Toki

Hi folks,

I picked up an old 10 spd clunker that I am tearing down and putting back together as a fixed gear.

Even though I am planning on building a new rear wheel, I thought I would at least remove the current freewheel and see if I can use it for single speed. The only thing is that can't tell what I need to do get it off. I have looked on the web for advice, but this seems either non-standard or too old.

I have attached a photo.

My first thought was that I would have to remove the locknuts and possibly the cones, but that seems extreme to replace a freewheel.

Not crazy about buying ANOTHER freewheel tool...

The front fork spacing is 91mm. Does anyone know of a place to get hubs to match that if I decide to build a front wheel as well? The hub seems okay, but I like the idea of having another set of wheels.

Probably see a BB post from me soon as well. It feels shot and needs an overhaul. I will probably need parts so I may just replace it with a cartridge. The only thing is that it has cottered cranks and so I would have to get new cranks as well (unless someone knows of some magical way to get a cottered crankset onto a square taper). Not that I am sad about replacing things, but I want to keep costs down to keep The Mrs convinced that it was okay for me to buy a "junk bike".

Thanks for your help.

- Jeff

phoebeisis

Ok-the easiest move is to get a freewheel tool(it will fit in the notches you see)-your LBS will have one for maybe $10,or you can pay the same $10 for them to remove it.
Plan B would be destructive,but might work.See that plate with the 2 dents-pips in it.Drive that cover off-it might come off backwards-drive it clockwise-.You have to use a punch and hammer,or a nail and hammer.Get the edge of the point or the edge of a flat punch in there and tap it around.Spray it with penetrating oil 1st.
Now,I'm not 100% sure on the direction the cover comes off-look for a little arrow on the cover-it will tell you the direction.If it doesn't start moving from the 1st wap-you might be going the wrong direction.If it does work,when you lift it off,you can lift all the sprockets off and all the ball bearings will fall out.
Once you have the sprockets off as a bloc-you can usually put a wrench-big crescent wrench-on the freewheel body and take it off-normal direction.Luck,Charlie
Best plan-get a tool.

cavernmech

That looks like an old cassette hub to me. Try 2 opposing chainwhips and see if the smallest cog screws off the hub.

jacksbike

I agree with cavernmech. To me it also appears to be a 5 speed early version of a Shimano cassette hub. There is no freewheel tool - as suggested above, you need to use 2 chainwhip tools-hold the 2nd or 3rd gear with one tool and put the other tool on the small cog. The small cog should unscrew and the other 4 cogs should slide off as a unit. The freehub where the sprockets slide on to is part of the rear hub itself. If it is a freewhub cassette as I suspect, you will have to get another hub in order to puta single freewheel onto it to make it a single speed.

John E

You may be able to do it with one chain whip. Put the wheel back on the bike, set in low gear, then have one person stand on the crank to keep it from going backward while another person applies a chainwhip to the outermost (high gear) cog. A few taps of a rubber mallet on the end of the chainwhip handle may break the high gear cog loose.

Carbocation

I have a wheel just like yours, and also attempted to take the freewheel off to make it fixed. The way I took it off was to pry off the dustcover, take out the ball bearings, and unscrew the cone using a flat screwdriver and hammer.

As you can see from the attached pic, the freewheel mechanism is a part of the hub. So unfortunately, it can't be used for a fixed gear. It's best if you just leave the freewheel like it is, and get a new hub.

Toki

Actually cavernmech and jacksbike were right. I was thinking freewheel the whole time and I did a bit more searching (meaning I looked at Sheldon Brown's site again) and it is actually a Uniglide style freehub.

I had already taken the chain off the bike so I could not do as John E recommended, but I took his lead by wrapping an old chain around the biggest cog and then standing on the chain while I took my chain whip the the small cog. It unscrewed right off leaving me with a wheel that I have no clue what to do with.

It sounds like it is theoretically possible to replace the freehub body with a Surly Fixxer, but that assumes that I have a real Uniglide hub and not some one piece "Cheap-ano" like Carbocation's looks like. I suppose I can just take it apart and store the pieces, but the rim is chromed steel and the set of wheels weighs more than my road bike.

Well, at least if I build a wheel from scratch, I can reuse it on the next frame that I get.

- Jeff

Gonzo Bob

Both of my 6-speed Uniglide hubs have 10mm hollow fixing bolts holding the freehub on. However, HillRider has posted on this board about Uniglide freehubs that use no fixing bolt but are held in place by the axle. If you've got one of those, the Surly Fixxer might not work on it.