mstateglfr 

Anyone able to help with this?

I am still using the original wheel set for an '80 Schwinn Vouageit 11.8 and the freehub is no longer spinning freely.
It's the original uniglide freehub and cassette.

I am hoping the inside can somehow be cleaned out. The wheel will spin when I hold the freehub, but on the bike it doesn't spin- it's like a fixie and keeps turning.

I can't find any step by steps online, probably because it's been dead technology that was short lived.

I've read that the original uniglide freehub is attached direct to the hub, and I've read that a 10mm hex will loosen knockoff freehubs.
I can't tell where a hex would go.

Jeff Wills

The very first generation of Uniglide cassette hubs had a body that pressed on to the hub shell. There was a special tool that pulled the body off. It's probably on Velobase somewhere, but my cat is playing with the computer mouse and I can't click enough to find it.

Jeff Wills

Moved the cat long enough to find this: Shimano Cassettes & Freehubs

dabac

See the notches in the bearing cup? Find/make a tool to engage those. I use an old file, some have managed with a piece of flat bar steel. Unscrew CLOCKWISE. Remove the bearing cup. Gather the thin shims underneath. Lift the splined shell, watch 50 1/8" bearing balls make a spirited bid for freedom. Gaze with awe upon the wonders of the pawls. Clean and polish to your heart's content. Apply a light layer of the oil of your choice on the pawls and their seats. Use sticky grease to persuade the balls to stay on the lower race as you lower the splined shell, also lightly coated, back down. More sticky grease for the top freehub race, another 25 small balls. Put the stack of shims back, screw the bearing cup down. Done!
Finish it off like a regular hub overhaul.

Bill Kapaun

IF it's removable with a 10MM hex wrench, just stick the wrench in the hole.
IF it's that type, it'll engage "about" an inch or so deep.

mstateglfr 

thanks for the detail- I was thinking those notches were what would need to be engaged to unscrew, but wasn't sure.
Time to try a bunch of random tools the wrong way to open that bearing cup.

hueyhoolihan

some early uniglide freehubs need a special tool, that is hard to find, to remove the freehub, later models use the same design as current models do using a 10mm hex wrench.

if it's the newer model... to find out where the wrench goes, thoroughly clean the hole that travels through the hub shell. the one where the axle travels. then hold the wheel up to the light and sight through the hole. you will be surprised to find that the inside is six sided, not circular, as one would expect!

the threads are normal, left to loosen threads and need to be accessed from the freehub side, IIRC.

Jeff Wills

The OP's hub is clearly the early style hub, which does not use the hex-wrench-through-the-center method. With the cassette body removed, it looks like this:

davidad

If you open it up on the freehub you are going to find 50 3/32" balls, two pawls and a spring. It would be a difficult job to do while it's mounted to the wheel.

dabac

Not particularly, as long as you have advance warning of what's about to happen. A tray, a discarded terry cloth towel etc under the wheel will do fine to catch the escapees.

An how would you hold the freehub to unscrew the bearing cup if you take the freehub body off the wheel?

My preference is the "bus driver" freewheel removal technique - stick the tool in a vise, put wheel on tool, turn to break free. Then put wheel on towel/bucket/bowl etc and continue disassembly.

davidad

I loosen the freehub cup with the shimano tool I have had since about 1998 and then remove the body to work on.

AAZ

I believe you need a special tool. When I had this problem, I went to Wright Bros. in Seattle, WA - only place I could find.
Perhaps an old shop near you has one.

dabac

The correct tool will make it a little easier. But anything that'll fit in the slots and be strong enough for the torque needed can get the job done.

davidad

The earliest Shimano Freehubs, however, used a more primitive construction.
There was a set of splines to keep the body from rotating on the hub shell, but
instead of a hollow bolt to secure the body to the shell, there was a smooth
cylindrical projection past the splines, and the corresponding Freehub body was
a slip fit over this projection. The axle held the assembly from falling off,
but the design was not fully satisfactory. The Freehub body could burnish the
projecting sleeve, and loosen.

Replacement bodies are not available for these early hubs, which can
sometimes be identified by the narrow barrel, without the
characteristic bulge on the right end. (The bulge is to accommodate the
threading for the hollow bolt used on newer Shimano Freehubs) See the photos
below, kindly provided by David Landsberg.

Some of the older hubs have the bulge anyway -- see the additional photo
kindly provided by Laurence Yeandle.
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/k7.html#transplant