Freewheel lubrication?
DON ARSENEAU
Should a freewheel on a bike be lubricated with oil or grease? I just
had mine out and found it very dry, I soaked it in a heavy oil for 15
minutes or so and put it back together. Thanks in advance for any
advice.
Don Arseneau
E-Mail : ve3...@amsat.org
Ham operator: ve3lvh
Data Fax (905) 934-4187
St Catharines, Ontario, Canada
MikeYankee
Oil is probably better. Hold the freewheel horizontally with the largest
cog down. Drip the oil into the gap between the fixed and rotating
section while turning the freewheel. Keep doing this for a minute while
excess oil runs out the other side, until the freewheel makes a nice clean
sound. Tilting the freewheel helps remove debris. I use Pedro's oil, but
you can use a motor oil (nondetergent) like 10W-20 or -30; not heavier --
especially for Canadian winterst.
Sheldon Brown
DON ARSENEAU wrote:
>
> Should a freewheel on a bike be lubricated with oil or grease? I just
> had mine out and found it very dry, I soaked it in a heavy oil for 15
> minutes or so and put it back together.
Heavy oil is the best thing for this purpose. Grease can gum up the
pawls (the little clickers that let you coast).
The freewheel is the least important bearing on a bicycle, because when
it is under load, it is not turning, and when it turns, it is not under
load.
Besides, coasting is a pernicious habit! ;-)>
Sheldon "Fixed-Gear Fan" Brown
Newtonville, Massachusetts
+---------------------------------------------+
| Life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and |
| smiles, with sniffles predominating. |
| --O. Henry |
+---------------------------------------------+
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/biz/hub/
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
(617) 244-1040 FAX 244-1041
John Thompson
That does work well. After you have filled the body with oil,
take some heavy grease (like Phil's) and use your finger to push
it into the gap you ran the oil into. You don't need a lot of
grease; just enough to seal the gap all the way around. Do the
same to the other side. This will help prevent the oil from
leaking out so quickly.
-John (jth...@ibm.net)
Owen Smith
DON ARSENEAU wrote:
>
> Should a freewheel on a bike be lubricated with oil or grease? I just
> had mine out and found it very dry, I soaked it in a heavy oil for 15
> advice.
>
> Don Arseneau
> E-Mail : ve3...@amsat.org
> Ham operator: ve3lvh
> Data Fax (905) 934-4187
> St Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Use THIN oil, I have heard that thick oil or grease will cause
the balls to stick, resulting in the freehub either locking in
both directions or not locking at all because the balls are not
as free to move where they are supposed to with thick lubricant.
Owen
Michael Nelson
In article <325AA9...@gulf.uvic.ca>, Owen Smith <osm...@gulf.uvic.ca> writes:
|>
|> Use THIN oil, I have heard that thick oil or grease will cause
|> the balls to stick
Geeze! You're not supposed to put it on your balls, you put it on the
freehub!
Michael
--
Michael Nelson nel...@seahunt.imat.com
San Francisco, CA mich...@csd.sgi.com
Dion Dock
> The freewheel is the least important bearing on a bicycle, because when
> it is under load, it is not turning, and when it turns, it is not under
> load.
On older Hugi hubs, you can feel a "thump" (and hear a loud click)
if you hold the frame
and spin the rear wheel. It seems like that would be a major source
of friction in the rear wheel.
Of course you do have a point: if you aren't pedaling, you're either
going fast enough or trying to slow down.
-dion
Sheldon Brown
Dion Dock quoted me:
>
> > The freewheel is the least important bearing on a bicycle, because when
> > it is under load, it is not turning, and when it turns, it is not under
> > load.
and responded:
> On older Hugi hubs, you can feel a "thump" (and hear a loud click)
> if you hold the frame
> and spin the rear wheel. It seems like that would be a major source
> of friction in the rear wheel.
>
> Of course you do have a point: if you aren't pedaling, you're either
> going fast enough or trying to slow down.
If the wheel will spin reasonably freely, this is not an issue. You can't
compare freewheel friction with hub bearing friction, because the hub
friction is proportional to the load. Although the wheel appears to spin
freely when held in the air (so the only load on the hub bearing is the
weight of the wheel itself) the frictional drag may become significant when
the bearing is carrying the weight of a rider.
The freewheel, since it carries no significant load when you are coasting,
can't slow you down significantly. If a freewheel has excessive friction,
the problem it causes is chain droop.
Sheldon "This Is All Theory, 'Cause I Don't Coast" Brown
Newtonville, Massachusetts
+-----------------------------------------------------+
| If the King's English was good enough for Jesus, |
| it's good enough for me! |
| -- "Ma" Ferguson, Governor of Texas (circa 1920) |
+-----------------------------------------------------+
Leon Arundell
Owen Smith wrote:
>
> DON ARSENEAU wrote:
> >
> > Should a freewheel on a bike be lubricated with oil or grease?
>
> both directions or not locking at all because the balls are not
> as free to move where they are supposed to with thick lubricant.
When I had my freewheel _apart_, I lubricated it's insides with plenty
of normal car grease. It has worked very well for several years since,
and the grease seems to have eliminated the "clicking" noise that
normally occurs when coasting. The freewheel is now virtually silent.
If the freewheel is still assembled, I wouldn't expect grease to be able
to penetrate, unless it was heated.
Dana Rottach
Leon_A...@regate.dpie.gov.au wrote:
>When I had my freewheel _apart_, I lubricated it's insides with plenty
>of normal car grease. It has worked very well for several years since,
>and the grease seems to have eliminated the "clicking" noise that
>normally occurs when coasting. The freewheel is now virtually silent.
>
>If the freewheel is still assembled, I wouldn't expect grease to be able
>to penetrate, unless it was heated.
Phil wood used to make a "freewheel injector," you'd remove the freewheel,
and screw the injector into the freewheel's hub threads, hook up your
grease gun, and pump grease through the freewheel until clean grease came
out of the other side of the freewheel.
They recalled them because they said that people were having problems with
sticking pawls causing crashes, because the freewheel would suddenly
freewheel both directions. I still used mine, though. I've never crashed
when a chain broke, why should I if the freewheel busts?
Unfortunately, it only works with regular non-cassette freewheels, so I have
to live with a clicking freewheel these days.
--
Dana!
Jim Hunter
I'm a newbee who just put together a used bike with Campy Record hubs.
The rear hub has two "grease ports" in the middle of the freewheel body
under the cassette cogs. I didn't know whether to squirt grease or oil
into these ports so I called Campy tech support (BTW their Musak is
Italian opera) and was told to use GREASE. I did that. Squirted it in
with super duper thumb plunger grease gun. The old grease oozed out the
space between the freewheel and the hub flange....and I thought I was in
high cotton. As a result the freewheel went silent and the pawls just
purrr. From reading this thread I now worry that the pawls will stick
and I'll bust my butt. Did the Campy technician give me bad advice?
--
Jim Hunter
Silver Spring, MD
"Involvement and committment are much like ham and eggs: the chicken is
involved - the pig is committed."
Sheldon Brown
Dana Rottach wrote:
>
> Phil wood used to make a "freewheel injector," you'd remove the freewheel,
> and screw the injector into the freewheel's hub threads, hook up your
> grease gun, and pump grease through the freewheel until clean grease came
> out of the other side of the freewheel.
>
> They recalled them because they said that people were having problems with
> sticking pawls causing crashes, because the freewheel would suddenly
> freewheel both directions. I still used mine, though. I've never crashed
> when a chain broke, why should I if the freewheel busts?
>
> Unfortunately, it only works with regular non-cassette freewheels, so I have
> to live with a clicking freewheel these days.
There is a simalar item called a "Freehub Buddy" which is supposed to work for
all Shimano cassette bodies except Dura Ace. Your LBS can order one from
Quality Bicycle Products, their part number TL4501. Should cost under $40.
They will probably try to talk you out of it, for the very good reason that
greasing freewheels is a Bad Thing. I agree, and do not recommend this
procedure. I would never consider doing it to one of my own bikes.
Nevertheless, if you want to, the tool exists.
By the way, if you are really bothered by the ticking of your freehub, some new
models from Shimano have a "silent clutch" freewheel that makes no noise at all.
The silent bodies have not yet made it into the replacement-parts pipeline, but
they should be available soon. You could upgrade your existing hub to use one
of these, probably for less than the cost of the tool. The 7-speed FH-R050
body is listed in Quality's catalogue as part # FW8975. It should sell for
around $30.
Sheldon "Too Cold For Greasy Freewheels Up Here" Brown
Newtonville, Massachusetts
+------------------------------------------------------+
| There are strange things done in the midnight sun, |
| by the men who moil for gold, |
| The Arctic trails have their secret tales, |
| That would make your blood run cold... |
| --Robert Service |
+------------------------------------------------------+
M Dilly
> purrr. From reading this thread I now worry that the pawls will stick
No your Campy tech did not give you bad advice. Grease is what those
ports are for ( Suntour made similar hubs before they went belly up).
There is a company now that makes a freehub injector similar to the Phil
wood one mentioned above. Go bug you local bike mechanic he should know
what you are talking about. Shimano now also makes a "silent drive"
roller clutch hub which is not nearly so expensive as others I've seen in
the past
Eric Nuernberger enu...@siue.edu (I'm not on my own account
right now)
Jack&Kathy
Try soaking the freewheel overnight in heavy transmission oil.
Joshua_Putnam
>Phil wood used to make a "freewheel injector," you'd remove the freewheel,
>and screw the injector into the freewheel's hub threads, hook up your
>grease gun, and pump grease through the freewheel until clean grease came
>out of the other side of the freewheel.
>They recalled them because they said that people were having problems with
>sticking pawls causing crashes, because the freewheel would suddenly
>freewheel both directions.
Freewheel lube injectors are still readily available to any bike
shop that wants to order them. They are made by Stein but
appear identical to the old Phil Wood tools. I wouldn't lube a
freewheel with heavy grease, but a little bit of light grease,
not enough to gum up the pawls, might work just fine over the
long run. Before I switched to freehubs, I used a Stein
injector with an air compressor fitting to blow the solvent out
of my freewheel after dip cleaning it.
Morningstar Tools makes a lube injector tool for freehubs,
several different models for different styles of hubs. I
wouldn't want to use one with grease, but if you have an oil
pump it might be an easy way to clean and lube the freehub
body.
--
Jo...@WolfeNet.com is Joshua Putnam / P.O. Box 13220 / Burton, WA 98013
"My other bike is a car."
Used & classic bike parts for sale: finger Joshua...@WolfeNet.com for list.
Campy C-Record pedals, new-in-box w/clips (L) and straps, $95