What is this and how do I fix it?

[radial]

I've had my IM V8 for a few months now.  Got it from @Jason McNeil at ewheels.com, and couldn't be happier with that transaction, by the way.  I dumped it a few times pretty hard when first learning to ride, and I think this problem developed as a consequence of those accidents.  

I could be wrong about this, but I speculate that on one of those occasions the wheel was subjected to forces that separated the two halves of the main body long enough for one of the seals to herniate.  So here's what it looks like.  

You are looking at the wheel lying on its side with the handle pointing at you.  The yellow arrow points to what looks like a section of white foam/rubber seal that has poked its way outside.  I haven't disassembled my wheel so I don't know if it even has such a seal.  But that's what it looks like to me.  What do you think?  And what do you think I should do about it?

I could just razor it off, but that would seem to defeat the purpose of the seal.  I wouldn't necessarily care so much about that, but the breach is right at the top of the wheel where any moisture that gets in is going to dribble its way from top to bottom wreaking who knows what havoc.  I could disassemble the wheel and try to tuck it back in, but that looks pretty daunting to this not very mechanically inclined rider.  When I watch the disassembly videos, it looks separating that particular seam is practically the last thing you do.  Are there any shortcuts, or will I have to just suck it up and take the whole thing apart?  

 

[Wojciech Plocharski]

take it apart and place it back in. if that seal is from inside it should stay where it should be.

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

I think it might be a rubber seal.  You can see it here in this video:

 

[steve454]

26 minutes ago, radial said:

I've had my IM V8 for a few months now.  Got it from @Jason McNeil at ewheels.com, and couldn't be happier with that transaction, by the way.  I dumped it a few times pretty hard when first learning to ride, and I think this problem developed as a consequence of those accidents.  

I could be wrong about this, but I speculate that on one of those occasions the wheel was subjected to forces that separated the two halves of the main body long enough for one of the seals to herniate.  So here's what it looks like.  

You are looking at the wheel lying on its side with the handle pointing at you.  The yellow arrow points to what looks like a section of white foam/rubber seal that has poked its way outside.  I haven't disassembled my wheel so I don't know if it even has such a seal.  But that's what it looks like to me.  What do you think?  And what do you think I should do about it?

I could just razor it off, but that would seem to defeat the purpose of the seal.  I wouldn't necessarily care so much about that, but the breach is right at the top of the wheel where any moisture that gets in is going to dribble its way from top to bottom wreaking who knows what havoc.  I could disassemble the wheel and try to tuck it back in, but that looks pretty daunting to this not very mechanically inclined rider.  When I watch the disassembly videos, it looks separating that particular seam is practically the last thing you do.  Are there any shortcuts, or will I have to just suck it up and take the whole thing apart?  

 

You could send it in for repair, but $50 dollars each way plus labor might not be worth it.  It looks stretched, I don't think you could put it back.

[dmethvin]

Seems like you could just run a bead of silicone over that to get a seal where it's popped out. You might even be able to pull the entire seal out carefully and then replace it with silicone without opening up the case. (The seal will get a bit thinner when it's pulled, so it's just a question of whether the adhesive will let go or the seal will tear.)

[CaptainKBLS]

That picture is exactly mine.  So you probably have it rolling several rounds.  My first fall was ok and the handle sorta came apart a bit.  The second time that rubber came out also and it looked exactly like yours.  I did the lazy thing which is to use electrical tape over it.

The rubber over the charger port also came off.  I couldn't shove it back in so I just use electrical tape over the port.

[houseofjob]

That white rubber/foam strip runs across the entire top half-circle of the V8 in it's own slotted groove to reinforce the shell's water resistance.

If it were me (having taken apart my former V8 multiple times), I would take the effort to split the shell to realign that piece and the shell in general.

If you go this route, though, note that the biggest pain in splitting and realigning/reassembling the V8 shell is to ensure the handle assembly, with it's springs and plastic piece, stays taut and in place.

[radial]

53 minutes ago, houseofjob said:

That white rubber/foam strip runs across the entire top half-circle of the V8 in it's own slotted groove to reinforce the shell's water resistance.

If it were me (having taken apart my former V8 multiple times), I would take the effort to split the shell to realign that piece and the shell in general.

If you go this route, though, note that the biggest pain in splitting and realigning/reassembling the V8 shell is to ensure the handle assembly, with it's springs and plastic piece, stays taut and in place.

Thanks, I might get brave enough to do that.  I have the tools, it's just this irrational fear that I'll get the whole thing disassembled and never get it all back together again.  

[Marty Backe]

6 minutes ago, radial said:

Thanks, I might get brave enough to do that.  I have the tools, it's just this irrational fear that I'll get the whole thing disassembled and never get it all back together again.  

You've seen the excellent V8 disassembly video by @Justina? That should give you a lot of confidence.

 

[radial]

1 minute ago, Marty Backe said:

You've seen the excellent V8 disassembly video by @Justina? That should give you a lot of confidence.

 

Oh yes, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching her work.  But she didn't carry out the kind of full disassembly that would be required to fix my problem.  I think I'll have to bite the bullet and tear my V8 all the way down to fix this problem.  Somehow I suspect my video will be less popular than Justina's.  

[CaptainKBLS]

Maybe we can meet up and do this together.  I'm scared tho.

[houseofjob]

@radial @CaptainKBLS if you guys were willing to travel to NYC, I'd be willing to help out, as I've de-shelled my former V8 numerous times for tire changes, etc. Just PM me.

[Justina]

Thank you guys for mentioning my disassembly!!! 

11 minutes ago, radial said:

Oh yes, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching her work.  But she didn't carry out the kind of full disassembly that would be required to fix my problem.  I think I'll have to bite the bullet and tear my V8 all the way down to fix this problem.  Somehow I suspect my video will be less popular than Justina's.  

This is actually really simple and you have the solution on my video

Simply proceed to the part when I detach the LEDs, but you don't have to do it. All you need to do is to loosen the screws keeping the internal casing together, because you need to separate the two parts (but only a bit, to not stretch the LED wires). You will find the white seal between them. Put it back in place (obviously your seal has popped out), tighten the screws, reassemble everything, and you are good to go. 

I haven't seen the V8 seal popping out before, but fortunately it's easy to fix and nothing to worry about.

Edited August 22, 2017 by Justina

[Marty Backe]

39 minutes ago, radial said:

Oh yes, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching her work.  But she didn't carry out the kind of full disassembly that would be required to fix my problem.  I think I'll have to bite the bullet and tear my V8 all the way down to fix this problem.  Somehow I suspect my video will be less popular than Justina's.  

[radial]

1 hour ago, Justina said:

Thank you guys for mentioning my disassembly!!! 

This is actually really simple and you have the solution on my video

Simply proceed to the part when I detach the LEDs, but you don't have to do it. All you need to do is to loosen the screws keeping the internal casing together, because you need to separate the two parts (but only a bit, to not stretch the LED wires). You will find the white seal between them. Put it back in place (obviously your seal has popped out), tighten the screws, reassemble everything, and you are good to go. 

I haven't seen the V8 seal popping out before, but fortunately it's easy to fix and nothing to worry about.

Thanks, Justina.  I'll give it a try and report back.

[CaptainKBLS]

19 hours ago, houseofjob said:

@radial @CaptainKBLS if you guys were willing to travel to NYC, I'd be willing to help out, as I've de-shelled my former V8 numerous times for tire changes, etc. Just PM me.

Thank you for the kind offer.  I may take your offer if I get desperate,

[houseofjob]

@CaptainKBLS No problem, sorry I'm not closer, but the offer's there.

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

Maybe if you do have good access to the seal channel, glue the seal into place with some silicone sealant on one shell side so it stays put better?

[radial]

On 8/22/2017 at 1:12 AM, radial said:

Thanks, Justina.  I'll give it a try and report back.

@Justina your video was spot on.  I just followed your instructions, right up to the point where you began to pry the LED strips out of their grooves.  At that point, I was able to separate the two halves of the inner shell enough to tuck the seal back into its channel inside the wheel.  Everything went exactly as planned, except I had a bit of a struggle getting the battery out.  that thing is very snugly fit into the body of the V8.  But after a little fooling around, it popped out and the rest was easy.  

Here's the before.  That white thing below the serial number label is the section of seal that had extruded itself due to stresses on the body of the EUC during a crash.  

Here's what it looked like from the inside of the battery compartment when I opened up the wheel and removed the battery.  You can see how the seal has escaped from its channel and wandered outside the shell.

And here's what it looked like after I loosened up the two halves of the inner shell and tucked the seal back into the paths of righteousness.

And from the outside after reassembling the wheel.

Thanks, @Justina!  I wouldn't have had the confidence to tackle this repair without your helpful instructions.

[radial]

On 8/22/2017 at 7:44 PM, CaptainKBLS said:

Thank you for the kind offer.  I may take your offer if I get desperate,

Depending on schedules and your location, I could probably help you with this.  But it didn't turn out to be all that difficult.  With a small Phillips screwdriver, a few metric hex keys, and Justina's video, you can do it solo.  I think you can skip the latch removel step at 3:11, but otherwise just follow her lead up to 4:30 when she begins to remove the LED strips.  At that point you'll be able to separate the two halves of the inner shell just enough to tuck the seal back inside.  Then just reverse the steps to reassemble and you'll be good.

[CaptainKBLS]

I'm still not going to tamper until the very end.  As long as it works, I'll keep it as is.

Thank you for reporting.

[chrio]

2 hours ago, CaptainKBLS said:

I'm still not going to tamper until the very end.  As long as it works, I'll keep it as is.

Sounds like you plan to patch the leak only after your boat have sunk already.

It's your choice of course, but if you are worried about fixing it yourself, perhaps you can find someone else to help?

[CaptainKBLS]

On 9/3/2017 at 3:43 AM, chrio said:

Sounds like you plan to patch the leak only after your boat have sunk already.

It's your choice of course, but if you are worried about fixing it yourself, perhaps you can find someone else to help?

I don't go by this philosophy.  There's plenty of times where I take my car in for tune up and blah blah to prevent from serious breakdown. And usually, my car was doing great before it got operated and afterward I seem to have more problems than before.

For me I think the same thing here.  Opening and just to tuck the loose water seal in is just cosmetic in my opinion.  It's just not worth my time.

[Justina]

On 03/09/2017 at 1:22 AM, radial said:

@Justina your video was spot on.  I just followed your instructions, right up to the point where you began to pry the LED strips out of their grooves.  At that point, I was able to separate the two halves of the inner shell enough to tuck the seal back into its channel inside the wheel.  Everything went exactly as planned, except I had a bit of a struggle getting the battery out.  that thing is very snugly fit into the body of the V8.  But after a little fooling around, it popped out and the rest was easy. 

(...)

Thanks, @Justina!  I wouldn't have had the confidence to tackle this repair without your helpful instructions.

Great job! I'm happy I could help and I'm glad you did it!

[Gizmo Dork]

The same thing happened to my V8 after a nice tumble. This post was a great help. Thanks a lot !