Jed19

Is it okay to use 3 in 1 oil to lube the the inside of the Mavic FTS-L freehub body? The brochure calls for Mavic Mineral Oil, but I have also heard that Pedro's Road Rage is alright.

My main thing is I have a can of 3 in 1 on hand, and it sure would be nice not to go spend money on the Pedro's, when I can use what I have on hand.

Thanks for all responses.

Regards,

bcart1991

Asl long as the oil weight is pretty close, you should be okay.

Retro Grouch 

The only penalty for using the "right" oil is you have to make a special effort to get the right lube.

What's the penalty for using the wrong lube? I don't know if it's true or not but I've heard ( a couple of decades ago) that it will gum up the innerds of a Sturmy Archer hub. If it was my bike I wouldn't risk it.

bcart1991

^^ That's an issue if you're weighing (!) 10wt versus 90wt or something drastic like that.

However, "Mavic Mineral Sprits Oil" and 3-in-1 are pretty darn close, I would bet.

silent1

I think that there are few types of 3 in 1 oil. One of these types is either A)is made with vegetable oil B)reacting with the oil already in a Sturmey hub, it made a huge caked on pile of **** mess. Just use some lightweight non-detergent oil if you can find some, i.e electric motor (Extendo), straight 30 W Penzoil, or motor oil if you can't find the non-detergent. I would just go to the bike store and buy something they recommend.

cascade168

There are three oils that are approved by Mavic for use in their hubs:

1. Mavic Mineral
2. Pedro's Road Rage
3. Phil's Tenacious

3-in-1 is really not close to the correct viscosity. It's too thin.

Do NOT use any kind of teflon based lube as they have the effect of polishing the freehub bushing, and you do not want to do that. Road Rage is available for less than $5/bottle.

Jed19

I called Mavic this afternoon, and was told that 3 in 1 Oil is fine as lube. They did say not to use any lube with Teflon.

Thanks for all responses.

JanMM

I think that 3 in 1's formulation is different than it used to be, although it is hard to tell from their website.

awiner

I've used Phil's Tenacious in Mavic FTS-L hubs before and it was way too thick. The prawls stuck.

I ended up using 10wt shock oil and it was fine.

Jed19

Wow! Now I don't know what to think or use. Cascade168 just told me that Phil's Tenacious Oil is one of the recommended oils that Mavic considers okay. The other being Mavic Mineral Oil and Pedro's Road Rage. I thought Phil's would be it, as I have some on hand, but I guess I'm going to have to buy some Pedro's Road Rage, as I don't want to wait for my LBS to order the Mavic Mineral Oil (sigh).

Thanks for all responses.

Regards,

dvs cycles

Tenacious would be like putting honey in the hub.
Would think it would add too much drag if not make the pawls stick. I use Road Rage as per the LBS recommendation and it is fine. Why not get the right stuff to start with. Lot easier to do it right the first time than to redo it.

cascade168

Phil's works fine, as proven out by many, many users. You are probably using too much. All you need is a drop (=1 drop) on each of the pawl hinges and two or three drops down in the freehub body teeth.

I ride year round in New Hampshire in some VERY cold weather and Phil's has never been too thick for me.

Jed19

Yup. Cascade168 said to call Bill, who is a service personnel at Mavic USA, and Bill confirmed that Phil's Tenacious Oil is good for lubing the FTS-L hubs. He did give the thumbs down on 3 in 1 oil.

Regards,

rogerstg

The common 3 in 1 red can is oil and some additives that cause it to gum up over time. 3 in 1 in the blue can is 20 wt motor oil. Drugstores sell pure refined mineral oil for things such as constipation. Baby oil is nothing more than mineral oil with some perfumes (I don't think the bike will care). You see, there are lots of alternatives that will work.

bikeman68

I have the same result now that its real cold in CT, my mavic cassette body is very heavy turning with the phil tenatious oil.I wont do that again, unless Im spending a summer in TX, and then this liquid grease should be hot stuff. Im hoping that my FINISH LINE wet lube oil will be great and longer wearing for my mavic pawl system?
Dont use 3 in 1 oil, its really cheap oil that resists wear about as proportionatly as its price, i only use it to treat threads to avoid seizure and thats it.

Bill Kapaun

If you'd only waited 4 more weeks, this thread could have been dead for a FULL 5 YEARS before you ressurected it!

caloso

Silly me. I used Phil's Tenacious in my Mavic hub because Sheldon liked it. And like just about every other thing Sheldon said about bike mechanics, he was right.

Andrew R Stewart 

I've used Phil oil in makic hubs with some good and bad results. The good part is the ratchet area. The bad is the nylon bushing between the shell and freehub body. Mavic has told me that only mineral oil wwill do and that's been my experience. Other lubes in this bushing can have drag, noise and cause increaded wear. I've replaced parts from this wear before. At first I was sceptical but minerial oil worked best for the ones I've serviced. Andy.

Jed19

I am the original poster of this thread. I have two Mavic wheelsets with FTS-L freehubs. I have used Phil's Tenacious Oil without issues in the past (one little drop per pawl, three drops for the insides). Even better, is the fact that I've been using Mobil 1 Synthetic Oil (5W-20) as lube for my Mavic FTS-L freehubs for a really long time now without issues. It was recommended to me by an old wrench I know. I already use the oil in my truck, so all I have to do is make sure I save a little for my Mavic freehubs.

DaveSSS 

I've used whatever oil that I have around for my car, which is usually a 5W/30 synthetic. Seems to work fine.

FBinNY 

Freehub and freewheel ratchets have very low lubrication needs because they never have moving parts under load. Under power, the ratchet is locked and there's no internal movement. When coasting, the only load is that of the light pawl springs. So the key for ratchet lube is that it should be thick or sticky enough not to spin out, and thin enough not to resist the pawl springs. That's an awfully wide range, and just about any oil will do the job.

bikeman68

Bill Grow up, its always the replies to dormant posts that get the inevitable "This post is so Old!" reply and its stupid since the mentioned equipment (Mavic freehub) is still in use, and this includes the older stock going back to the late 90s when this bushing type freehub first hit the market on up to current Mavic wheels. Im glad I asked, because I would have never guessed Tril flow is a bad idea for mavic
BTW, can that other poster explain why tri flow will wreck the cass body bushing?

Airburst

I'd imagine it's because the solvent in the tri-flow attacks the plastic of the bushing, but I don't know for sure.

dddd

There was also the matter of the Teflon in TriFlow supposedly "polishing" the bushing surface(?).

I've always used a few drops of Phil Oil with a few drops of motor oil, which seemed to average out the viscosity of both as I saw fit for this application.
It just so happens that I have those two squeeze bottles handy, plus a 3rd with a motor-oil and mineral spirits mix and a 4th with a spirits-diluted chain lube.

For freewheels I've long used the solvent-diluted motor oil with a few drops of Phil oil, about 15 drops total, some of which evaporates.

My friction shifters seem to work better with motor oil in the friction surfaces than with Phil oil.

Maviczack

sorry guys, I stumbled across this and I would be remiss if I didn't chip in with the "official" word from Mavic.

Mavic recommends the use of its own 5 weight mineral oil. However any 5 weight mineral oil will work. As stated above, you need something thin enough so as to not clog and bog the tiny pawl springs, but thick enough so it doesn't run out of the hub and disappear.

We would not recommend anything other than mineral oil. Other oils can eventually degrade or cause damage to the freehub bushing, or worse, cause it to abrade the hub shell. Using anything other than the recommended could cause a warranty claim to be voided.

All that said, there are plenty of people who seem to use other lubricants without problem. I would say, do so at your own discretion but please be aware of the "official" stance.