Time to replace the freehub?

"Westie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Pulled up to a set of lights this morning. Threw my weight against the
pedals to shoot across the street and damn near castrated myself on the
top tube as the cranks spun freely.

It appears that the pawls in the feehub aren't engaging properly. After
the initial free spinning, they have settle down but aren't engaging
until a 1/4 or half turn (or more) of the crankarms.

The wheels have, maybe, a couple of thousand kilometres on them.
Incidentally, I disassembled the rear cluster to clean it yesterday.
Didn't touch the hub and didn't torque anything too hard putting the
cluster back on - so that doesn't seem to be the problem. But it seems
too much of a coincidence for this to happen at the same time.

Does the freehub cassette need replacing, lubrication or have I done
something obvious to it while retightening the cluster?

TIA

This reminds me of the old saying "If it aint broke, don't fix it!"

Westie said:

Pulled up to a set of lights this morning. Threw my weight against
the pedals to shoot across the street and damn near castrated myself
on the top tube as the cranks spun freely.

It appears that the pawls in the feehub aren't engaging properly. After
the initial free spinning, they have settle down but aren't
engaging until a 1/4 or half turn (or more) of the crankarms.

The wheels have, maybe, a couple of thousand kilometres on them.
Incidentally, I disassembled the rear cluster to clean it yesterday.
Didn't touch the hub and didn't torque anything too hard putting the
cluster back on - so that doesn't seem to be the problem. But it
seems too much of a coincidence for this to happen at the same time.

Does the freehub cassette need replacing, lubrication or have I done
something obvious to it while retightening the cluster?

Tightening down the cassette only presses the cassette against the stops of
the freehub body. It's all on the external surfaces of the freehub; it
shouldn't affect anything on the inside of the hub, unless something's
cracked or damaged. See if it occurs when the wheel's not on the bike.
Then take off the cassette and see if it does it then, too. If the
circumstances change, you can pinpoint the culprit.

It's possible that the grease inside the freehub body is too hard and sticky
to release the pawls on the ratchet thingies. Your best bet is to spray a
light freer-upper like WD-40, Triflow, or GT85 to get it to engage properly.
Otherwise, it would be more adviseable to replace the freehub. If the
wheel's wonky and the cones rough though, then you might be better served,
price-wise, getting a whole new wheel.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Unregistered said:

"Westie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Does the freehub cassette need replacing, lubrication or have I done
something obvious to it while retightening the cluster?
TIA

This reminds me of the old saying "If it aint broke, don't fix it!"

And if you'd read my message correctly, you'd realise that it wasn't
broke and I hadn't tried to fix it. The cassette is not the freehub.
--
Westie

Phil said:

Westie said:

Pulled up to a set of lights this morning. Threw my weight against
the pedals to shoot across the street and damn near castrated myself
on the top tube as the cranks spun freely.

It appears that the pawls in the feehub aren't engaging properly. After
the initial free spinning, they have settle down but aren't
engaging until a 1/4 or half turn (or more) of the crankarms.

Quoted message said:

Tightening down the cassette only presses the cassette against the stops of
the freehub body. It's all on the external surfaces of the freehub; it
shouldn't affect anything on the inside of the hub, unless something's
cracked or damaged. See if it occurs when the wheel's not on the bike.
Then take off the cassette and see if it does it then, too. If the
circumstances change, you can pinpoint the culprit.

It's possible that the grease inside the freehub body is too hard and sticky
to release the pawls on the ratchet thingies. Your best bet is to spray a
light freer-upper like WD-40, Triflow, or GT85 to get it to engage properly.
Otherwise, it would be more adviseable to replace the freehub. If the
wheel's wonky and the cones rough though, then you might be better served,
price-wise, getting a whole new wheel.

Thanks Phil. I had it off this afternoon (the wheel, that is).

Gave it a squirt of WD40 and threw some Triflow in afterwards just to
really nuke the little bugger and it seems to be working now. I was
wondering if the grease inside was too sticky but it seemed odd that it
only occurred after having the wheel off and disassembling the cassette.
I don't know.

Maybe the grease inside the hub melted while the wheel was horizontal in
the hot sun during the time I had it off the bike, and gummed things as
it cooled? Who can say? It all seems to be working fine now...
--
Westie

Phil said:

Westie said:

Pulled up to a set of lights this morning. Threw my weight against
the pedals to shoot across the street and damn near castrated myself
on the top tube as the cranks spun freely.

It appears that the pawls in the feehub aren't engaging properly. After
the initial free spinning, they have settle down but aren't
engaging until a 1/4 or half turn (or more) of the crankarms.

Quoted message said:

Tightening down the cassette only presses the cassette against the stops of
the freehub body. It's all on the external surfaces of the freehub; it
shouldn't affect anything on the inside of the hub, unless something's
cracked or damaged. See if it occurs when the wheel's not on the bike.
Then take off the cassette and see if it does it then, too. If the
circumstances change, you can pinpoint the culprit.

It's possible that the grease inside the freehub body is too hard and sticky
to release the pawls on the ratchet thingies. Your best bet is to spray a
light freer-upper like WD-40, Triflow, or GT85 to get it to engage properly.
Otherwise, it would be more adviseable to replace the freehub. If the
wheel's wonky and the cones rough though, then you might be better served,
price-wise, getting a whole new wheel.

Thanks Phil. I had it off this afternoon (the wheel, that is).

Gave it a squirt of WD40 and threw some Triflow in afterwards just to
really nuke the little bugger and it seems to be working now. I was
wondering if the grease inside was too sticky but it seemed odd that it
only occurred after having the wheel off and disassembling the cassette.
I don't know.

Maybe the grease inside the hub melted while the wheel was horizontal in
the hot sun during the time I had it off the bike, and gummed things as
it cooled? Who can say? It all seems to be working fine now...
--
Westie

Westie said:

Does the freehub cassette need replacing, lubrication or have I done
something obvious to it while retightening the cluster?

Blah! It's done it again today. At least I have a backup set of wheels
to keep me on the dirt. Time for a trip to the LBS for a new freehub
methinks.
--
Westie

"Westie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Westie said:

Does the freehub cassette need replacing, lubrication or have I done
something obvious to it while retightening the cluster?

Blah! It's done it again today. At least I have a backup set of wheels
to keep me on the dirt. Time for a trip to the LBS for a new freehub
methinks.
--
Westie

LOL...this reminds me of another old saying. "Dumbass"! Do you really think
it's just a coincidence that you took the thing apart and now it wont work!?
LOL... Bloody Kiwi's. Can't play League and can't fix bikes! :-)

Replace the dame freehub and csssette and your be done
with them.

I MTB 2004

Quoted message said:

LOL...this reminds me of another old saying. "Dumbass"! Do you really
think it's just a coincidence that you took the thing apart and now
it wont work!? LOL... Bloody Kiwi's. Can't play League and can't fix
bikes! :-)

So it's like when I lubed my chain and then my bell stopped working, right?
Genius!

*goes to shop to get new chain to fix bell*

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training