The stuff still gums up. I have a can probably 20years old sitting near my lathe. The drippings on the rim of the can have solidified into a thick, gummy goo. No thankee!
One of my other pastimes, is riding English three speed bicycles, and I belong to a local English Bicycle club. A Sturmey Archer hub will run for a million miles, UNLESS it is lubricated with 3 in 1 oil in the can with the red label. Mr. Wood has it exactly right- the vegetable component in it causes it to gum up. This is well known to the English, not so well known, here.
There is a 3 in 1 oil that comes in a can with a blue label, that has a crude picture of a V8 engine on it. This stuff can be used in devices sensitive to oil that gums up, guns and bicycles being examples.
My S5 Sturmey hub was rebuilt by me about 10,000 miles ago, with hybrid lubrication per the bikesmith website-soap based synthetic grease on the bearings, and packed into the labyrinth seals, and a 50/50 blend of 10W30 synthetic oil and ATF used through the port, about three drops in the spring of the year. The grease and the oil dont mix, being chemically different, and the oil stays put. My son has an AW hub built the same way, and despite his reputation as a power cyclist in the club, a bit of a no-no with an AW three speed hub, it has held up in the same fashion for about the same mileage.
Best,
Ted
