Freehub - how to know when they need maintenance

[Ted Shwartz]

Hello

How often do you service your free hubs? What indicators do you use to know it’s time to maintain the free hub again?

Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul

All the best,

Ted Shwartz

[Eric Nichols]

One indicator is when the cassette stops freewheeling easily, or gets noisier or changes tone.

It’s a good question because a freehub body can get pretty dry and dirty before it gives any indications that it needs maintenance. Usually when the cogs are off for cleaning, I’ll give the freehub body a spin and check for any roughness etc. If it’s the kind of hub where the body is easily popped off, I’ll do that too and visually inspect the pawls and serrations. Heck if I’ve gotten that far, I’ll usually clean and lubricate the pawls. I’ll also stick a finger inside the freehub and try and spin each bearing individually to see if any are getting rough. Same with the bearings in the hub body, if it’s a hub with sealed cartridge bearings, and if the axle is easily removed.  

There are exceptions to this protocol, especially for Shimano hubs. They are different beasts altogether. The freehubs aren’t (easily) serviceable, but the cup-and-cone axle bearings deserve periodic cleaning and regreasing. Shimano freehubs will probably be working just fine until our sun becomes a red giant.  

Eric Nichols

[Andy G]

It's rare that I have an indication that they need servicing, but sometimes during a cassette swap I'll find the freehub either not completely tight or feeling crunchier than before. I have gone through a couple Shimano Ultegra freehub replacements, but thankfully they are pretty easy. I bought the big hex wrench to take it off and work on bearings, but some of the innards seem to need more tools and I figure at a certain point I'd rather opt for an inexpensive replacement rather than trying my luck with more tools to fix an old hub. It's still much cheaper than a new hub and wheel rebuild! And then it takes about two dozen tries to perfect the cup/cone adjustment but it eventually gets there.

Andy in NH

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