Originally Posted by
I_bRAD
I see a lot of people on here "de-gunk" with WD-40 and then lube with oil (Specifically on freewheels and older rapidfire type shifters). I personally can't deal with the smell of WD-40 so I just use oil to loosen it up and it's always worked fine. Does the wd-40 then oil technique really work that much better?
Personally, I give the freewheel or freehub body a bath in mineral spirits first. I submerge it, agitate it, let it sit for awhile, agitate it some more, maybe changing out the mineral spirits along the way, etc. Then spin it and let it dry at least overnight before dripping motor oil into it. All I can say is that the bath of mineral spirits gets awfully dirty, so I must be flushing dirt and gunk out. Maybe it's not that important, but it seems logical to me.