Random_bike_guy

Good evening all. New to the forum, just finished building a early 80s road bike, my first attempt at doing so. I am in the process of working through a few issues, but a new one is I was concerned that I did not lubricate my free wheel enough, so I added a bit more. It’s what I guess is medium weight, Phil’s tenacious oil. Now I am noticing that it is no longer making that “ratcheting” sound. Did some research, my guess is the mechanism is “churning through it.” It’s also a little harder to pedal, which supports this theory. Will it seep out and fix itself, or do in need to flush it with wd40 or other solvent, and re-add the appropriate amount of lubricant? What even is the appropriate amount. This is going to be a lot of trial and error. Thank you

70sSanO

The rule of thumb I’ve used is to run oil through the freewheel body until it quiets down.

That said, there’s no hub bearings in a freewheel so there is no effect on pedaling whatsoever. As long as the pawls engage the wheel turns.

John

Edit added: If the pawls don’t engage, then you should soak the freewheel body in solvent until the pawls ratchet, let dry, and lube. It is possible for the original grease to have hardened over the years and the solvent should break it down.

I wouldn’t use WD-40.

smd4

Yeah, if your bikes is harder to pedal, it's not because of anything you did to the freewheel. The freewheel has nothing to do with pedaling effort (other than providing different gears).

I'd love it if mine was silent!

cxwrench

Obviously should be posted in 'bicycle mechanics' not in GD.

mstateglfr 

Do you post the same in GD threads asking about road bikes, ebikes, mtbs, gravel bikes, electronics, etc?
That would be exhausting...obviously.

Iride01 

So you want it to make noise, you're one of those! I and others would like for them to all be silent.

There is no need to oil your free hub or freewheel other than to keep enough very light lube on it to prevent corrosion. IMO. The free hub only does anything when you are coasting. So unless you ride downhill all the time and coast, there isn't much opportunity for wear.

Lube will make noisy free hubs and freewheels quieter than they were if used in excess.
If you find it harder to pedal, then what else did you do? Did you take it apart and put something back wrong or adjusted the bearings too tight? Again, free hubs and freewheels only work when coasting. So any affect on pedaling is because of something else. Though very possibly close by and due to things you may have done to get the lube in the free hub or freewheel.

Now if you waited till this thing was completely gunked up and rusted from age and then tried lubricating to free it up, then there is no telling what might be going on. Most of the time, that's worked well for me with rusted up freewheels to just spray them with light lubes and solvents or even WD-40. But I wasn't at all worried if the made no noise afterward as long as they allowed me to pedal the bike forward. Coasting is not a big concern!