Removing freewheels

"J-P" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

When it comes to removal my freewheel is anything but free. I have a puller and an adjustable
wrench, but no vice (nor table to attach a vice to). It may be that I'm being weak, but not only
my arm but my (considerable) weight will not shift the wrench on occasions. At other times a few
whacks with my palm are more than enough, so it doesn't jam consistently. Bike shops have reported
no problems.

Any tips on reliable removal (especially road-side removal) gratefully received. I have to replace
a spoke on the drive side today, popped when I fell off on blackish ice yesterday morning.

Bigger spanner :-( (This can be bodged...)

One thing you can do for roadside spoke repairs is take the sprockets off the freewheel using a pair
of chain whips. This is normally easier than removing the freewheel itself, as that will be
tightened to the torque you give it in bottom gear, which is a lot higher than that in top. (The
bigger sprockets won't be threaded on, so once you've got the end one or two off you're away).

At home for the tandem before I got a suitable bench, (which gets incredibly tight freewheels -
cassette hubs are a wonderful invention) I used to use a vice to hold the freewheel puller, and a
length of 2x2 in the big bit under the jaws to hold the vice against the wheel turning I was doing.

Oh yes - always attach the puller tool (either with the nut or quick release) - that way you can
concentrate on turning things rather than holding the tool in place. (obviously undo as you unscrew
the freewheel!)

(more unhelpful advice - don't break spokes! If one's gone, the others are probably unhappy. It may
be worth rebuilding the wheel properly.)

cheers, clive

I have a substantial adjustable for block removal, but if the freewheel has been on the bike for
more than ten minutes, it ain't big enough. Accordingly I also have a piece of tube about half a
metre long, flattened at one end to slip over the end of said adjustable, which then does the
business. It might not work with a Sun Tour Alpine which has been subjected to much tandem use in
bottom gear, but it shifts my n-34 happily.

--

Dave Larrington - legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uklegslarry.beerdrinkers.co.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
bhpc.org.ukbhpc.org.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================

J-P said:

When it comes to removal my freewheel is anything but free. I have a puller and an adjustable
wrench, but no vice (nor table to attach a vice to). It may be that I'm being weak, but not only
my arm but my (considerable) weight will not shift the wrench on occasions. At other times a few
whacks with my palm are more than enough, so it doesn't jam consistently. Bike shops have reported
no problems.

Longer spanner, and clonk it with a club hammer. Plenty of grease on threads for next time. Best of
all: upgrade to a cassette wheel.

Quoted message said:

Any tips on reliable removal (especially road-side removal) gratefully received.

How about using an emergency spoke instead until you get home (if you weren't happy with truing
wheel enough for it to turn with spoke missing)?
:
www.sjscycles.com/store/vIndex.htm?item853.htm

~PB

Pete Biggs said:

Longer spanner, and clonk it with a club hammer. Plenty of grease on threads for next time. Best
of all: upgrade to a cassette wheel.

Or clamp spanner in workmate, put remover tool into freewheel, slot into spanner and pull hard
(after working out carefully which way) the wheel rim. Best though is to clamp remover in the vice
and turn rim especially when dealing with tandem freewheels

Tony

J-P said:

When it comes to removal my freewheel is anything but free. I have a puller and an adjustable
wrench, but no vice (nor table to attach a vice to). It may be that I'm being weak, but not only
my arm but my (considerable) weight will not shift the wrench on occasions. At other times a few
whacks with my palm are more than enough, so it doesn't jam consistently. Bike shops have reported
no problems.

Any tips on reliable removal (especially road-side removal) gratefully received. I have to replace
a spoke on the drive side today, popped when I fell off on blackish ice yesterday morning.

Sit on the wheel. Attach freewheel remover with QR, allowing a little play. Attach large adjustable
spanner. Hold spanner with left hand and hit end of spanner repeatedly with mallet using right hand.
Nothing can resist it.

In article <[email hidden]>,

J-P said:

Bike shops have reported no problems.

Having followed this thread and since I don't use/have a large hammer. Take the offender to your lbs
and save a lot of grief and hassle.

--
A T (Sandy) Morton on the Bicycle Island In the Global Village sandymillport.fsnet.co.uksandymillport.fsnet.co.ukOpen ↗

J-P said:

When it comes to removal my freewheel is anything but free.
I have a puller and an adjustable wrench, but no vice (nor
table to attach a vice to). It may be that I'm being weak,
but not only my arm but my (considerable) weight will not
shift the wrench on occasions. At other times a few
whacks with my palm are more than enough, so it
doesn't jam consistently. Bike shops have reported
no problems.

Quoted message said:

Any tips on reliable removal (especially road-side removal)
gratefully received. I have to replace a spoke on the drive
side today, popped when I fell off on blackish ice yesterday
morning.

I'm afraid I have no practical suggestions to help you remove your freewheel, but I would like to know what became of your amusing signatures.

N. Lenderby (Mrs)

Quoted message said:

One thing you can do for roadside spoke repairs is take the sprockets off the freewheel using a
pair of chain whips. This is normally easier than removing the freewheel itself, as that will be
tightened to the torque you give it in bottom gear, which is a lot higher than that in top. (The

bigger

Quoted message said:

sprockets won't be threaded on, so once you've got the end one or two off you're away).

To avoid carrying 2 chain whips, you could use a Cassette Cracker, which is basically a hook with a
bit of chain attached. Used in the same way as a Hypercracker to undo the top gear sprocket (which
did service as the lockring for early Shimano and Suntour cassette hubs). I did see one for sale
fairly recently, but they are easy enough to make out of a coat hook or similar.

Andrew Sweetman said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

One thing you can do for roadside spoke repairs is take the sprockets off the freewheel using a
pair of chain whips. This is normally easier than removing the freewheel itself, as that will be
tightened to the torque you give it in bottom gear, which is a lot higher than that in top. (The

bigger

Quoted message said:

sprockets won't be threaded on, so once you've got the end one or two off you're away).

To avoid carrying 2 chain whips, you could use a Cassette Cracker, which is basically a hook with
a bit of chain attached. Used in the same way as a Hypercracker to undo the top gear sprocket
(which did service as the lockring for early Shimano and Suntour cassette hubs). I did see one for
sale fairly recently, but they are easy enough to make out of a coat hook or similar.

a) this will only work with a high flange hub
b) I can't imagine the cassettecracker idea working very well with the 2nd and third screw on cog.

if one large wrench doesn't work and you can't use/borrow a vise (which is always the preferred
method) try using two wrenches at 180 degrees apart.

---
Marten Gerritsen

INFOapestaartjeM-GINEERINGpuntNL www.m-gineering.nl

On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 12:53:57 -0000, Pete Biggs scrawled: ) Longer spanner, and clonk it with a club
hammer. Plenty of grease on ) threads for next time.

That's probably it. I don't think even Homebase have a bigger spanner than I'm currently using.

) www.sjscycles.com/store/vIndex.htm?item853.htm

Even better.

The job turned out to be much harder owing to the cones being a bit loose on replacing the wheel. I
don't see how that could've happened; I used to get it all the time on my cheap MTB but then it was
a bit of a lemon all round.

Is it just me or are there three things whose position you need to control relative to each other
when tightening cones: the cone, the locknut and the opposite, locked cone+nut? So with two hands I
always seem to end up with a well-locked cone, but in the wrong place as the axle has travelled with
the locknut. And another thing. Aren't bicycle repair men looking younger these days?

J-P
--
[Saddam Hussein] had weapons of mass destruction in 1988, supported by the Americans and the
British. The gas that he used to murder 5,000 Kurds was actually supplied by us.

On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 23:27:04 +0000 (GMT), Sandy Morton scrawled: )> Bike shops have reported no
problems. ) ) Having followed this thread and since I don't use/have a large ) hammer. Take the
offender to your lbs and save a lot of grief and ) hassle.

This I do, when I can. If I can get the bike that far without risking the wheel falling to bits. At
one point, as I'd missed a spoke breaking, two others went and it was a terror to ride as far as an
lbs (but impossible to leave in the middle of, well, not nowhere, but Radley at any rate).

J-P
--
What does it mean to the crowd when they see doors open wide? It's like a seam in the clouds that
helps them to see inside

On Sat, 17 Jan 2004 04:55:57 GMT, Nora Lenderby scrawled: ) I'm afraid I have no practical
suggestions to help you remove your ) freewheel, but I would like to know what became of your
amusing ) signatures.

The gap between Google's posting mechanism and my signature repository is too large for my tremulous
ideas to cross without looking down, I'm afraid. When I can I post from a Real Man's Program, and
then everything falls into place like clockwork. No, like a jigsaw. Like a clockwork jigsaw.

J-P
--
He was just a regular guy... on fire.

In article <[email hidden]>, j-p.s

Quoted message said:

And another thing. Aren't bicycle repair men looking younger these days?

Would sir like a gold plated bike with free lifetime service :-))))

63 next week but wearing well!!

--
A T (Sandy) Morton on the Bicycle Island In the Global Village sandymillport.fsnet.co.uksandymillport.fsnet.co.ukOpen ↗

John-Patrick Stacey said:

The gap between Google's posting mechanism and my
signature repository is too large for my tremulous ideas
to cross without looking down, I'm afraid. When I can I
post from a Real Man's Program, and then everything
falls into place like clockwork. No, like a jigsaw. Like a
clockwork jigsaw.

Quoted message said:

J-P
--
He was just a regular guy... on fire.

Oh, bravo! Bravo!

N. Lenderby (Mrs)

j-p.s said:

Is it just me or are there three things whose position you need to control relative to each other
when tightening cones: the cone, the locknut and the opposite, locked cone+nut? So with two hands
I always seem to end up with a well-locked cone, but in the wrong place as the axle has travelled
with the locknut.

Depending on what's required, the trick to final adjustment is to simultaneously and slightly either
unscrew both cones against the locknuts (effectively locking nuts and increasing play) or tighten
both locknuts against the cones (locking nuts and reducing play as cones slip with locknuts). So you
need two cone spanners and also two ordinary spanners for locknuts. See: www.sheldonbrown.com/cone-
adjustment.html

~PB

On Sat, 17 Jan 2004 22:51:24 -0000, Pete Biggs scrawled: ) So you need two cone spanners and also
two ordinary spanners ) for locknuts.

Sorry, that was confusing of me: for spanners read "hands". Although I suppose the symmetry of
tightening both ends at once might prevent the need for a third control on the system.

(Mind you, I've tried that trick with the piece of paper with two slits cut in it, and I'm damned if
I can tear the two side pieces off and leave the middle one suspended in mid-air.)

) See: www.sheldonbrown.com/cone-adjustment.html

This has less detail than the Dawes book, surprisingly. I've seen in shops the adjustment done in
situ, so that the nut holding the wheel onto the frame seems to increase the friction at the locked
cone&nut side, thus stopping the axle from spinning with either the cone or nut being adjusted. I
don't know if that helps.

J-P
--
Day Three Have agreed to carry Ring to Mordor. In hindsight, probably a bad move.

j-p.s said:

) So you need two cone spanners and also two ordinary spanners ) for locknuts.

Sorry, that was confusing of me: for spanners read "hands".

Yes one spanner in each hand but the same sort of spanner in each at a time (for the final
adjustment). Don't need a third hand.

Before locknuts are *fully* tightened:
- If more play is required, simulaneously turn both cones anti-clockwise.
- If less play is required, simulaneously turn both locknuts clockwise.

Quoted message said:

Although I suppose the symmetry of tightening both ends at once might prevent the need for a third
control on the system.

That's the idea.

Quoted message said:

) See: www.sheldonbrown.com/cone-adjustment.html

This has less detail than the Dawes book, surprisingly.

The point is that the trick (of using two like-spanners together) often isn't mentioned at all in
other manuals - for instance in the Park Tools instructions. The usual details can be found
elsewhere, eg. www.parktool.com/repair_help/howfix_hub.shtml BTW, Not a good idea to use a magnet as
balls can get magnetised and get metalic rubbish stuck to them.

Quoted message said:

I've seen in shops the adjustment done in situ, so that the nut holding the wheel onto the frame
seems to increase the friction at the locked cone&nut side, thus stopping the axle from spinning
with either the cone or nut being adjusted. I don't know if that helps.

There are various ways of doing the job but Sheldon's trick works brilliantly for that final bit of
fine tuning after the hub is basically assembled but when you need to fully tighten the lockrings
and also get the cone adjustment just right. It's particularly useful for adjusting quick-release
hubs off the bike.

~PB