Freehub Maintenance
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Freehub Maintenance
Not trying to repeat myself.
recently had a hub explode on me
for prevention maintenance
what is best to do and how often?
should i take free wheel off/ cassette. once a year and lube everything inside?
seems quite a tedious and time consuming?
but would this prevent from system breaking and prolonged the life of it forever?
recently had a hub explode on me
for prevention maintenance
what is best to do and how often?
should i take free wheel off/ cassette. once a year and lube everything inside?
seems quite a tedious and time consuming?
but would this prevent from system breaking and prolonged the life of it forever?
#2
Full Member
Wow, what do you mean by explode? Hubs, if traditional cup and cone should be serviced periodically depending on mileage/riding conditions, etc. Many how to do its on the internet and in bicycle books. I like Lennard Zinns book myself.
#3
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some freehubs are not made to be serviced and some are virtually impossible to find replacements once they go. some are really not very durable at all and that sucks.
#4
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Not trying to repeat myself.
recently had a hub explode on me
for prevention maintenance
what is best to do and how often?
should i take free wheel off/ cassette. once a year and lube everything inside?
seems quite a tedious and time consuming?
but would this prevent from system breaking and prolonged the life of it forever?
recently had a hub explode on me
for prevention maintenance
what is best to do and how often?
should i take free wheel off/ cassette. once a year and lube everything inside?
seems quite a tedious and time consuming?
but would this prevent from system breaking and prolonged the life of it forever?
Anyway, yes, periodic overhauls and relubing should be done for cup-and-cone hubs and periodic relubing of the freehub body is also recommended. Will they last forever if you do it? Of course not but they will last a lot longer than if you don't. Tedious and time consuming I suppose if you aren't willing to put a couple of hours a year into maintaining your bike.
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I don't do it nearly as often but I overhaul (clean, new balls, grease, adjust the bearing clearances and oil the freehub body) my Shimano and Campy hubs at 7500 - 8500 mile intervals or about every two years on the two bikes I ride the most. Thus far I have 50,000+ miles on a Campy Chorus front hub, 40,000+ miles on a set of Shimano WH-R560 wheels and over 72,000 miles on a FH-7700 Dura Ace freehub. All of these hubs still have the original cones and races and the original freehub bodies still work perfectly.
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You used to be able to disassemble Shimano freehubs with a special tool, but that tool is very hard to find now. probably better to remove it, flush it out, and dribble some new oil in there. https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair...icle-section-2
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I've never overhauled a free hub. I've never had issues with one. I have had issues with freewheels on my kids bikes that were left out in the rain.
Do you wash your bike? Maybe just wiping it down would be a better choice to keep from getting water up in the freehub that won't dry out till well after the rust starts..
I find it hard to believe that someone rebuilds their free hub every two or three months. My oldest free hub is five years old and quite a few miles on it. It's never been opened. When It goes bad, I'll be happy to put a new one on it and rejoice that I didn't spend time fiddling with it instead of riding... or posting here at BF when I should be riding. <grin>
Do you wash your bike? Maybe just wiping it down would be a better choice to keep from getting water up in the freehub that won't dry out till well after the rust starts..
I find it hard to believe that someone rebuilds their free hub every two or three months. My oldest free hub is five years old and quite a few miles on it. It's never been opened. When It goes bad, I'll be happy to put a new one on it and rejoice that I didn't spend time fiddling with it instead of riding... or posting here at BF when I should be riding. <grin>