapim Strong (2.2/2.0), while I originally used Sapim Race (2.0/1.8/2.0) in these (and all other recent wheels). I don't like having to use a less elastic spoke, but fingers crossed that will do the trick.

You already rebuilt the wheel, but an alternative spoke would be the Pillar TB triple butted. 2.2 at the elbow, but available with 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, and 1.8 in the center section.

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