Popular Post fbhb Posted November 18, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted November 18, 2020 (edited) This is my comprehensive account of All that is likely to be involved in fixing each of the known and some Newly discovered issues with the King Song S18. I would like to preface this write up by saying that I was fully aware of the can of worms the early batch S18 can pose and during my pre-order period I had plenty of time to opt out, especially given the disdain from some quarters that has been aimed at the S18. My opinion is that this disdain should really be aimed purely at King Song themselves and Not at the wheel! Added to that, it has been very difficult to get any specific clarification from @Jack King Song to the exact nature of the ongoing improvements and what changes the latest batch will actually have once finally ready for the EUC market! I knowingly went ahead and purchased the wheel with a view to tackling this as a project to get the most out of the S18’s huge potential. I truly believe that King Song has a fantastic design here from an engineering point of view but as we all now know, they have massively let themselves down and dropped the ball in the way that the production line staff has assembled early batches of the S18. So little attention to detail and a complete misunderstanding of some basic and standard engineering practices has been their major downfall and it really has taken the shine of what could so easily have been a Stellar wheel release! Now All that being said, I have to warn fellow forum members that this will be quite a lengthy read as I wanted to cover this in as much detail as possible in order to help anyone considering venturing down the S18 “Rabbit Hole” The King Song S18 disassembly video is the best resource to acquaint yourself with what is involved in getting the wheel stripped right down to the problem areas and unfortunately, they are numerous! Some of the issues have already become well known, such as: 1. The use of spring washers as bearing spacers 2. Bearings pressed into the pivot arms out of square 3. Bearings pressed into the pivot arms without removing the paint from the bearing pockets 4. Sliders misaligned and binding on the Front batteries 5. Fender misaligned and rubbing on the tire 6. Air shock impacts on the middle rear Fender screw lug 7. The body work rubs and damages the motor cable 8. The rubber mudguard breaks off too easily However during the time I spent on my project I also found a few more that needed to be addressed, as it appears every S18 is unique: 1a. The middle pivot point on each side of the wheel should have a total of 4 10x19x5mm Pivot bearings fitted, but my right hand Pivot point only had 3 2a. The left hand slider had the bolt hole drilled 11mm instead of 10mm (so had a total of 1mm of play) 3a. Axle clamps are drilled with too close a tolerance for the 8mm bolts, which had the threads binding in All 8 holes Some mods I also did while the wheel was fully stripped down and offering the ideal opportunity to do so: 1b. One thing that was very important to me was the chance to swap out the standard Chao Yang H-5102 tire to something wider and with much more grip and I had already researched in advance some options that might fit the bill. The most obvious tire option for a wheel with suspension would be a dedicated off road tire! One option that is guaranteed to fit is the 2.50-14 CST C803 knobby tire, so I ordered one. Following that there is an option I found that is not quite a knobby, but has some real chunky chevron blocks and it is the 2.75-14 Chao Yang H-626, so I ordered that too. After that, I thought the next best thing would be something that offers a dual purpose tread and so I looked at the 2.75-14 Kenda K340A, as fitted to the Sherman as the street tire and ordered one. Now there is one other option that is similar in tread pattern to the Kenda, but with more aggressive blocks along the sides and with a deeper tread (actually measures 7mm deep) from CST. It is the 2.75-14 CST C6004 and I instantly knew that I had to order one of these bad boys! Out of the 4 options I have at hand, this is the tire I decided to fit to the motor in the hope that there would be enough clearance inside the fender. My decision to fit the CST C6004 was also confirmed after seeing that none other than Fantomas (AKA the most talented EUC rider on the Globe) has been using one on his MSP! In the woods: Just Chill by Fantomas In the rain: H2oEUC100v by Fantomas At the skate park: Just Video by Fantomas CST C803 2.50-14" KENDA K340A 2.75-14" CHAO YANG H-626 2.75-14" CST C6004 2.75-14" 2b. The wobbly trolley handle fixing point just annoys me no end, so I reduced the play between the handle and the tubes with an ‘O’ ring - simple but effective! You will need to find an ‘O’ ring with a small enough profile to squeeze into the gap around the trolley tubes and the handle. I found 4 in a kit of various sizes that I had, put 2 on each tube but could only force one into the gap. I left the spares in situ in case they are ever needed in the future. 3b. The rubber mudguard is notorious for snapping around the offset holes that are punched into the fixing straps. The fact that the hole is offset (read: made wrong!) instantly makes the fixture a weak point and prone to failure. On final assembly, I glued 2 M5 x12.5 x 1.2 stainless washers to the fixing straps using Loctite 401 to offer a little more strength around the hole. 4b. My pedals were loose on the pedal pins with a gap allowing them to slide back and forth slightly. It just so happens that the “Big Flat washers” on the middle pivot point that need to be removed, are a perfect shim washer to take up the slack on the pedals. Just make sure to take the sharp edges off from when the washers were stamped out at the factory. 5b. Last but most definitely not least, I have replaced every steel (Black) screw and bolt with the stainless steel equivalent. Please Note: When clamping/torqueing up the axle and the pedal hangers bolts, it is advisable to use some anti seize grease on All of the threads to prevent stripping or binding in the Aluminium. Suspension Overhaul After removing the two cross bolts for the Air Shock, the strip down of the linkage arms can begin. This requires All the barrel nuts and bolts to be removed, which in most cases will have varying amounts of Loctite on the threads. Heat will allow the bond to be broken and avoid the risk of stripping out the hex heads. I was able to set up my soldering iron to rest on each bolt in turn with the help of a stand and clamp. This method does take a good amount of time for the heat to penetrate to where the Loctite has a hold, but does not risk burning the Gold paint off! Once they are All removed, you will get to see the extent of the issues you will have to deal with. The “Black Spring washers” have a sharp edge and being made of hardened steel can cause damage to the bearing race or the rubber seals. Any broken or damaged bearings will need to be replaced with the equivalent 10x19x5mm Pivot bearings. The linkage arms should be inspected to see if any of the bearings have been installed misaligned and that All the bearings turn Freely. Paint inside the bearing pockets may have closed the bearings up, making them hard to turn or too tight for the barrel nuts to fit through and turn Freely! If this is the case, then the bearings will need to be removed and replaced. Generally, due to the thin walled races of these bearings, extracting them is very likely to damage them if they are not already. As mentioned before, I actually found 1 bearing was missing altogether so had to replace that one anyway. Fortunately for me, the 13 bearings that I did have were OK, apart from one slight scuff/scrape on a seal face from one of the “Black Spring washers” (and remember this is from a wheel never been ridden, went straight to the work bench). Luckily, the scrape of missing rubber was right in the middle of the seal and well away from the lips where the sealing actually takes place. I opted to leave that bearing well alone, but did in fact order 3 bearings. Why 3 I hear you ask, well I have to give credit to Forum member @Rehab1 for the idea to put an additional bearing in the Top pivot points, where the linkage joins to the Motherboard housing. This pivot point will be where you would have found multiple “Black Spring washers” and only 1 bearing on each side. Now there is not quite enough depth for a 5mm wide bearing, but there is enough depth for the bearing to sit in there partially rather than making up the space with spacers alone. (I measured around 5mm or 5x my 1mm thick shim washers) Any bearings with the dimensions of 10x19x5mm 6008RS will fit the linkages, but bearings with the designation like that of the Enduro 6800 LLU MAX, 6800VR or 6800VRS as the King Song original fitment for instance, are constructed without a cage to hold the balls in place. This allows for a greater number of balls to be fitted to the race, thus increasing the load bearing capacity as standard bearings will have a cage and therefore far fewer balls. Although more expensive, these bearings are actually the correct fitment for suspension pivots and the reason they are to be found in MTB suspension set ups. In the end, although more expensive, as I was only ordering 3 bearings and not 14 (or with the extra Top pivots 16) I decide to go with the Enduro MAX for my S18. Correctly dimensioned shim washers or spacers are the key to getting the linkage assembly working smoothly, without any binding of the linkage arms against each other or any of their connection points. To this end I had pre-ordered a selection of three sizes of Stainless Steel shim washers, dimensioned: 10x14x0.1mm, 10x14x0.5mm and 10x14x1mm. This allowed me to fine tune each joint to achieve a clearance of around .2mm. Once I has happy that everything was pivoting nicely it was time to bolt the assembly together with the sliders, until I noticed that the barrel nut was a very slack fit in the left had side compared to the right hand side. When I checked with the Vernier, the hole had been drilled at 11mm instead of 10mm but nothing had been done to rectify it by the factory (my seller @The Fat Unicyclist said he had found a bush in one slider of his stock of S18’s) So I set about making a bush myself from some .5mm stainless steel sheet. I cut a strip 10mm wide and long enough to form into a tube with some careful rolling and then trimmed it to the exact length to create my own bush. The next modification I made was to reduce the heads of the Middle pivot point barrel nuts, to allow greater clearance when the linkage moves down past the fender. The heads measured around 3mm thick originally and I reduced this by half down to 1.5mm. While I was working on the sliders, it was noticed that only one slider has been machined for the axle mount. Shims are used by King Song to set the axle square within the two mount points, so that the wheel runs in the centre of the fender (YMMV). The slider that has not been machined and just left in its cast/powder coated state did not have a surface that was anywhere near perfectly flat, so no longer having access to machine shop facilities I had to achieve a flat level surface by hand with a flat file! I needed to file .3mm just to remove the hollow from it and get it flat. At this point it was still a long way from being in line with the machined side, but more than good enough to shim the axle correctly from. I then made some shims in different thicknesses, the same dimensions as the axle mount surface in readiness for the re-build process. The black plastic wipers at the Top and Bottom of the sliders are glued in at the factory, but some are not securely fixed in place and can move away from their recess allowing dirt and debris to get inside. I removed any wipers that looked to be either loose or prone to becoming loose and cleaned off All signs of the old glue before re-glueing them back in place with Loctite 401. The axle clamp plates on my wheel showed signs that the bolts had been binding/biting into the holes, making them too tight to screw in or out easily. The holes were drilled 8mm for the 8mm bolts, but I opened them All up to 8.5mm The middle Fender screw lug that interferes with the Full stroke of the Air shock was the next issue to get some attention. I reduced the height by around 3mm and also filed a hollow cross ways to gain a little more clearance without compromising the screw mount’s rigidity. I can highly recommend the “S18 Motor cable protector” 3D printed and made available by Forum member @RockyTop AKA Black Crow. I also got the 3D printed pedal springs at the same time so that I could throw those ugly bits of tin in the trash! If you have not added these two improvements to your S18 yet, you should seriously look into it as they are readily available from @RockyTop via eBay. During final reassembly, I cleaned out All the silicone inside the motor cable housing and chose Not to re-use silicon on the motor cable. My reason being that with the Hall Sensor cables being so fine and delicate, the job of cutting away All the goop that King Song use during assembly was very painstaking whilst also trying to avoid damaging them, so I did not want a repeat of that job in the future. I found a rubber sleeve that I could cut, snugly wrap around the motor cable and then cable tie back around the motor cable to provide a secondary seal instead! Another well known issue is that the adhesive for the pads still allows them to come adrift and my wheel had this issue in multiple places straight out of the box. I carefully removed All of the pads completely, in order to apply fresh clean double sided tape during final assembly. I used Isopropyl Alcohol to clean up All surfaces prior to applying, firstly before applying the tape to the 4 pads and then before applying the pads to the body panels. The following part of my account will be best described by the photos I took along various intervals during the whole process, along with a small caption explaining each photo. (Please Note: this section is mainly to help add clarity to the original text above, so there will be some repetition) My S18 was taken out of the box and inspected, but was Not ridden as I wanted to see exactly how the issues presented themselves before they could be made worse under any type of riding conditions. Starting the strip down process by carefully removing All the pads, as mine were already lifting in several places. How the S18 looks, after stripping it down to the exoskeleton frame. The slider tubes are approximately 26mm diameter with 3mm thick walls. The next step from here is to remove the air shock and then remove the barrel nuts and bolts from All the pivot points. King Song have used Loctite on the pivot bolts, so some heat may be required to prevent rounding out the Allen heads. I was able to use my soldering iron to slowly heat up each of troublesome joints. If you use any kind of direct heat source, just be aware that some kind of guard will be needed to shield the paintwork from heat damage. I removed 8 of the notorious “Black Spring washers” in total, 6 from the top pivot points and 2 from the slider pivot point. As mentioned previously, my Right hand centre pivot point (the one with the Big flat washer) Only had 1 bearing fitted instead of 2. As a result I had to order a replacement, but added a further 2 to the order to install an additional bearing each side to the Top pivot point! This is the Only pivot point that Does Not have 2 bearings fitted, as it is not deep enough but a second bearing can be safely fitted here rather than multiple spacers! I measured the space left by removing the spring washers to be around 5mm, so had the option of 5x my 1mm stainless shims or an extra bearing, I obviously chose an extra bearing, which I have to give @Rehab1 the credit for the idea! I ordered my stainless steel shim washers in 3 different thicknesses, so that I could tailor the spacers needed to give my predetermined clearance with each pivot point. I aimed to have .2mm clearance on All pivot points between the linkage arms and either the connection to the other linkage arm, the Top of the sliders and the Top pivot point on the control board housing! 10x 14x 1mm, 10x 14x 0.5mm and 10x 14x 0.1mm My Left hand slider pivot point had been drilled with an 11mm drill, instead of the 10mm that should have been used. This meant that this joint had 1mm of free play, so I had to make a bush to bring it back to 10mm dia. I used some .5mm stainless sheet cut into a 10mm wide strip, long enough to roll into a tube then be cut to length. The finished bush is shown partially fitted to the 11mm hole, with the barrel nut inserted which gives an idea how loose this would be without my bush fitted. Here the bush has been fitted flush ready for the barrel nut to be correctly fitted. Here the bush can be seen with the barrel nut in situ. ready for re-build. The centre pivot point is fitted with a large flat washer from the factory, which needs to be removed and the joint between the 2 linkage arms assembled with spacers between the 2 sets of bearings to allow clearance from each other and offer direct contact between the inner races Only! The barrel nut for this joint passes the side of the fender during suspension compression and so I reduced the thickness of the 2 barrel nuts heads from around 3mm to 1.5 mm, to provide added clearance each side of the fender. Once these were modified I was able to start on the re-assembly of the linkage arms and their pivot points. I fitted the missing bearing to my Right hand centre pivot point and the 2 remaining bearings to the Top pivot points. Right hand middle pivot point, showing the machined down barrel nut. Left hand middle pivot point, showing the machined down barrel nut. Middle pivot point assembled with carefully chosen bearing spacers (shim washers) fitted, No Big flat washer is to be re-used here! The Top pivot point at the rear of the aluminium control board housing shows the additional 2nd bearing protruding from the pivot arm, but actually it is securely fitted in this bearing pocket to provide the pivot point added support compared to the Factory's method. Again, I must give credit to @Rehab1 for the idea to use a second bearing (instead of the 5mm spacer needed) here! The next step is to bolt both of the sliders in place, again checking on the clearance gained by installing the correct shim/bearing spacers between the bearing and the slider. Once this is done the sliders can be checked to see how far out of alignment height wise, they are to one another. As mentioned earlier, Only one slider axle mount point will have been machined and the other side left in its cast/powder coated state! In my case the axle mount was Not flat and had quite a dip in it and so I had to file it flat not having access to a milling machine. The difference across my sliders was about 1mm or just slightly under. This is how the axle mount looked after filing about .3mm to make it flat. The difference, now being about .6mm meant I needed to make a shim of this thickness in preparation for the re-build. The threads of the bolts had been binding in the axle clamps, due to Only being drilled exactly 8mm for 8mm bolts. It can clearly be seen in the photo, how the bolts had cut a partial thread into the sides of the holes. I opened them up to 8.5mm to provide the right amount of clearance. Axle clamps before re-drilling Axle clamps after drilling out to 8.5mm Test assembly was next on the agenda, to assess if all the work carried out so far had everything moving smoothly before progressing to the next stage. I installed the motor and then tried the linkage assembly through its full motion to make sure there were No tight spots – All Good! Next I test installed the pedal hangers and again tried the linkage assembly through its full motion to make sure there were No tight spots – once again All Good! The next step was to reduce the height of the middle rear screw lug on the fender, to prevent the air shock from impacting it under full extension! This is easily achieved with a file or Dremel once safely clamped in a vice. I protected the surrounding area of the lug with tape in case the file slipped! I also filed a hollow across the top surface of the lug, to mirror the curvature of the air shock. After the fender had been modified to provide clearance for the shock, everything had to be pre-assembled and checked and proven to be smooth and friction free. It was Only at that point that I was ready for final assembly and I had planned to replace All the fasteners with stainless steel. This is the Full list of All the fasteners and their sizes, that I changed to stainless steel: Axle Clamps = 8 Socket Cap screws M8x30 Pedal Hanger = 8 Socket Cap screws M6x20 Pedal Springs = 4 Pan Head Phillips screws M3x8 Front Body Work panels = 10 Socket Cap screws M3x8 Front Battery Top Mount = 8 Socket Cap screws M5x12 Battery Packs = 32 Socket Cap screws M3x16 Battery Holder = 8 Socket Cap screws M3x12 Motor Cable Top cover = 4 Button Head Socket Cap screws M3x8 Fender Mount = 8 Button Head Socket Cap screws M3x12 Fender Rear Section = 8 CSK Socket Cap screws M3x5 Fender Joint = 6 Socket Cap screws M3x8 PLEASE NOTE: 12 Self tapping screws were used by King Song for the motor cable housing and 4 self tapping screws were used for the control board housing. Care needs to be taken if replacing these with stainless, as I found it very difficult to source the exact same size/thread in order to prevent stripping out the original plastic holes! I unscrewed the 6 screws to split the fender and offered the two halves into situ before screwing them back together and then into place within the sliders. I had a rubber sleeve/boot that I split to fit over the motor cable, rather than using silicone to provide a seal. It was too much of a risk to damaging the delicate Hall sensor wires when removing the white goop that King Song had used, so I chose Not to re-silicone the motor cable. I cable tied the sleeve/boot back together to provide a secondary seal to the gasket provided by King Song. The motor was the next thing to be fitted and then using my .6mm shim to level/align the wheel within the sliders. The tire needs to be centered on the motor to enable this job to be carried out successfully. Once that has been achieved, by manipulating the beads on the wheel rim and steadily inflating the tire as you go, the wheel/tire can then be used to gauge how thick your shims need to be to prevent the wheel from leaning left or right when bolted down in the sliders! This process needs some care and attention, but in my case it actually allowed me to fit a much wider tire than the stock Chao Yang H-5102. The tire I fitted offers way more grip and tread depth that should prove to be a good dual purpose tire, whilst still running true enough to prevent even the slightest hint of any rubbing inside the fender! I was able to fit the CST C-6004 tire that measured 2.845" (or 72.26mm so actually came up wider than it’s 2.75-14 spec). The tire was first centred on the wheel and then this allows the seam of the fender to be used to help align with the rotating the tire’s seam when shimming the axle either left or right depending which way the wheel is leaning between the sliders. When the wheel was aligned I then fitted @RockyTop's motor cable protector. The next step is to install the front and rear battery packs to each side of the wheel. When installing the front battery packs, care needs to be taken to make sure there is adequate clearance between the pack and the slider. I used a small wooden wedge to help maintain clearance whilst tightening the 4 bolts in the control board housing. Then move on to the rear battery pack. Repeat the process on the other side and then the pedal hanger/battery holders are ready to be installed. This again is another step that needs extreme care and patience in order to get everything aligned correctly. Now there has been a lot of talk about the assembly blocks that King Song fitted on earlier S18’s. Many will know that it is safe to remove these blocks Once setting the pedal hangers is complete and King Song has mentioned that knocking these blocks out can Free Up stiff suspension. Well in my case, I did not even use them at all, but I do recommend that the use of either an anti-seize product or just plain grease be applied to the bolts to prevent binding/stripping the aluminium. My suspension movement remained just as smooth and friction free as I had managed to achieve earlier after fully torqueing up All the pedal hanger bolts. The other thing to look out for is that the rear battery packs remain equally spaced either side of the rear section of the fender. If they are allowed to touch the fender and then you will get tire rub and the battery will rub the fender during suspension travel. Checking the alignment of the rear batteries and fender from the back. Checking the alignment of the front batteries and fender from the front. Next step was to fit the wrap around body work and then prep the body work ready for installing the pads. I cleaned the areas where the pads are situated with Isopropyl Alcohol and the pads themselves. I then re-applied some double sided tape to the pads ready for final install. Three little extra mods I did were to add some strengthening to the rubber mudguard, to take out the play in the trolley handle fixing point and shim the pedals. First up is the simple addition of 2 stainless washers glued to the rubber strap on each side of the rubber mudguard. The original hole has been punched into the rubber offset and therefore is extremely weak on one side (King Song's is not the sturdiest implementation anyway, but the washers will definitely help to some extent). I used Loctite 401 to glue a 5x 12.5x 1.2mm stainless washer each side. This is best carried out upon final fitting, as the strap stretches into position during fitting so will alter the position of the washer if glued on prior! Edited/added to on: 29/12/2020 The above fix for the weak mudguard attachment points, although an improvement on the original King Song method, has unfortunately still allowed my mudguard's fixing straps to be torn/ripped off when the wheel suffered an off-road drop onto the mudguard area recently! I have since this incident, cut off the remaining portions of the fixing straps and secured the mudguard with, IMHO, a much more robust/permanent method. My mudguard has now been attached by drilling 2 holes right through the mudguard and using 2x 4mmx50mm Panhead machine screws to bolt right through and into the bodywork. Firstly the hole positions were carefully measured and drilled into the mudguard itself, then using the drilled mudguard as a template to transfer the hole positions to the bodywork. Care needs to be taken during this step and when drilling the bodywork, as there are Two surfaces in the bodywork that need to be accurately drilled through in order to line up and fix the locknuts on top! Please refer to these photos for more detail on the steps necessary, should you wish to carry out this additional mod: Drilling the first hole, with the mudguard clamped to a perfectly square surface Drilling the second hole, again with the mudguard clamped to a perfectly square surface 2x holes drilled through the 2 separate surfaces of the bodywork 2x 4mmx50mm Panhead machine screws were used to bolt through to the top surface of the bodywork 2x 4mm Nyloc nuts were used to lock the Panhead screws on the top surface of the bodywork Mudguard securely in place (screw heads showing) Mudguard securely in place (Nyloc nuts showing) The finished install, after painting the Panhead screw heads Black to blend in/match the mudguard Second was the fix for the wobbly trolley handle, which is just to simply add an ‘O’ ring in the recess at the handles fixing point. In the photo you can just see the installed ‘O’ ring inside the recess. There is a second one on the trolley tube to give an idea of the size necessary to achieve a good solid fit and prevent any movement whatsoever. I cannot give a size for the ones I used, as they were just some I had in a seal kit, but of a much smaller diameter than the trolley tube, although when stretched they shrunk down in profile which offered a good tight fit. Last mod of the three was to put a shim on the pedal pins to reduce the play/rattle fore and aft. If you did not throw the “Big” flat washers away (although highly recommended) they actually provide the perfect sized shim for this application. Just make sure to sand off the razor sharp burs that will most likely have scratched the paint on your lovely Gold linkage arms! In both these photos you can see the 3D printed pedal springs that I also bought from @RockyTop. In the bottom photo you can see the coating of the anti-seize product I used on my stainless pedal hanger bolts. Once the pedals were all sorted I replaced the 2 front body panels and the rear body panel. I carefully aligned and fitted All the pads and the wheel is finally complete! A squirt of Finish Line Stanchion Oil provided the finishing touch! Hopefully this All made sense and can offer some guidance for anyone that wants to get this heavily into the S18 overhaul, use just a part or parts of the process or even if after reading this some Eucers considering the S18 decide against going ahead with the purchase altogether, as even that is totally OK and could be helpful information to someone too! Edited on: 21/11/2020 I've just today, added a splash of carbon wrap to the front section of the fender and moved the King Song logo from the trolley handle for a better overall look IMHO! Edited on 24/09/2022: This is an update I have been meaning to add to this overhaul topic for some time now, since upgrading to the well renowned IRC TR-1 knobby tyre many months ago. Whilst the S18 was stripped for the tyre change, I took the opportunity to work further on the slider alignment (discussed/described earlier) to completely eliminate the issue of binding when clamping the 8 axle bolts securely and I'd hoped to ALSO be doing away with the need for any shims. IMHO, these 8 bolts need to be clamped/torqued tightly despite many having found they need to tighten them to varying amounts to prevent the sliders locking/binding! Although I had previously mentioned this in my initial strip down findings and achieved a vast improvement, I was more than happy with at that time, further work was still needed to correct another issue I believe is also in part responsible for the sliders binding during clamping the 8 bolts tightly. Above are 2 of the original photos of the Fully stripped S18, showing how far out of alignment the sliders were to each other using a square for measuring purposes. At that point I did hand file as much as I could to reduce the gap seen here and fitted a shim/shims I made to compensate for the rest of the discrepancy! So back to my more recent tyre swap improvements, I carried on with the work to get both axle mount points of the sliders square and perfectly in line by hand filing the rest of the material remaining, as shown above. This whole process, especially if starting from scratch needs for you to use something like Engineers Blue (or some kind of paste if not available) and also feeler gauges to assess where any high spots are, and material needs to be removed from. You need to pay particular attention to make sure the axle is still a snug fit in the recesses, periodically checking as you file them deeper (but definitely do NOT allow them to become any wider!) The cast steel sliders are pretty roughly shaped to accommodate the axle, with more than likely ONLY one side machined by King Song from the factory, although even that token attempt does Not go anywhere near enough to guaranteeing accurate slider alignment. You will need to work very patiently and carefully to correct this if carrying it out with a hand file. This is after spending much time to hand file the slider's axle mount points to eliminate the gap shown on one side in the previous 2 photos when using a straight edge/square. Again, but closer in for clarity/detail. Here the photo shows both axle mounts after hand filing are now flat, in line and also square to the sliders/slider tubes. Now having completed this part of the alignment process, there is an issue that I found with the axle itself needs to be addressed. From my own experience having 2 S18 motors available for comparison, King Song incorrectly/inadvertently created a taper on the cable exit side of the motor's axle. This taper in both cases for me, was found on the face of the axle that clamps to the slider which has the unwanted effect of both causing the motor to sit out of square in the wheel assembly (i.e. your tyre will be offset to one side and rub) but more importantly at this stage, causes the sliders to lock up or bind during bolting down the 8 axle bolts! I have used a white background taped to the motor to try and show the taper as best as possible. Possibly a better view So, in order to overcome this additional King Song manufacturing error, I have unfortunately still had to use a shim even though my slider mounts are now perfectly flat, square and aligned with each other. Due to the nature of the taper being towards the very outer edge of the axle at the cable exit end, I made a shim with a specific shape and dimensions/thickness to accommodate the discrepancy specific to my S18. This will be a trial-and-error process to find the thickness and depth to which you will need your shim to fit under just the very end portion of the axle. As it is the cable end that needs to have the shim fitted, I shaped my shim to wrap around the slider casting very snugly to help locate it exactly where it needed to sit and more importantly prevent having any sharp edge near to the motor cable. The shim hooks/clips snugly into this recess to keep it in place until firmly clamped by the axle bolts. Shim sitting correctly in place, to allow for the incorrectly tapered portion of the axle. For reference, I used some .5mm thick stainless steel sheet to make my shim YMMV. Once this point has been reached, whereby both slider's axle mounts are square to the tubes, in line with one another and the shim has been fabricated the motor needs to be fitted and FULLY clamped down with All 8 bolts. With the shock either disconnected on one end or deflated and both air valves removed, lift the S18 up by the handle and observe whether the motor drops freely under its own weight with no hint of sticking points? It should now be effortless for the motor to glide up and down on the sliders with very little/no resistance At All. If it still sticks/binds At All, more work is needed to identify where material needs to be removed/filed or corrections to your shim shape, thickness or dimensions may be necessary. In conclusion for this additional work to get my S18 sliders completely stiction free, I can honestly say that the extra effort involved (although extremely lengthy) has paid off in what I can ONLY describe as a buttery smooth suspension action! Added to that there is also NO unwanted risk now of the motor bolts vibrating loose from being partially tightened as some owners have been forced to do by the inaccuracies described. Some S18 owners will also undoubtedly be over pumping the air pressure in the shock just to overcome stiction issues, be it in what has been described in the additional work here or even the other issues found elsewhere earlier in this topic. The S18 can be corrected to a very high level of suspension performance, but it is a lot of work we as owners should not have to embark upon! ALL EUC MANUFACTURER'S PLEASE TAKE NOTE Edited September 24, 2022 by fbhb 45 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kolk Posted November 18, 2020 Share Posted November 18, 2020 What an amazing post! I'll be sure to forward it to some S18 riders. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purplecycle Posted November 18, 2020 Share Posted November 18, 2020 Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!! You have no idea how much this helps! You made my day! I was quite discouraged with my S18, but your guide really gave me the hope and energy I needed to plan on fixing the suspension and alignment issues! Not to mention the other issues! (trolley handle wobble, mudguard, etc.) All issues that I also have. It would be very, very helpful to know the sizes of the bolts in your kit! I would like to replace everything with stainless steel, as most of the current bolts have begun to rust (especially the ones used for fastening the pedals!). To your guide I would also add changing the bearings inside the motor (I successfully replaced mine with SKF 6803 2RSH C3 and they run much smoother than the stock bearings), and to me this wheel becomes perfect! I have started to order the parts already, so hopefully next week or the following I can reserve a day or two to take my S18 apart and make all these improvements. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post meepmeepmayer Posted November 18, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted November 18, 2020 Brilliant! Sad you had to do this much work, but I guess someone needs to tell King Song how to do it right 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post AlexIsTheBest Posted November 18, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted November 18, 2020 This is great work! My S18 had ALL of the problems and I think it was batch 2 (received early October). I went through and fixed most things similarly but I wish I had this guide then! I almost want to tear it down again and apply some of your superior fixes. The trolley handle fix is a must, so annoying. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post z3n Posted November 18, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted November 18, 2020 7 hours ago, fbhb said: Hopefully this All made sense and can offer some guidance for anyone that wants to get this heavily into the S18 overhaul, use just a part or parts of the process or even if after reading this some Eucers considering the S18 decide against going ahead with the purchase altogether, as even that is totally OK and could be helpful information to someone too! This is by far the most detailed S18's rebuilt project ever made! Thank you for your great effort documenting all those! KingSong should hire you man! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ..... Posted November 18, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted November 18, 2020 (edited) 30 minutes ago, z3n said: This is by far the most detailed S18's rebuilt project ever made! Thank you for your great effort documenting all those! KingSong should hire you man! And it speaks VOLUMES about the company, doesnt it? They wont hire him, he wont work for pennies and has a sense of quality. The sheer ammount of bullshit you have to do to a brand new wheel is appalling. Imagine what someone would think, if they bought a new car and found out they had to compleltely rebuild and remanufacture parts to make it even remotely useable. KS so screwed this up and bent over their customers with this crap. Kudos to those with the time, abilty and desire to do the job that KS should have done. I for one have ZERO interest in a kingsong branded wheel that is any newer than the ks18 series. Oddly they got worse, instead of better. I have no doubts that this won't be the last time either. I mean shit, it aint like this is Locksong's first rodeo. Makes you wonder if they learned much over the last 6 wheels they designed. Obviously not enough. Bearings, thrust washers, quality fasteners, blasphemy i tell you! Edited November 18, 2020 by ShanesPlanet 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Rehab1 Posted November 18, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted November 18, 2020 Such exemplary work combined with your detailed narrative! Many members will benefit greatly from your contribution! I greatly appreciate the mentions! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post FinRider Posted November 18, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted November 18, 2020 Wow! I had to take a break 20% into this post, pour me a whiskey and continue to enjoy the thorough description of what lies ahead of me. Most of these ”issues” are known but this will for sure be my blueprint when I tear into my wheel. Winter is coming, so my riding days for this season are numbered. Once 1st snow falls, then its fixing time. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrP-MrF Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 Great job ! I'll unmount this for fix batch 1 belgium. I'll probably change the tire too.. 2 questions : 1.: all 4 tires fit well ? 2.: i'ld like to change all (most) screws with ALLEN head because i know by experience unmounting KS18 that KS Screws are not very resistant. Is it possible? I think at least it's M2 :s Do you have tips ? Thanx a lot. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fbhb Posted November 19, 2020 Author Share Posted November 19, 2020 (edited) On 11/19/2020 at 1:20 AM, Purplecycle said: It would be very, very helpful to know the sizes of the bolts in your kit! I would like to replace everything with stainless steel, as most of the current bolts have begun to rust (especially the ones used for fastening the pedals!). I have edited the original post to include All the fastener size information you requested. Edited November 19, 2020 by fbhb 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fbhb Posted November 19, 2020 Author Share Posted November 19, 2020 (edited) On 11/20/2020 at 5:16 AM, MrP-MrF said: 1.: all 4 tires fit well ? I chose to fit the CST C6004 as it is the widest of the 4 tires, with the most aggressive tread apart from the knobby CST C803. Therefore I can confirm that the other 3 tires will definitely fit without issue, just as long as you are very precise with all of your alignment. On 11/20/2020 at 5:16 AM, MrP-MrF said: 2.: i'ld like to change all (most) screws with ALLEN head because i know by experience unmounting KS18 that KS Screws are not very resistant. Is it possible? I think at least it's M2 :s I have edited the original post to include All the fastener size information you requested. Edited November 23, 2020 by fbhb 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xiiijojjo Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 Man i always thought i had a hard time taking apart and putting together the Tesla v1 for inner tube replacements or other fixes but seeing this i can appreciate how gotway has further reduced complexity when it comes to taking eucs apart. That is not a critique of the S18 though, as this design in and of itself is quite remarkable with a lot of previously unseen solutions. I commend you for the detailed documentation. This will help a large amount of people over the coming years i'm sure. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purplecycle Posted November 22, 2020 Share Posted November 22, 2020 On 11/19/2020 at 7:22 PM, fbhb said: I have edited the original post to include All the fastener size information you requested. You are the man! Much appreciated! I found most of the screws online so I will be ordering them probably this week. On Friday I replaced most of the bearings and added washers to the suspension (without taking the wheel apart, so I missed a couple of bearings) and I can say the suspension functionality has improved by at least 40-50%. My wheel has another issue: the fender is too large, so whenever the suspension gets pushed down (almost) all the way, the inner fender rubs and the plastic chassis gets stuck. I already cut off a small part of the fender but I have to cut some more. Anyway, thanks again for the hard work and time you put into creating this post!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midlife Cricycle Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 Thank you so much for your efforts and expertise. Unaware of the use of loctite, I managed to completely thread a few of the barrel nuts in the suspension linkage system. I'm looking to replace them and was wondering what to search for (I'm not technical at all). What would I ask for at my local hardware store or look online for when it comes to replacing the barrel nuts and bolts? Are they all the same size/length in the different pivot points? Do I ideally replace them with stainless steel or is that just for the other screws? Again, your advice would be MOST appreciated! I'm tempted to just take the wheel over to you in NZ and pay you to work your magic! (I'm in Melbourne). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fbhb Posted November 28, 2020 Author Share Posted November 28, 2020 I did not have to replace any of my barrel nuts or bolts, so did not get to/need to measure/size them. However, one of the other forum members @Feynman previously made his own topic on his S18 overhaul and included a list of the fasteners that he used. I've linked a relevant post here that should help you identify replacement options: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexIsTheBest Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 (edited) On 11/28/2020 at 7:22 AM, Midlife Cricycle said: Thank you so much for your efforts and expertise. Unaware of the use of loctite, I managed to completely thread a few of the barrel nuts in the suspension linkage system. I'm looking to replace them and was wondering what to search for (I'm not technical at all). What would I ask for at my local hardware store or look online for when it comes to replacing the barrel nuts and bolts? Are they all the same size/length in the different pivot points? Do I ideally replace them with stainless steel or is that just for the other screws? Again, your advice would be MOST appreciated! I'm tempted to just take the wheel over to you in NZ and pay you to work your magic! (I'm in Melbourne). The ones @Feynman (as mentioned by @fbhb) used are here: https://www.amazon.com/Coupling-Connector-Threaded-Adapter-Stainless/dp/B07X9W4DS1/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=m6+x+25+coupling&qid=1600211214&s=industrial&sr=1-1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SQLZ568/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 I also purchased both but I didn't replace all of my barrel nuts with them. I think it was the longer 25 mm ones that I didn't use because I couldn't get things to fit after adding spacers and fixing the binding - it's a bit of a puzzle because you may need more or less spacers depending on your S18. The problem with those "couplers" as they are called is I noticed that some did not seem to fit through the bearings. To remedy this, I locked them into my hand drill chuck and spun them in sandpaper until they fit well but still snug through my bearings. You don't want to have to pound them into the bearings - which in some cases in seemed KS did this with the barrel nuts. If you need to go the coupler route, be sure you also order the proper bolts (also in @Feynman's list). Edited November 29, 2020 by AlexIsTheBest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beachboy Posted December 1, 2020 Share Posted December 1, 2020 Thats whole lot of work to be done that not many have the skills for doing so..great job & congrats with your beautiful wheel 👍👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EldARon Posted December 2, 2020 Share Posted December 2, 2020 On 11/18/2020 at 10:52 AM, fbhb said: It is the 2.75-14 CST C6004 and I instantly knew that I had to order one of these bad boys! On 11/18/2020 at 10:52 AM, fbhb said: but in my case it actually allowed me to fit a much wider tire than the stock Chao Yang H-5102. My H-5102 i 2.72. That's 0.13" difference. There seems to be still more room. Without doing any of you mods. Do you think the C6004 still would fit? I like that it has 7 mm tread depth. Any suggestion on where to buy it? I'd like to follow your guide/rebuild, but I have to get some help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fbhb Posted December 3, 2020 Author Share Posted December 3, 2020 (edited) On 12/3/2020 at 1:23 AM, EldARon said: My H-5102 i 2.72. That's 0.13" difference. There seems to be still more room. Without doing any of you mods. Do you think the C6004 still would fit? I like that it has 7 mm tread depth. Any suggestion on where to buy it? I'd like to follow your guide/rebuild, but I have to get some help. You will find that there is just enough room within the fender to fit the CST C6004, but it is All very dependant upon, firstly aligning the CST as perfectly central as possible on the rim and then aligning the wheel as perfectly central within the slider's axle mounts. A high level of accuracy is required for the best results, which may also involve adding shimming material to the axle mounts in order to align the wheel perfectly! (You will no doubt find that King Song have already shimmed one side, during their assembly) Living in New Zealand, the only source I could find for the CST C6004 was direct from China and I used the following online site: https://www.ebuy7.com/item/559731568737 The shipping costs can increase with an additional freight cost added on and asked for after the order has been placed, so make sure to factor that in to the total cost. Edited December 3, 2020 by fbhb 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogtaoist Posted December 7, 2020 Share Posted December 7, 2020 This is incredibly helpful. My wheel is in pieces waiting on a new battery pack. Which is my first real issue, after 1500 miles. So, now that it’s disassembled I’ll apply as many of your suggestions as my resources allow. Thank you very much. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsd317 Posted December 7, 2020 Share Posted December 7, 2020 22 minutes ago, Dogtaoist said: My wheel is in pieces waiting on a new battery pack. Which is my first real issue, after 1500 miles. What happened? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Yellowjacket Posted December 12, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted December 12, 2020 Outstanding work. Thank you. It’s discouraging that King Song faltered so badly by taking production shortcuts after designing a wheel with such brilliant engineering. The temptation to compete on price, or to hurry, or let a bookkeeper make decisions that are better left to engineers, has destroyed many products. That you brought your wheel back to its potential is a testament to great hacking. You’ve done us all (and King Song) a huge favor. I’ll order my KS S18 next week (stepping up from a V8), and spend a wet January in Oregon (USA) following your instructions. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kayobot Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 Oh dear all the pictures have expired... IS it possible to fix this? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post fbhb Posted December 20, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 20, 2020 (edited) On 12/20/2020 at 6:56 PM, Kayobot said: Oh dear all the pictures have expired... IS it possible to fix this? @Kayobot Thank you so much for alerting me to this issue with All the pictures, as I was not aware until your post. I'm not quite sure what has happened here and when and maybe it is a Forum issue that could easily get resolved by the mods? Anyway, whatever the reason, I will do my best to re-instate them All at some point but please be aware that there was a helluva lot of work involved in compiling this topic and All of the images! It may take me some time to find everything again and link them to the relevant text, but I will definitely get it done, as I do want to keep this topic as helpful as possible, to as many people as possible! Edited June 20, 2022 by fbhb 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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