I9 Hydra Hubs

[Swoofty]

I9 got back to me this morning and they're sending out a whole new freewheel assembly! Top notch customer service again. Of course I already ordered new bearings over the weekend so hopefully now I'll have a backup.

[Daan]

On 13-9-2021 at 5:35 PM, Swoofty said:

I9 got back to me this morning and they're sending out a whole new freewheel assembly! Top notch customer service again. Of course I already ordered new bearings over the weekend so hopefully now I'll have a backup.

Great they stand behind their products! Longevity of them is a bit questionable though. At least with the Hydra I had and its replacement. How are the pawl pockets of your old freehub holding up Swoofty, much wiggle room and flared out?

[Swoofty]

The 2 hydras that I have look and feel solid still. The one that the bearings died on still worked and looked fine. The driverings look fine and the pawl steps look fine on both of them. Since I don't have a new one to side by side compare, they look the same between the two I have and with online pictures. I put new bearings in my old freewheel and it's back to top notch feeling. I found a more heavy duty Enduro MAX bearing to replace the one that cracked so we'll see how that goes. My hour long ride today was flawless. Back to normal.

[Swoofty]

I finally got around to putting my new titanium cog on my Hydra and I noticed there was some odd play in it again. I pulled the freewheel and inspected the bearings, but everything seemed fine. When I9 warrantied this hub a few months back, they sent me a full bearing set so I decided to change the hub bearings this time, even though they looked fine. Once I got one bearing out it all became clear. The axle was broken!! The axle has stops on it that sit against the bearings so even though it was broken, it wouldn't fall out. I ordered this hub as a bolt on originally and they sent me a 10mm through axle conversion in addition, possibly by accident. At any rate, I had a replacement axle on hand so in went new bearings and new axle and now, again, it feels all good.

[DJEHB]

4 hours ago, Swoofty said:

I finally got around to putting my new titanium cog on my Hydra and I noticed there was some odd play in it again. I pulled the freewheel and inspected the bearings, but everything seemed fine. When I9 warrantied this hub a few months back, they sent me a full bearing set so I decided to change the hub bearings this time, even though they looked fine. Once I got one bearing out it all became clear. The axle was broken!! The axle has stops on it that sit against the bearings so even though it was broken, it wouldn't fall out. I ordered this hub as a bolt on originally and they sent me a 10mm through axle conversion in addition, possibly by accident. At any rate, I had a replacement axle on hand so in went new bearings and new axle and now, again, it feels all good.

This worries me, mine are due next week

[ben_travis]

5 hours ago, DJEHB said:

This worries me, mine are due next week

So bad news will no doubt prevail over good news but I’ve genuinely had no problems in over 18 months of use. I’ve wouldn’t consider that I go easy on them either. 
 

I wouldn’t stress to much and just enjoy that buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Swoofty]

I have to say, the axle must have been broken for months and I rode it to the top of my level and never noticed anything that would have made me stop riding. It's rally (racing) tough for sure. I have no intention of going to another hub in the foreseeable future. Nothing's perfect and nothing last forever; especially trials related. Now I have a full understanding of the periodic maintenance I should do and their hubs are simple to work on. I'll be build another Hydra wheel in the coming weeks for my Silex and I'm not worried in the least. 

[MaderaMark]

if only I can afford this hub, this is way beyond my budget though. I am still on my modified novatec SS hubs (126 poe), waiting for signs of resignation for more than a year now.

[DJEHB]

For those who've opted to run oil rather than grease in these.. Did the hub come with oil in the box to switch out the grease? If not what oil did you go for?

The recommended 'dumonde tech freehub oil' is out of stock in the UK and wondering if there's any other alternatives. Cheers!

[Daan]

Using oil in mine. Hub did not come with any additional lubricant in the box. Got some Dumonde tech oil and grease here, seems to be in stock: https://marshguard.com/product-category/dumonde-tech/

Also using stronger springs in mine, as with the stock springs, the hub slipped occasionally under light load.

[DJEHB]

8 minutes ago, Daan said:

Using oil in mine. Hub did not come with any additional lubricant in the box. Got some Dumonde tech oil and grease here, seems to be in stock: https://marshguard.com/product-category/dumonde-tech/

Also using stronger springs in mine, as with the stock springs, the hub slipped occasionally under light load.

Thanks Dan! Do you have a link to the springs?

[Daan]

6 hours ago, DJEHB said:

Thanks Dan! Do you have a link to the springs?

Happy to help. I actually used a second set of the standard springs, which I put inside the other springs, doubling them up. This was recommended to me by Industry Nine themselves, after I'd broken the drive ring from too much skipping. They sent me a new hub, so I had a spare set of springs from my broken hub.

Anyway, I'd ride it first, and if you notice yours starting to skip, you can get a second set springs from your dealer. Or contact I9, they might send you a set for free.

[DJEHB]

These were certainly worth the wait. The noise is like ASMR, I woke up early just to turn the cranks. First ride today, hopefully no skips but just going for a potter at the skatepark to bed them in.

 

Edit - After a good 15 / 20 laps of the pump track I figured I'd be good to go at some trials stuff, big skip within first 5 minutes of light riding. Not sure whether to keep bedding in for longer or just double up the springs straight away. 

 

Edited November 23, 2021 by DJEHB

[aener]

7 hours ago, DJEHB said:

The noise is like ASMR, I woke up early just to turn the cranks.

ASMR that wakes you up early? That sounds terrible. 

[DJEHB]

I'm now 2 rides in on the hydra, probably around 10 skips so far. Have contacted i9 to try and get some additional spings.

I swapped the grease for oil between the 2 rides, however I must've put too much oil in as was super quiet. Have now stripped it pretty dry (still a small amount of oil) and hoping that may help put a stop to the skipping also.

[Daan]

4 hours ago, DJEHB said:

I'm now 2 rides in on the hydra, probably around 10 skips so far. Have contacted i9 to try and get some additional spings.

I swapped the grease for oil between the 2 rides, however I must've put too much oil in as was super quiet. Have now stripped it pretty dry (still a small amount of oil) and hoping that may help put a stop to the skipping also.

Damn, that's really disappointing. Ricky is the guy to talk to at I9. Let us know how it goes.

I've been wondering if it could have something to do with the rear end of the frame not being exactly in line. The Hex frame is so stiff, I figured it causes some static stress/flex in the axle when it's tightened down with a misaligned rear end, which might mess up the designed axle flex of the Hydra that's needed for proper full engagement? At least on my Hex, the rear end was quite out of wack. Sort of fixed that by using a dummy axle to face down the insides a tiny bit, at least the whole wheel doesn't want to come out of the dropouts now when I tighten them down.

[Nigelstreisand]

Hi Daan,

You are not alone on this issue, my i9s hydras are facing the Exact same issue as yours (creaking under light load). I9 have agreed to warranty the hub but I'm afraid it might just happen again with the new one.

Have you found a solution or have the double spring mod solved it completely?

Also, could you share I clip if possible how loud exactly will the hubs be if I'd go for that route as well. Cheers

[Nigelstreisand]

On 11/23/2021 at 3:38 PM, DJEHB said:

These were certainly worth the wait. The noise is like ASMR, I woke up early just to turn the cranks. First ride today, hopefully no skips but just going for a potter at the skatepark to bed them in.

 

Edit - After a good 15 / 20 laps of the pump track I figured I'd be good to go at some trials stuff, big skip within first 5 minutes of light riding. Not sure whether to keep bedding in for longer or just double up the springs straight away. 

 

How's your so far bud? I've tried cleaning out the grease too but it didn't help 

[Daan]

On 12/18/2021 at 6:22 PM, Nigelstreisand said:

Hi Daan,

You are not alone on this issue, my i9s hydras are facing the Exact same issue as yours (creaking under light load). I9 have agreed to warranty the hub but I'm afraid it might just happen again with the new one.

Have you found a solution or have the double spring mod solved it completely?

Also, could you share I clip if possible how loud exactly will the hubs be if I'd go for that route as well. Cheers

Hi Nigel,

Think you're right, will most likely happen with a new one as well. It did for me. Are you running bolt on or through axle? Industry Nine offered to make me a special freehub with a bushing that should help resolve the issue, but that was a no go in my case, as it would only work on through axle hubs, not enough space on bolt ons.

Double spring mod seems to have solved it. As I wrote earlier, I also tweaked the dropout alignment, but not sure if that's of influence.

Not at home right now, but can post a clip of the sound end of this week if you like. It is obnoxiously loud, and especially the drag is insane. But better than skipping right?

[DJEHB]

On 12/18/2021 at 5:26 PM, Nigelstreisand said:

How's your so far bud? I've tried cleaning out the grease too but it didn't help 

Here's my experience so far:

- Skipped with the original grease

- Skipped with the diamond freehub oil

- Removed almost all oil, zero skips since

 

Now you guys mention it I am facing a slight creak now and then, I figured it was likely my bb / pedals need some grease as I've changed the axles. I do have a second set of springs so I'll fit them soon and see if it goes.

[DJEHB]

i9 help please:

 

My rear Hydra is creaking under light load. Any ideas what to check?

 

Im running a tiny amount of freehub oil, double springs. 135 x 12mm bolt through. Everything looks ok in there to me. I’ve just swapped the axle from a 135 x 10mm bolt in but had the same creaking on both set ups.

 

@Nigelstreisand

@Daan

@Swoofty

 

any ideas chaps? Also if any of you have upgraded the bearings do you know what to go for?

Edited April 15, 2022 by DJEHB

[Swoofty]

Hmmm, you seem to have most of the bases covered. Bearings would seem to be next on the list. My freehub side bearing was toasted only after the axle was broken, but I didn't realize it was the axle until after a new bearing.  For the Hydra single speed hub, the bearings/kit you want is: TKMB03 TORCH - MTN - Rear Bearing Kit (1x61804, 1x61803, 1x61903, 1x31803)  Hope that helps. I would definitely contact I9 before ordering because they've usually sent me what I need under warranty even after the warranty period was up. 

Don't take this the wrong way, but check your through axle; for tightness and tolerance - ie sometimes the through axle is tight, but there's still some room left between the frame and hub endcaps.

Good Luck!

[Daan]

Creaking as in crunching, or more like squeaking? If it happens under light load only, when engaging, maybe give the drive ring and pawls and springs a super good clean (WD-40, but be careful not getting it on the bearings), and then put it all back together again. I would suggest using some very light grease in the pawl seats, and a dab of oil on the drive ring.

As for bearings being toast: yes, mine are getting quite bad too, the main bearings that is. They still spin freely, but make a lot of noise. Hub not that old, never seen dirt or water, but I did notice that when I crank down the bolt-on axle bolts hard (relatively, with a multi-tool) and give the wheel a good spin (without chain on obviously), the freehub doesn't always spin along and randomly wants to (dis)engage (aka starts to rattle). When I back off on the axle bolts torque, the wheel spins freely again without the freehub disengaging. So some interference going on with too much pressure on the bearings, not good. I found the hub end-cap in the freehub had a teflon seal ring around its edge which was crushed. Think the end cap can press too hard on the bearings, at least in my case. No washers are missing, so tolerances must be off here. You may want to check yours for this @DJEHB? I've again contacted I9 to see what they say.

[Daan]

So, did some experimenting on why that freehub is binding, turns out there's simply too much pressure exerted by the drive side end cap on the bearings, when the hub bolt is tightened down. That's also of course why the teflon seal of the end cap got crushed. Turns out the axle in this hub is 0.2 mm shorter than that of the hub with the damaged drive ring I still have in a box for spares. Side by side it's even visible to the naked eye. Drive side bearings are toast already as well, obviously because of the too high preload. Switched the axles around, and the bearings too, and it's slightly better, although still not perfect. So this'll keep destroying bearings in no time. Looking for one or a few super thin spacers to stick between axle and end-cap to remedy this, but of course these are impossible to find. In contact with I9 about this. Man this hub is such a disappointment!

[Swoofty]

I mentioned the endcaps earlier because I've had one of my I9 hubs do the axle musical chairs a few times. It's gone from 10mm to bolt-on and back to 10mm and I noticed that the endcaps are not the same for each application and are different left to right (at least i think). When my axle broke (10mm version), they sent me a new axle and new endcaps, but the new endcaps had the binding problem that you mentioned. I noticed it right away and switched the dodgy one for my old one that fit perfectly. As far as I can tell, the endcaps have no identifying marks on them to tell which axle/configuration they belong to. I have a feeling they might get mixed up at I9 occasionally as well. I'm still very pleased with my I9s despite the hiccups.