Rear Wheel Cassette retaining nut stuck?
 

I have a Shimano rear wheel cassette on my rear wheel. It's a free hub type I believe (because I can put pressure on the retaining nut without the cogs spinning so I don't need to lock the cassette with a chain lock).

I have the correct tool but for the life of me I can't get it undone. I'm even using a cheater bar on a spanner and putting considerable force on the insert tool to try to loosen it.
I did notice that when I removed the center wheel shaft (not the retaining rod but the shaft itself) large bearings that appear to have been sitting in a racer inside the cassette hole, have fallen out. Is that a collapsed bearing or are those bearings always free floating in a racer groove?

So my first problem is undoing that locking nut with the Shimano tube spanner I bought. Can I use WD40 and are there any do's and don'ts before I proceed.
I'm turning anticlockwise. Is that correct? Or is it supposed to be clockwise. When I place force on it it seems to but so much pressure on the center of the wheel that it flexes a bit and then bounces back when I take pressure off it.

How can I undo this without destroying the wheel?
Thanks
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1. It's a FREE WHEEL!
Freewheel or Cassette?

You shouldn't have removed the axle. Leaving it in allows you to use the nut/QR skewer to retain the tool.
You simply need more force. I use an open doorway to run the wheel (with tire) into the door jamb to help hold it in place so I can apply more force on my wrench.
I have a dedicated 1" box wrench which hasn't failed me.
I position the wrench so the handle is level to the ground and push down.

IF you have a sturdy bench vise, clamp the tool in the vise and use the wheel like you are steering a bus.

Put the tool in a bench vise, and turn the wheel. Get a strong helper, and push/pull together. If you have neither vise nor helper, put the tire on the ground, wheel vertical, wrench horizontal to the ground, put your foot on the cheater bar, and jump on it. Go for impact. Sometimes those old freewheels are really stuck, and very seldom I break some spokes and trash the wheel.

Thanks for that.. I realize it's going to take allot of force. The shaft can easily go back in, so that's not an issue. It's so damn tight that the whole wheel flexes when I push down on it. That's even with a cheater bar.

As for the inner bearings.. are they free floating or has a sealed bearing collapsed?

Sometimes when they put that freewheel on the hub they dont use antiseize compound so it can be difficult to remove. If thats the case then I would squirt a liberal amount of PB-Blaster on junction between the Freewheel Threads and the Hub then leave it over night to penetrate. To get to those threads you will have to get behind the Dork Disk.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...eb6f26f7fe.png
These are the threads you want to lubricate with a squirt of PB-Blaster.


Be sure to get yourself a small tube of Perrmatex Antiseize Compound for reassembly. Just a small amount is all thats needed.

I mostly use my Big Cresent and a few taps with a mallet to get a freewheel off when its still on the wheel.

Thanks, but how do I lubricate the cassette which comes off separately? It looks like a sealed unit. Should I just push some CRC (spray on oil) into the grooves or do these apparently sealed units come apart? Thanks

It is not a cassette, it is a freewheel.

Thanks very much for this. That exactly what I have.
I ended up devising a system to push grease in there and it seems to have gone in but it took some working.

Works of superbly now anyway so thanks for putting this up.

Thanks very much for this. That exactly what I have.
I ended up devising a system to push grease in there and it seems to have gone in but it took some working.

Works of superbly now anyway so thanks for putting this up.

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And you probably figured this out but there’s a cup & cone bearing in there on each side, one race of each is on the axle.

Taking apart a Freewheel to clean it out or repair can be done. For me it is only reserved for a precious Rigina or a 60s Suntour. I have taken freewheels and cleaned them out by soaking them in ATF (automatic transmission fluid) to try to get salt from a salt water immersion out.

I have not found that freewheels need allot of attention other then squirting in some oil through the cracks every now and then. When I wear out the Cogs I just replace the whole freewheel. And thanks to the ChiCom Shimano freewheels its not a big expense...

As zandoval says, there is no need to overhaul the freewheel, and there are good reasons to avoid doing so. Good luck getting it off the wheel.

Regrease and put the bearings back together with the axle, on both sides, before putting the freewheel back on; The drive (freewheel) side bearings are very difficult-to-impossible to service with the freewheel on.

I use a medium oil, like 5w30 engine oil to lube the freewheels. If really bad, I let them soak in a bowl of oil overnight

Grease is not ideal for lubricating freewheels, especially in cold climates. The viscosity of grease can prevent the pawls from seating fully (or at all), resulting in freewheeling in both directions. Instead of grease, drip oil into the gap between the inner and outer freewheel bodies, until it comes out the other side. Wipe off the excess, then use your fingers to push some heavy grease into the gap on both sides, not to pack the freewheel, but to seal the oil inside the mechanism.

Freewheel can be murderously tight, especially if you ride steep hills.

Consider your maximum effort climbing and consider that gearing is giving your legs roughly 2:1 leverage.

The way it remove them is to use a bench vise and turn the wheel. It's like making a left turn in a truck without power steering.

The wheel may ping and flex, but the beauty of using this method is that you have twice the strength and the strain is evenly spread on the wheel.

I've never failed with this method, but have had s few so tight I gad to brace my hips against the bench.