Gearboxes

Traveling across the beach on wet and salty sand inevitable leads to corrosion of metal parts. The most vulnerable bits on a Segway are the gearbox drive shafts. The shafts emerge from the aluminium gearbox case through rubber seals. Corrosion on the shafts make for leaking seals so with a replacement core Segway fitted to my Genny (see previous post) I have sent my old leaking gearboxes off for repair

I have found a company who specialise in all things Segway. The company is called PT Pro and they are based in Amburg Germany. They have been great at supplying various parts over the last year and I am starting to build a relationship with one of the engineers. Isn't it amazing that many Europeans speak fantastic English - puts us all to shame

PT Pro have a great website where they have many resources and are able to offer services that aren't available in the UK. Things cost a lot and postage from Germany seems to be expensive but they are quick to process your orders and parts arrive when they are due. There are many simple repairs and modifications that can be made by someone with very limited knowledge and simple tools. I have highlighted some modifications in my Genny Mods page
 

A small and easy modification I wish I had made 5000 miles back was to change the type of oil and add magnetic drain plugs to the gearboxes. These easy to change items have a small magnet that collects the tiny metal particles that get suspended in the Segway gearbox oil bath. These items are available through PT Pro and are likely to extend the life of your gearbox. The parts required are: magnetic drain plug and gearbox oil. You will need one magnetic drain plug and 70 - 80ml of oil for each gearbox of which there are two on your Genny

PT Pro have have great information about the care and repair of Segways particularly in relation to GEARBOXES and BATTERIES, They can also sell new wheels and tyres as well as being able to repair those delicate buttons on you Infokey

Here is a picture of the corrosion on my Segway driveshaft after being sandblasted to remove the rust. The pitting will stop any effective seal leading to a loss of oil which is not a good outcome for a metal gearbox.

Antigua 2020

How fantastic to be back in winter sunshine and warm water again. I love this island, it's another world and a home from home. Being my 4th visit and on such a noticeable vehicle I am now well known on the island. To see my other Antiguan posts follow these links: 2018, 2019

The same familiar route enables me to leave home at 6:00 for a 7:05 flight morning flight. Collecting my wheels just inside the terminal I have time to shed some winter cloths, grab some hot porridge and a milky coffee before cruising to the departure gate. The usual discussions about lithium power cells and isolating batteries and I am boarded. The 8 hour flight arrives just in time to grab a quick swim before a fresh fish supper and several 'rum and Ting's'

A freshly polished Genny at Gatwick airport

Two and a half weeks swimming with colorful tropical fish and turtles in 27° water, fresh food and casual easy living is a great recipe for shortening the winter



I did a lot of small dingy sailing this holiday which was great fun. I first learned to sail aged 11 at school and have owned several dinghies over the years but have not sailed at all for at least the last 25 years. Getting back on the water under sail was a delight and Antigua, being one of the Windward Islands, was ideal. I was able to rent a small dingy from local National Academy of Sailing which was 4 doors down the road from where I stay. The Academy is based in Falmouth Harbour which is a a substantial area of enclosed shallow water ideal for sailing. Within 5 minutes I had capsized but was able to remember the drill and was upright again within minutes

View from the supermarket jetty in English Harbor

Parts

In the uncertain time when Genny Mobility was not in production I decided it was a good idea to get what parts I could together to keep my Genny running. My gearboxes were getting increasingly noisy and although I had changed the oil and various other components in the drive train, they were a worry

As a backup I purchased a very low mileage second hand Segway at the end of last year (2019). It was a 2009 model and came with an 1 extra faulty battery. I was very cautious as that is old, particularly for the batteries, but I was reassured the see that it has less than 200 miles on the clock. It had had a very quiet previous life at a shortcut to the village pub

It was great to have a play on a stand-up Segway but my interest was mainly about it as parts. My mobility is now such that although I can get around in a limited way, I would be lost without my wheels

It turned out that this Segway was in fantastic condition apart from the batteries. I think at some point is had probably been left for a considerable period and that one of the batteries had dropped below a point it could be recovered. So this was why there were 3 batteries, one built in 2015 and the original 2 batteries that had been constructed in 2008 one of which didn't work

Although a shame about the batteries, the rest of the Segway was pristine so I changed the entire unit for my original and was cruising with less than 200 miles on the clock again. I had plans to rejuvenate my own unit and had another trip to Antigua lined up in February so needed something I could depend on

Another small modification I made was to change the cool looking tubeless tyre valve units for some proper inner tubes. Although less pretty to look at they have been fantastic and I haven't needed to check tyres since