Originally Posted by
WizardOfBoz
As someone who has gone over the handlebars and landed on my chin due to trying to optimize improperly (and who grew up working in a machine shop and now has a PhD in Engineering) I would suggest that removing 2 of 3 pawls (or any, really) is exceptionally unwise.
I've also broken a dura ace cassette and it's pretty unnerving. If you're willing to risk 13 cracked teeth, and having the doc scrape the dirt out of your broken jawbone, or a broken neck, or your genitals bashed...
If the strength of materials were such that one pawl would hold, that's they way they would have designed it. In addition to leveling the stress on any individual pawl, having 3 of them offers some degree of fail-safety. If one breaks, the others catch you. If using grease instead of oil (the usual approach ) doesn't quiet the hub down enough, get another hub. It's really, really hard (and way more expensive) to get a lot of caps on your teeth as I did.
Then probably the only way is to go to a LBS with the old wheel at hand to avoid sifting trough all the specifications while at the same time being able to hear how the clicking noise sounds on different wheels instead of buying online. As long as the clicking sounds on the softish side not sharp and harsh it should be ok. Although you can only tell the true sound when the excess grease has migrated away after some use, so it's not really possible to evaluate that way either.