broken freewheel - help get it off - please

toomanybikes said:

Since it was a glorious day here I decided to take one of the old
beatuies out for a quiet spin, which turned out to be not so quiet.

There was an annoying ticking noise which I assumed was the wheel
magnet hitting the sensor - so adjusted that.

Noise still there, trimmed gears, shifted up and down and found a quiet
place - good - keep it there. Unfortunately hills keep appearing.

Long story short I finally figure out that the freewheel isn't rotating
true and is too far away from the hub, I pull the rear wheel and - the
damn freewheel has broken, the body is still on the hub but the cogs
have broken loose. I'm 10 miles from home. I push the cogset back in a
little tighter and try to get a bit closer to home, but no go - I phone
my wife who comes to get me.

The problem now is I can't get the freewheel off, the remover tool (
this is a SAchs MAillaird 7 speed) is not holding things in place for
me and I need to get this thing off. I have tried pushing that remover
in tighter - snugged it up with the skewer, no luck, it is just
spinning.

This is on a Super Record High flange hub so I do not want to damage
the hub - any thoughts on breaking this beast off??

You may not have the correct remover. A freewheel remover
engages the inner body - the part which screws on the hub
thread -so yes, you are doing the right thing. If it's "just
spinning" likely your tool is for the early model (21.5mm
many small splines vs 22.5mm fewer bigger splines)

Failing the right tool and assuming you've given up on
saving this body, simply lift off the outer body/cogs, shake
off all the loose balls, pawls, springs and shims and hold
the body in a vise across the pawl seats. The body is hard
and won't deform to damage your hubshell. The pawl seats
have enough purchase to unscrew even a tight freewheel.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

toomanybikes said:

This is on a Super Record High flange hub so I do not want to damage
the hub - any thoughts on breaking this beast off??

Several thoughts.

All of the suggestions below are made with the assumption that the
sprocket cluster portion of the freewheel is presently falling off,
and can be removed entirely, leaving just the inernal part which is
threaded on to the hub.

First and possibly most obviously, try using a punch and a hammer to
drive the freewheel part counterclockwise, lodging the punch in the
pawl mounts. If there aren't any suitable places to stick the punch,
and if you have a Dremel, you could grind a big notch in the edge and
then use your hammer and punch to start unscrewing it.

If you have a big pipe wrench, use that to grab the edge of the
freewheel part and turn it; to protect the wheel hub, cut a couple of
pieces of cardboard (or other suitable material) and slide them in
between the back of the freewheel and the spokes. (And maybe think
about putting a frisbee in there when you're reassembling.)

If you have an arc welder, just lay a small bead around the face of
the freewheel part a couple of times, and it'll get hot enough that I
suspect it will spin right off. Or weld a stub of pipe on to it and
grab *that* with a pipe wrench. Be careful with heat; you don't want
to distort the hub.

If you have a bench grinder, grind two flats on the freewheel part and
then clamp the part in a bench vise and spin the wheel clockwise to
unscrew it.

For that matter, sometimes just clamping the freewheel part in a bench
vice and rotating the wheel will do the trick without any grinding.

Other people will have other suggestions. Use what works for you.
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