replace freehub body or wheel or ...?

Ben Pfaff

unread,

Mar 17, 2012, 12:59:58 PM3/17/12

to

My bike has a rear wheel built on a Shimano FH-RM60 hub. I have
maybe 10,000 miles on it over about 2 years. This week, while
riding, the freehub stopped freewheeling. It was quite a
surprise.

I've disassembled the wheel down to the freehub body. It doesn't
turn by hand at all, even after I do my best to get some oil
inside it. I assume this means I either need a new freehub body
or a new wheel. The wheel was about $80 new. It looks like a
new freehub body, if I can find a good place to buy one, is about
$25 plus shipping. I'm not a very good mechanic, so I'm a little
concerned about whether I can get everything back into condition
as good as before if I do get a new freehub body; I guess I'm
willing to take that risk, though.

Any opinions on what I should do?
--
"Writing is easy.
All you do is sit in front of a typewriter and open a vein."
--Walter Smith

Sir Ridesalot

unread,

Mar 17, 2012, 1:34:12 PM3/17/12

to

If I recall correctly all you need to do to replace a modern freehub
body is remove the axle and then use a 10 mm hex key to unscrew the
old body and to put on the new one. If you can adjust cup and cone
bottom brackets or headsets you can also adjust wheel bearings (and
pedal bearings too) as the technique to adjust them is the same.

Cheers

Peter Cole

unread,

Mar 17, 2012, 1:41:36 PM3/17/12

to

On 3/17/2012 12:59 PM, Ben Pfaff wrote:
> My bike has a rear wheel built on a Shimano FH-RM60 hub. I have
> maybe 10,000 miles on it over about 2 years. This week, while
> riding, the freehub stopped freewheeling. It was quite a
> surprise.
>
> I've disassembled the wheel down to the freehub body. It doesn't
> turn by hand at all, even after I do my best to get some oil
> inside it. I assume this means I either need a new freehub body
> or a new wheel. The wheel was about $80 new. It looks like a
> new freehub body, if I can find a good place to buy one, is about
> $25 plus shipping. I'm not a very good mechanic, so I'm a little
> concerned about whether I can get everything back into condition
> as good as before if I do get a new freehub body; I guess I'm
> willing to take that risk, though.
>
> Any opinions on what I should do?

I've done these transplants. I bought (new) MTB rear hubs just to
scavenge the FHB, the price was about the same and I wound up with a
spare axle, cones, QR and shell. It's a pretty simple job, you just need
the big Allen wrench.

Peter Cole

unread,

Mar 17, 2012, 2:03:50 PM3/17/12

to

> spare axle, cones, QR and shell. It's a pretty simple job, you just need
> the big Allen wrench.

Just to clarify, the reason I used and MTB hub was because they're
generally much cheaper than similar quality road hubs. MTB hubs often
have better seals and the FWB are identical (at least between the 8
speed Ultegra I swapped a LX part onto). The reason I bought a hub
rather than a FWB is that everybody sells hubs, often at considerable
discount, so the discounted hub costs the same as the list FWB, if you
can even find one for sale.

DirtRoadie

unread,

Mar 17, 2012, 2:25:54 PM3/17/12

to

I have done the same, but just for clarification I was not able to
remove the donor FHB without partially lacing the hub into a wheel (it
only takes a few spokes) to hold it while extracting the FHB using the
10mm hex key. Did you find some other suitable method?

DR

Ben Pfaff

unread,

Mar 17, 2012, 4:05:57 PM3/17/12

to

Hmm, this made me remember that in fact I have a couple of other
rear wheels that are in bad shape various ways but have OK hubs.
Comparing them visually, the freehub body on an FH-2200 looks
identical to the one on the FH-RM60. How do I know whether I can
just replace the one by the other? I see that
http://sheldonbrown.com/k7.html#transplant says, "Virtually all
Shimano Freehub bodies are interchangeable," which is
encouraging.
--
"The fact is, technical people are better off not looking at patents. If
you don't know what they cover and where they are, you won't be knowingly
infringing on them. If somebody sues you, you change the algorithm or you
just hire a hit-man to whack the stupid git." --Linus Torvalds

AMuzi

unread,

Mar 17, 2012, 4:44:15 PM3/17/12

to

Ben Pfaff wrote:
> My bike has a rear wheel built on a Shimano FH-RM60 hub. I have
> maybe 10,000 miles on it over about 2 years. This week, while
> riding, the freehub stopped freewheeling. It was quite a
> surprise.
>
> I've disassembled the wheel down to the freehub body. It doesn't
> turn by hand at all, even after I do my best to get some oil
> inside it. I assume this means I either need a new freehub body
> or a new wheel. The wheel was about $80 new. It looks like a
> new freehub body, if I can find a good place to buy one, is about
> $25 plus shipping. I'm not a very good mechanic, so I'm a little
> concerned about whether I can get everything back into condition
> as good as before if I do get a new freehub body; I guess I'm
> willing to take that risk, though.
>
> Any opinions on what I should do?

It's a simple job if you have a 10mm allen key and a vise to
change the body. The rest of it is just a regular hub
rebuild. Do clean well and replace balls (as you should be
doing on a regular basis anyway).

--
Andrew Muzi
<www.yellowjersey.org/>
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

datakoll

unread,

Mar 17, 2012, 5:03:20 PM3/17/12

to

not jammed by lube coated string or fishing line ?

try cooking it in a pot of very warm light weight motor oil ormkerosene

or warm it hot/torch it, then pour something down into it.

Tom $herman (-_-)

unread,

Mar 19, 2012, 12:14:42 AM3/19/12

to

On 3/17/2012 4:03 PM, datakoll wrote:
> not jammed by lube coated string or fishing line ?
>
> try cooking it in a pot of very warm light weight motor oil ormkerosene

>[...]

Tasty and nutritious.

--
Tºm Shermªn - 42.435731°N, 83.985007°W
Post Free or Die!