Narhay

Like some of you I have a box of freewheels. Some of them were dirty, others a bit grindy, and some were pretty good.

I had flushed some of these with mineral spirits and oil previously so it was interesting how they looked inside. Some were ok, with minimal grit and some were still fairly dirty and gritty but they all needed some internal decreasing and benefitted from a disassembly and cleaning. The first freewheel I used a tiny amount of grease to hold the balls in place but quickly moved to oil as there was too much friction. I am using a freewheel vise from Greenwich market trader. It works fine if all the clamps are holding everything down tight. I cleaned up a couple removal prongs with a file while I was at it.

steelbikeguy

too much time?
no.. you have too much space! I can't imagine having that many freewheels disassembled at the same time!
I think you are just tempting fate... an inadvertent trip could send all of those 1/8" bearings straight into that drain! (at least that would happen if I tried it)

When I've opened up a Perfect or Pro-Compe, I didn't have much trouble getting them back together. A bit of care when rotating the outer body CCW got the pawls to move inwards and allow the two halves to mate together. How are the other brands in this regard? I recall hearing stories of needing to use some thread to keep the pawls retracted during the reassembly process.

Like a lot of bike maintenance activities, it's not bad to just open up a freewheel and go through this process. It really isn't that bad (for SunTours, at least), and will build some confidence and courage for other work.
oh... did you have a proper pin wrench for getting the locknuts off? I've used a drift punch and hammer, which isn't ideal, but seems to work. I've since bought a Park pin wrench, but it is a bit flexible and can't produce enough torque before the pins pop out of the holes.
edit: looking at the photo again, I see both the hammer & punch and a Park pin tool.

Steve in Peoria

Narhay

In this pile I had a shimano 5 speed, a shimano 600 6 speed, and then a bunch of regina extra and oros, and some suntour pro compe and perfect. The internal pawls and bodies were almost all different even if they were the same brand and model. Some required floss to be wrapped around the pawls during reassembly and others didnt. The hardest to get back together was the shimano 5 speed as it was nearly impossible to wrap the pawls due to them being semi split (like a two prong fork) whereas some of the suntours and the shimano 600 just dropped into place without needing to squeeze the pawls. The pro compes were probably the most refined inside with some (not all) having polished races.

I did find a couple extra bearings after all of this (oops) and somehow managed to avoid kicking them all together.

Dylansbob 

Ugh, so timely.

I haven't opened freewheel cluster in over a decade, but have a couple that really need it.

OT, What's the word on wear shim interchagability? I have an Atom that has more wobble than I want to run, I'd assume a shim or two would fix. Most of my other freewheel stash are Suntours.

noglider 

As you probably know, @pastorbobnlnh is the master at overhauling freewheels. I decided I would get out of freewheels, so I sent him my collection to do with them as he pleased. Then my last bike with a freewheel saw its freewheel fly apart. I had promised I would never overhaul another freewheel, but it was either that or buy one, so I overhauled it. My workshop is very messy and disorganized, so I lost a few of the tiny bearing balls. I assembled it anyway. It was a short-term plan anyway, as I've modernized the drivetrain with a cassette hub.

Narhay

I think if you've got too much wobble then removing shims may be your best option. Most of the ones I opened had several shims in varying thicknesses so you may be in luck that a very thin one could be removed.

pastorbobnlnh 

Dylansbob in my experience, removing a shim in order to achieve a better fit usually ends up binding the freewheel. Another option would be to use Blue Loctite on the threads of the outer bearing race/retaining ring after removing the shim. Adjust the race until you have the best fit, and sit the freewheel aside for a few days to make certain the Loctite fully cures.

Narhay while it feels as if the grease adds friction to the freewheel, when compared to oil, grease really is the best lubricant for a freewheel. I use Super Lube synthetic grease which is temperature, water and salt resistant, all of which impact freewheel performance. Oil cannot combat these challenges and quickly spins and drains away from where it is needed. The grease dissipates with use and the friction minimizes to be a non-issue.

Other than the oldest freewheels (primarily Reginas) with a wire spring and a sloppy loose pawl pivot pin, I don't have to use the floss tie down method to compress the pawls for reassembly. I can either slip them in place by hand on both sides, or slip in one pawl and then compress the second one with the blade tip of a pocketknife.

Of course, YMMV.

alexnagui

You use grease only for the balls, right? Or do you slightly grease the pawls as well? Phil Wood Tenacious Oils is recommended for freewheels as far as I know, what is your experience with it?
And how often do you rebuild the freewheels you have in use? Any advice on that?

Narhay

I used a toothpick to push the pawls from side to side on a couple of them which is your knife trick.

In terms of the oil I think now that the gaps between the freewheel body are nice and clean I may take my little syringe and pump in some chainsaw bar and chain oil. I understand it sticks nicely without much viscosity in this case. It is also $5 for more than I'll use in a lifetime.

pastorbobnlnh 

In most cases I grease the bearing races and place a drop or two of high-quality machine oil on the pawl pivots. Phil's oil is good, but no freewheel manufacturer ever recommended it. They used grease when they assembled them in the factory.

A significant number of people use what I like to refer to as the "flush and dribble" method to service a freewheel. They attempt to clean the inside without disassembly, by flushing with WD-40, Simple Green, gasoline, kerosene, etc., and then they dribble in oil (often Phil's) between the bearing race/retaining ring and the outer body gap. While this method is a short-term solution, it is not a suitable freewheel servicing. The oil will spin out with use and quickly leave the bearings without adequate lubrication. Also the grease offers better long-term protection of the internals. Finally, without opening the freewheel, a rider would never know if there is internal corrosion, bad bearings, or bad pawls.

Depending on riding conditions, service about once a year or every 1000 miles or whenever the spin feels gritty. A great way to extend time between servicing is to keep your chain and sprockets clean.

gaucho777 

+1,000! That was my thought exactly. One at a time, and never on the floor where my clumsy feet (and dog's hair) would surely lead to trouble.

I can get them back together without any aids most of the time. However, when they don't want to slip back into place easily (I have a bunch of Reginas that can be stubborn), I've found a thin picture frame hanging wire can be useful instead of thread. It's thick and firm enough hold the pawls in place with a simple twist, and thin enough to engage the pawls half-way, before untwisting and sliding out of the way for final adjustment.

Chombi1 

I always try to open up my freewheels to do major interval service on them, just to make sure the bearings, races and pawl mechanisms are doing OK. But I also just through flush them clean with solvent and relube them through the body gaps, when I haven't built up thst many miles on them yet.....
Remember, the body lock ring/outside race is always reverse threaded.....