Weird issue - play on 7 speed hub??

sparkybhp

Senior Retro Guru
Anyone had this before? I’ve tried a couple of different 7 speed cassettes on an Exage hub but when I snug down the lock ring there’s still movement on the 5 or 6 largest cogs? I tried putting a really thin (1mm) spacer on the hub and then the cassette but that’s too much and the last cog then won’t engage on the hub.
Suggestions?
 
Anyone had this before? I’ve tried a couple of different 7 speed cassettes on an Exage hub but when I snug down the lock ring there’s still movement on the 5 or 6 largest cogs? I tried putting a really thin (1mm) spacer on the hub and then the cassette but that’s too much and the last cog then won’t engage on the hub.
Suggestions?
Is the freehub body bolted tight to the hub? Pretty sure Exage freehub is bolted to hub with a 10mm internal hex - fetch the axle/bearings out of drive side and make sure its down tight & has the very slim washer between freehub/hub face. Only other thing could be worn freehub bearings - these are a sealed from factory item, if they are worn then it's time for a new freehub body.
 
Some older 7 speed cassettes had a shaped washer between the smallest and next sprocket. This was to clear the end of the rivets/bolts holding it together and if missing would cause the looseness you describe. Later cassettes had cutouts in the built in spacer in the last sprocket and lost the washer. Link to said washer
 
Thanks both, the play is between the cassette and freehub, the actual freehub is tight to the hub and bearings feel good. It is exactly as you describe @benjabbi but that shaped washer (between gears 5 and 6) is there on both cassettes I tried and both have the same play? I’ll try another cassette to make sure and then maybe a different freehub to see if I can work out where the issue is. 🤔
 
🤔 Definitely sounds odd! I'm clutching at straws here but do the cassettes have 11t sprockets? If so they don't engage properly with the threaded end of an Exage freehub but that can usually be rectified with a spacer like you've already tried.
 
It's probably an older 7s body - they wouldn't take 11T sprockets. The bodies with an outer screw thread at the end for a UG cassette are the troublesome ones.

I bet a 12-28 or 13-30 will fit.
 
if you have 7 speed cassette and assuming you have a 7 speed freehub body then you might need this 1mm spacer, it goes between the 6th and 7th sprocket, without it the main part of the cassette will be loose as the lockring tightens down on the 7th sprocket and bottoms out before the cassette tightens, also the gears won't index correctly as 7th sprocket is too close to the 6th sprocket. cassette washer.jpg
 
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