Grenaded a freewheel tool...
#26
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Had that happen to me when trying to remove a super tight Shimano freewheel. Wasn't even my bike. :<(
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#27
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Upside is, adjustable wrench usually liberates a freewheel with that extra leverage PRONTO with no extra setup.
Downside is, adjustable wrenches are prone to slipping, especially on freewheels like this Sachs LY96 where a scant 1/4" or so of the freewheel tool is protruding.
It's a balancing act, you want to fully engage the splines, but you also need enough to grab.I think the larger dent was from this freewheel removal session and that's the exact cause, who knows about the smaller ones.
This thing is pretty old and has seen some abuse over time. I don't have a ton of new tools.
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Oh, and to answer your question, no. I was not tightening. At least, not actively at the time. If I get lots of resistance, sometimes I will go back and forth on it. Sometimes tightening will break things free, as illogical as it sounds.
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Got the Bike Hand 12-spline in today, only to find it's not comparable to the TL-FW30. Interesting. Splines too wide?
But when I went to put it away in the freewheel tool box, I noticed I have the Park FR-1.2, awesome. And dammit also!
Tossed it into my Bosch 18v impact, and went to town on with that. This mf'er isn't budging!
Incredible. Same impact has broken rusted frozen nuts off stuff. Not a shortage of power.
This freewheel is superdamnstuck!
And yes, I tried the direction it should remove, and the opposite a couple times. Wheel is off an American bike, Shimano HB-MN72 hub. It's not like it'll have weird threading.
How wild.
But when I went to put it away in the freewheel tool box, I noticed I have the Park FR-1.2, awesome. And dammit also!
Tossed it into my Bosch 18v impact, and went to town on with that. This mf'er isn't budging!
Incredible. Same impact has broken rusted frozen nuts off stuff. Not a shortage of power.
This freewheel is superdamnstuck!
And yes, I tried the direction it should remove, and the opposite a couple times. Wheel is off an American bike, Shimano HB-MN72 hub. It's not like it'll have weird threading.
How wild.
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I'll report back if I have any luck. I'm really super curious what this thing looks like underneath!
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#33
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Thank Campy
I know and appreciate the history, but still - the end result is poor from this engineer's view. (Like narrow chains and big wheel dish. Yes, it all works but the simple 1/2" x 1/8" chain and no or velodrome levels of dish; now those are clean solution!) (I never did like the need to unscrew the right locknut. I like that side near permanently tight and do everything from the left.)
With the Phil Wood / Atom remover, you were wise to use a vise to hold it so you could evenly apply force turning the wheel to avoid side-loading the tool. This is good practice with the Shimano tool as well. Of course, that means you need access to a decent bench vise, which not everyone has. If the freewheel is already trashed, my approach is to disassemble the body and clamp the inner body in my giant, 19th-century vise (yes, I got that right), and put the beef into it. I messed up a nice hub once before I learned that the vise can provide so much force that it distorts the thread and that I needed to back off the pressure of the jaws as soon as the freewheel broke loose.
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An intermediate step is (if you have one), to use the genuine Atom remover; yes you have to free up the end of the axle, but the tool will not break.
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A few years ago my winter project was an well neglected Raleigh. It had been shed stored for decades. That FW was stuck. It took me a month to remove it. Hot air gun, penetrating oils front and back then set it by the wood stove. Try it in the vise. Fail and repeat over and over. My vise is tough and bolted to the building. Still, patience won out. That’s why winter projects are good. No hurry.
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The Park FR-4 is between the Atom/Bicycle Research and Phil tools, in terms of wall thickness. It's somewhat stronger than the Phil, but is thin enough to fit over the locknuts on most hubs; Campagnolo Record, Zeus, and Phil being the notable exceptions.
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Never seen one break up like that, but I just bent a brand-new Cycle Pro chain whip in half by trying a breaker bar on it. I'll try some lube on the sprocket threads first, next time.
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It's all about history in this case. When Campy developed their hub axle back in the 1950s, notched freewheel removers were in vogue. We all learned to avoid putting Atom freewheels on Campy hubs to avoid having to pull the axle every time you wanted to remove the freewheel, but I'm pretty sure that Campy's hub locknuts came out long before Atom's splined remover. Along comes Phil Wood with his axle that is devoid of both spacer and locknuts, and he produced that ultra-thinwall remover for Atom FWs so you wouldn't be "screwed" if you thoughtlessly threaded an Atom freewheel on a Phil Wood hub. Suddenly, we all had to buy these because they allowed us to use the superior splined remover.
c
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It fits Atom/Regina/Zeus/Everest splined freewheels, and clears the locknuts as well as the Phil tool. Not common in North America, and the Phil tools are getting hard enough to find.
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That would certainly be my approach with an Atom, but there is no solid remover that I know of for the larger Shimano spline.
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https://www.bikeforums.net/22644910-post8.html
(I think there's a busted Everest in a bin, I'll have a dig and see what fits that.)
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The Zeus won't fit. It has points about .855" dia, the Atom has points .865"; and the Zeus has lands at .810" while the Atom has them at .775".
The Zeus won't fit an Atom FW, its lands are too shallow for the inner points on the fw splines.
The Atom won't fit a Zeus FW, its points are too large for the fw lands.
The Zeus will fit a Zeus FW (of course), but it also fits a Regina Extra.
The Atom won't fit the Regina.
(I tried all the above.)
The Zeus won't fit an Atom FW, its lands are too shallow for the inner points on the fw splines.
The Atom won't fit a Zeus FW, its points are too large for the fw lands.
The Zeus will fit a Zeus FW (of course), but it also fits a Regina Extra.
The Atom won't fit the Regina.
(I tried all the above.)
I don't have a splined Regina to test, but I do have a Zeus freewheel. All three tools fit, although the Bicycle Research felt a little sloppy. I know the Phil works well to remove Zeus freewheels, because that's what I used before I got the Zeus tool.
I guess the moral of the story is to have a variety of tools available.