Oil Bath on Shimano Nexus IGH 

Thank you for teaching me. I'm intimidated by this process, but I need to do it. Years ago I converted low-end SG-8R31 Nexus 8 speed to ATF oil bath. It leaked and got oil on the rim brake. It did however make shifting buttery smooth, fast and it made less drag. I would not attempt this service without a printed exploded diagram next to me. There are SO many small parts!

Ja serwisuję piastę inaczej. Pozbywam się starego smaru, potem robię kąpiel w oleju ATF, następnie nakładam trochę smaru EP-1 na łożyska i na wewnętrzną stronę obudowy piasty. W ujemnych temperaturach smar shimano nie sprawdza się dobrze, zmiana biegów działa wolniej. Do piast planetarnych najlepiej sprawdzają się smary EP, EPX w klasie NLGI 1 i 0. I service Piast differently. I get rid of the old grease, then I make a bath in ATF oil, then apply some EP-1 grease on the bearings and on the inside of the hub housing.At negative temperatures, the shimano lubricant does not work well, gear shifting works slower.EP, EPX lubricants in NLGI 1 and 0 class are best suited to planetary hubs.

I've dismantled, regreased the internals and then added oil (half a cup) by pouring in via the non drive side with the drive side installed to the hub. It's now noiser than before on freewheel but see how it works for now.

may be a bit too much of grease. lubrication is done by an oil film and not the grease itself?

I think you should try to to clean the grease out with a solvent, even dip the whole mechanism in it. The thick sticky grease might be why there is excessive friction inside the hub.

How much difference did this make to the rolling resistance? I have an old bike with a Shimano Nexus 3 Speed. It shifts ok but if I have the bike up on a lift and give the back wheel a spin it barely makes one or two rotations.

I respect your dedication to maintaining the gearhub, but isn't the frequency you clean and re-grease far too often? Not that it's bad, just that it may be time consuming on your part. Thanks for the video though.

On the old Shimano 333 hubs, back in the 1980's we would just take off the bellcrank, pull out the shift rod, and just shoot some oil down the axle. It seemed to do the trick as I never saw one fail. Can you not just do the same thing to these new hubs as well?

I am thinking of getting a bike with nexus 8 for commuting, do you think it is a good idea?

From my experience, using lots of grease like you have is the worst thing you can do to these hubs as it makes them noisey and clicky as it binds everything up. For me, I just use the shimano oil and bath it in a similar way to you (but i don't bother disassembling the drive side).

I wander if you can help me with nexus 7 hub