Freehub removal

Hi Guys
Bought a (circa 2003) Carrera Banshee which had some 'play' in the 9 speed Cassette. I've stripped it down, as far as you can see:



The play seems to in the Freewheel bearing, but I'm unsure how to renove the Freewheel, and whether clockwise, or anti-clockwise.
Do I buy a Big 'F**k Off ' Allen wrench (about 14mm, at a guess) and unscrew the very centre of the Freehub, OR will using a two-eared spigot tool, (one locating slot shown) allow it to be removed ?

Secondly, has anyone experienced, anything like the following weird phenomenon found ON the actual bearing track, which I have tried to show in the photo. (tiny white spot, lowermost surface of cup).



It's like a minature doughnut. The strange thing is it's completely regular in shape, as though it has been factory stamped :shock: , but as you can feel it with your finger, it doesn't seem the ideal thing to have on your Bearing Track ! :cry:

Cheers Guys
terminator

Im temtped to say its an 11mm allen key but we did order a 14mm allen key a while back which may have also been for freehubs.
I normally put the allen key in a vice, t part in, then drop the wheel onto it and as i recall its normal rotation then.

I havent serviced freehub bodies before but have always thought those 2 slots would give access to the internals.

Maybe a better picture of the little bit on the cone would help?

If it's a Shimano hub then it'll need a 10mm allen key to remove the freehub body. (Looks like a Shimano freehub from your photo)
I've also serviced some other hubs with 11mm or 12mm bolts. Never had one with a 14mm bolt though.

The marking on the cone could be due to a bearing which has 'flat spotted'. Quite common with cheap bearings and poorly adjusted cones.

The slots will allow the freehub body to be disassembled. It will have an anti-clockwise thread but, to be honest, by the time you're considering taking them apart to service it's usually much more cost and time effective just to find a replacement. There are lots and lots of bearings which will roll away under the nearest immovable object.

As above, Shimano free hub requires a 10mm allen key and either a vice or a length of pipe on the end to get enough leverage to loosen.

From your photos you're beyond the stage of ball bearings escaping, so hopefully you made a note of the order that things came apart in.

If the freehub is not to far gone, a good clean and rinse through with WD40 or alike may return the action to something more acceptable.

Hope that helps.

But it would run dry on wd40?

It's the newer Shimano freehubs with the Alu axles that use the 14mm allen key, e.g. M770 rear XT hub (FH-M770).

Don't know what that hub is but these should give you a general guide.
http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techd ... 604153.pdf (bottom right corner)
how it fits
http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techd ... 800934.pdf

Here's another view of the Freehub from a slightly different angle :



A 10mm Allen wrench will rotate easily inside, without touching the sides :shock: which made me 'guesstimate' at 14mm.
No markings on hub to help, but took out 1/4" Ball Bearings from EACH side of the Hub (thought Shimano had different sizes ?).
Curiously, on the Disc Rotor side, there were only EIGHT ball bearings instead of the nine on the drive side, and of course a big gap in the race.
This may have helped cause the indentation mentioned before, on the opposite (drive side), which I now have a better close-up (with my G/f's DECENT camera) .



You may be able to magnify the image as the picture quality is v. good.
It looks as though a bearing has welded itself momentarily, then torn itself free. :? I didn't notice any of them which were obviously damaged, during grease removal. Will have to check them again.
Any more ideas for make of hub and or dismantling welcome.
Cheers Guys
terminator

Does like slightly pitted, i expect it would be hard to re use that cone and get a good feel on the hub.

Success !
Took courage in both hands and used the ' Bodger's Dodge ' (snipe nose pliers) shown on the previous page to THIS one :

http://www.instructables.com/id/Rebuild ... -of-parts/

CLOCKWISE to Undo ! (as stated)

Removed the thinnest of the shims (shown above) and managed to reassemble without any of the millions of teeny bearings (upper and lower race) from escaping.
Result : Freewheel Hub 'Play' massively reduced.

Thanks for the help and encouragement,
Cheers
terminator

Nice find and good joqb. Did you clean and regrease it all?