There's a grease product available here in Canada called Sil-Glyde Brake Lubricant (haha - no - that's not an oxymoron); made for assembling brake components. It is rubber friendly, and a fairly light-bodied grease ... so it's excellent for assembling derailleurs and inner shock/suspension components and such (including rubber seals and o-rings).
Cleaning a Shimano Freehub
- Thread starter willbloke
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Re:
Thanks for the comprehensive post FSXStumpy , I've left the hub soaking in light machine oil on its side overnight and it feels really good .
integerspin mine would go off with a crack a bit like a gunshot when it slipped !
Going to stick it back in the bike and try it later .
Thanks for the comprehensive post FSXStumpy , I've left the hub soaking in light machine oil on its side overnight and it feels really good .
integerspin mine would go off with a crack a bit like a gunshot when it slipped !
Going to stick it back in the bike and try it later .
Re:
I'm sure you'll all be relieved to know that I did about 10 miles earlier , mainly road with a bit of river bank and woods thrown in for good measure , hub was fine and dandy , couple of creaks at first but settled down a treat .
I know it's nearly 30 years old and living on borrowed time , the the bloke on it is over fifty and also living on borrowed time !
I'm sure you'll all be relieved to know that I did about 10 miles earlier , mainly road with a bit of river bank and woods thrown in for good measure , hub was fine and dandy , couple of creaks at first but settled down a treat .
I know it's nearly 30 years old and living on borrowed time , the the bloke on it is over fifty and also living on borrowed time !
I thought I'd update my last post, with some further detail. I found my new freehub making a once-per-revolution "crunch" after the weekend past, so I decided to tear it down to fix it.
The hardest part of the job, IMHO, is getting the seal plate out of the shell without destroying it. I warped it prying it out with screwdrivers, but have no better idea to offer. It was easy enough to straighten out after, for reuse. Be careful not to burr the sealing face (inner diameter).
Once you have that out, you'll see the hub bearing cup with its 2 notches for unscrewing. I don't have the proper tool for this, so I hunted in my shop. I found a 1-1/8" spade bit fit nicely. Chucked the spade bit in my bench vice and slipped the wheel on top. It's a LEFT HAND THREAD. Turn the wheel to unscrew (turn the wheel clockwise to unscrew!). Took significant force.
I found the problem pretty quickly - it was 2-fold. First, the thinnest bearing shim (under the cup) had failed, crushed upon Shimano's assembly. This liberated strands of shim steel into the mechanism. But I also found several of the ratchet teeth in the outer shell were severely deformed by the prawls. Comparing it to the shell of my former FHB, it was astounding. The old FHB, with 10,000+Km on it was pristine by comparison.
I re-assembled the FHB using the new internals (central "spindle", prawls, balls, cup) and the old shell. Since I was using miss-matched pieces, I needed to set the FHB bearings up, and this is done using the shims under the bearing cup... You know, like the one that was crushed.... I had the shims from the old FHB as well, so a good selection to work with. It's trial and error. Assemble the body, check for binding or play, add or remove shims as req'd, rinse, repeat... I ended up with a good FHB with almost 0 play and very smooth action.
A few notes on FHB assembly - There are many tiny balls inside, and it can be frustrating to get them all in place. 25 balls in the inboard bearing. I've found it best to put a bead of thick grease (I use White Lightening Crystal or Parks green) on the spindle's inboard bearing track. Then, stick 25 balls into that grease bead, making sure to poke them right down into the track. Lower the shell over the spindle and balls. Drop in the shims onto the spindle, over its threads. Put a bead of grease in the outboard ball track (right by the shims) on the shell. Drop in and press home the remaining balls. Add a half-dozen drops of light oil... (I use ATF). This will thin the grease and ensure nothing gets too sticky/slow. Thread on the bearing cup (counterclockwise) using the spade bit. Torque it down tight. Check the FHB action, and add/remove shims as necessary. Replace the inboard rubber seal, if equipped.
Hopefully I'll get better service out of this frankenfreehub....
J
The hardest part of the job, IMHO, is getting the seal plate out of the shell without destroying it. I warped it prying it out with screwdrivers, but have no better idea to offer. It was easy enough to straighten out after, for reuse. Be careful not to burr the sealing face (inner diameter).
Once you have that out, you'll see the hub bearing cup with its 2 notches for unscrewing. I don't have the proper tool for this, so I hunted in my shop. I found a 1-1/8" spade bit fit nicely. Chucked the spade bit in my bench vice and slipped the wheel on top. It's a LEFT HAND THREAD. Turn the wheel to unscrew (turn the wheel clockwise to unscrew!). Took significant force.
I found the problem pretty quickly - it was 2-fold. First, the thinnest bearing shim (under the cup) had failed, crushed upon Shimano's assembly. This liberated strands of shim steel into the mechanism. But I also found several of the ratchet teeth in the outer shell were severely deformed by the prawls. Comparing it to the shell of my former FHB, it was astounding. The old FHB, with 10,000+Km on it was pristine by comparison.
I re-assembled the FHB using the new internals (central "spindle", prawls, balls, cup) and the old shell. Since I was using miss-matched pieces, I needed to set the FHB bearings up, and this is done using the shims under the bearing cup... You know, like the one that was crushed.... I had the shims from the old FHB as well, so a good selection to work with. It's trial and error. Assemble the body, check for binding or play, add or remove shims as req'd, rinse, repeat... I ended up with a good FHB with almost 0 play and very smooth action.
A few notes on FHB assembly - There are many tiny balls inside, and it can be frustrating to get them all in place. 25 balls in the inboard bearing. I've found it best to put a bead of thick grease (I use White Lightening Crystal or Parks green) on the spindle's inboard bearing track. Then, stick 25 balls into that grease bead, making sure to poke them right down into the track. Lower the shell over the spindle and balls. Drop in the shims onto the spindle, over its threads. Put a bead of grease in the outboard ball track (right by the shims) on the shell. Drop in and press home the remaining balls. Add a half-dozen drops of light oil... (I use ATF). This will thin the grease and ensure nothing gets too sticky/slow. Thread on the bearing cup (counterclockwise) using the spade bit. Torque it down tight. Check the FHB action, and add/remove shims as necessary. Replace the inboard rubber seal, if equipped.
Hopefully I'll get better service out of this frankenfreehub....
J
marc two tone
Retrobike Rider
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I've not tackled such a job yet, maybe sometimes it's worth the effort. although sometimes they are simply bust and a replacement is better that the faff.
shimano RSX road freehubs are the same as exage, if exage NOS hubs are getting rare
well done!
I've not tackled such a job yet, maybe sometimes it's worth the effort. although sometimes they are simply bust and a replacement is better that the faff.
shimano RSX road freehubs are the same as exage, if exage NOS hubs are getting rare
well done!
Thanks!
The hub I've been working on is an LX parallax hub, black, gold label. My freehub body (an XT replacement from BITD, after the orig. LX body failed similarly) cracked on the inner piece, at the threads that hold on the cup. I replaced it with new about 2 months ago.
The new one failed, causing once per rev. "clunk", that lead to this disassembly. I simply didn't feel like plonking another $50 on the shop's bench. Make do and all.
I don't know why this new FHB was such utter crap, with the soft outer shell (evidenced by plastic deformation of the ratchet teeth) and the mangled bearing space shim... It seemed to be of similar quality level at first glance, with a rubber rear seal (missing on lower end FHB's)... But soft!
Hopefully its inner bit is tough enough. Or the wheel (recently re-built with spokes and rim) will see its 4th FHB.
J
The hub I've been working on is an LX parallax hub, black, gold label. My freehub body (an XT replacement from BITD, after the orig. LX body failed similarly) cracked on the inner piece, at the threads that hold on the cup. I replaced it with new about 2 months ago.
The new one failed, causing once per rev. "clunk", that lead to this disassembly. I simply didn't feel like plonking another $50 on the shop's bench. Make do and all.
I don't know why this new FHB was such utter crap, with the soft outer shell (evidenced by plastic deformation of the ratchet teeth) and the mangled bearing space shim... It seemed to be of similar quality level at first glance, with a rubber rear seal (missing on lower end FHB's)... But soft!
Hopefully its inner bit is tough enough. Or the wheel (recently re-built with spokes and rim) will see its 4th FHB.
J
integerspin
Senior Retro Guru
FSXStumpy":3duggilq said:
Perfect thing for getting the seal plate out is a cranked screwdriver, pop an M10 bolt in the hole and lever on the seal with the screwdriver against the bolt head, I take them out to clean the race.
