Wobbly freehub

Simonb said:

I noticed some play (about 1.5mm) in my freehub body when I arrived

at work

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this morning. Is it safe to ride on or should I take it on the train

to the

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bike shop this afternoon? A bit worrying as this part is fairly new

-- what

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could cause this? Has it worked loose or would you suspect that it

has been

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damaged in some way?

Could have worked loose. Shimano ones are fixed on with a hollow bolt
that accepts a 10mm allen key. To access it you need to remove the
wheel, QR skewer, cone and axle. I'd risk riding it home personally and
take it apart before using it again. (I do all my own maintenance so
visiting a LBS is very low down my list of options.)

MSeries said:

To access it you need to remove the
wheel, QR skewer, cone and axle.

I'll buy some cone spanners on my way home, then. Working on hubs is
something I've not attempted yet -- but probably something worth knowing.

Thanks.

Simonb said:

MSeries said:

To access it you need to remove the
wheel, QR skewer, cone and axle.

I'll buy some cone spanners on my way home, then. Working on hubs is
something I've not attempted yet -- but probably something worth

knowing.

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Thanks.

Just take your time and don't loose the balls as they fall out ! I
place a sheet of newspaper on the floor to catch the little critters.
Read Sheldon Browns piece about changing freehubs to learn how they are
fitted. Look at his 8 of 9 on 7 article.

Simonb said:

I noticed some play (about 1.5mm) in my freehub body when I arrived

at work

Quoted message said:

this morning. Is it safe to ride on or should I take it on the train

to the

Quoted message said:

bike shop this afternoon? A bit worrying as this part is fairly new

-- what

Quoted message said:

could cause this? Has it worked loose or would you suspect that it

has been

Quoted message said:

damaged in some way?

Just given this some more thought, it could be that the freehub is
fixed properly and simply knackered. You will be able to tell once you
have it in bits but then you may need a new part so be prepared to have
the bike off the road until you get it or dash out by some other means
to get the part if you can. I got mine from Halfords BTW. It is a time
consuming and messy job to re fit the ball bearings in the hub so you
really don't want to take it all apart and rebuild with the old
components until you can get a new fh body.
NB I have an old spare 7 speed Uniglide one you can have.

MSeries said:

Just given this some more thought, it could be that the freehub is
fixed properly and simply knackered. You will be able to tell once you
have it in bits but then you may need a new part so be prepared to
have the bike off the road until you get it or dash out by some other
means to get the part if you can.

If it's broken, I'll use my other bike in the meantime.

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NB I have an old spare 7 speed Uniglide one you can have.

Thanks for the offer, but mine's nine-speed.

Simonb said:

I noticed some play (about 1.5mm) in my freehub body when I arrived
at work this morning. Is it safe to ride on or should I take it on
the train to the bike shop this afternoon?

Personally, I would ride it home/to shop, carefully, if the play was only
slight.

Quoted message said:

A bit worrying as this
part is fairly new -- what could cause this? Has it worked loose or
would you suspect that it has been damaged in some way?

Instructions, etc:
www.parktool.com/repair_help/FAQindex.shtml#drivetrain

In case it's a Campag (or for anyone else with Campag hubs), the freehub
is held on by a left-hand thread 17mm nut. Tighten this (anti-clockwise)
to get rid of the play. Best to remove cassette to gain good access.

With any make, if there isn't any actual sideways play (looseness), an
out-of true freehub might just be down to the natural side effect of an
imperfectly aligned freehub thread -- makes the cassette look wobbly as it
turns -- very common and not a problem.

~PB

Thanks for your helps. I bought some panners on the way home and started
loosening the cones, realised that the non-drive side nut was moving but the
drive side wasn't. So I decided to use a vise to hold the axle, and started
tightening them up again. I then noticed that the freehub was becoming less
wobbly the more I tightened. It seems fixed but I haven't put it back
together yet. Could a loose cone have been the problem? Seems that there
should be more holding it on than that.

Simonb said:

Thanks for your helps. I bought some panners on the way home and
started loosening the cones, realised that the non-drive side nut was
moving but the drive side wasn't. So I decided to use a vise to hold
the axle, and started tightening them up again. I then noticed that
the freehub was becoming less wobbly the more I tightened. It seems
fixed but I haven't put it back together yet. Could a loose cone have
been the problem? Seems that there should be more holding it on than
that.

A too slack cone would allow the whole wheel to wobble, the free hub should
be firmly fixed to the hub so the freehub would not wobble in relation to
the wheel if the cone was the only problem. The drive side cup is part of
the freehub[*] so a tighter cone-cup would hold a loose freehub on better.

[*]This is one reason why cassette hubs are better than screw on blocks, it
allows the bearings to be wider apart.

Martin Newstead said:

A too slack cone would allow the whole wheel to wobble, the free hub
should be firmly fixed to the hub so the freehub would not wobble in
relation to the wheel if the cone was the only problem. The drive
side cup is part of the freehub[*] so a tighter cone-cup would hold a
loose freehub on better.

So, I still ought to remove the DS cone and properly tighten the freehub
body?

Simonb said:

Martin Newstead said:

A too slack cone would allow the whole wheel to wobble, the free hub
should be firmly fixed to the hub so the freehub would not wobble in
relation to the wheel if the cone was the only problem. The drive
side cup is part of the freehub[*] so a tighter cone-cup would hold a
loose freehub on better.

So, I still ought to remove the DS cone and properly tighten the
freehub body?

If it was mine I would, for piece of mind if not anything else. You may not
be able to loosen one of the cones, you only need to remove one to extract
the axle. Take car not to loose any ball bearings. While you are at it you
might as well clean and -regrease the bearings so even if the freehub is
attached properly your time will be well spent.

Martin Newstead said:

If it was mine I would, for piece of mind if not anything else. You
may not be able to loosen one of the cones, you only need to remove
one to extract the axle. Take car not to loose any ball bearings.
While you are at it you might as well clean and -regrease the
bearings so even if the freehub is attached properly your time will
be well spent.

So that is what I did. The freehub did need more tightening, although I
think it might have been over-tightened at some point as it wouldn't reach a
point where it was fully-tight and kept turning.

Everything runs much smoother now -- thanks!

Simonb said:

Thanks for your helps. I bought some panners on the way home and
started loosening the cones, realised that the non-drive side nut was
moving but the drive side wasn't. So I decided to use a vise to hold
the axle......

That's a bad idea as axles are easily damaged.

It's important that the cones aren't adjusted too tight otherwise the
bearings will wear prematurely. Use Park Tools' and Sheldon Brown's*
instructions or a bike shop.

* www.sheldonbrown.com

~PB

Pete Biggs said:

Simonb said:

Thanks for your helps. I bought some panners on the way home and
started loosening the cones, realised that the non-drive side nut was
moving but the drive side wasn't. So I decided to use a vise to hold
the axle......

That's a bad idea as axles are easily damaged.

Just as well because I didn't actually get that far as I realised the
freehub was tighter when I'd tightened the cone prior to putting it in a
vise.