Furner

I just bought an older bike, Diamondback Outlook, the entire rear end was caked in dried mud, the freewheel is almost completly seized, probably due to mud.
I got the freewheel off the wheel, but now I am having problems knowing what to do from here. I am pretty sure that it is a Hyperglide freewheel, but elsewhere I people are saying that the FR-5 is the tool to remove a Hyperglide freewheel from the cogs. There is nowhere on my assembly that a FR-5 will fit. I used a FR-1 to remove the the freewheel from the wheel.
This is what my freewheel looks like (picture from Harris Cyclery)

I have tried to use a nail and hammer to turn the ring with two holes in it counterclockwise, but the darn thing wont budge AT ALL. I assume that to clean out the muck and dirt that I will need to get into there. I have tried flushing it out with solvent (brake cleaner) but the solvent is coming out clean, but the freewheel has a real gritty feeling to it still.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Furner

If detailed pictures of my particular freewheel would help, I can easily do that.

nick burns

Before dealing with the hassle of disassembling the freewheel, I'd flush it with liberal amounts of lightweight oil.

If it still is in bad shape after that treatment, I'd be off to ebay to find an NOS replacement. Freewheel disassembly/reassembly is a royal pita and not worth the effort in my book, especially when replacements are readily available & relatively cheap.

sydney

Yeah, especially if it's a cheap well used made in singapore one. Unless maybe it's some kind of therapy.

Streetdoc

That would be a big help.

Furner

so maybe I should just shop ebay for a new freewheel/cog assembly?

MichaelW

That looks like a freehub to me.
Freewheels dont have a lockring and the splines are visible on the inside of the central hole. The hub bearings on a freewheel are much further inboard.

[edit] Ignore above: I'm wrong, its a freewheel just like the one on my bike.

sydney

It's absolutely a freewheel.Got a box full of them. Cheap shimaano made in Singapore.The removal splines are like he indicated,and he used the right tool to get it off the hub.Give him some credit.

Furner

Heres the pictures, kinda blurry, but they show the assembly well. The writing on the ring down inside, with the two holes on it, is VC SHIMANO SINGAPORE

DannoXYZ 

Looks like you cleaned it up pretty well. You can use a pin-spanner to remove the inner cover over the bearings to really let you flush the innards out and clean it. Then fill the inside with heavy-oil, like 95-140w tranny oil. Then put the cover back. This should keep it quiet and running quite for years.

cyclezen

NEW Shimano 7 spd HG freewheels are available at my LBS for the princely sum of +-$25. Might also be in your area?
I bought a 14-28 for my old C-dale SR900 that my son now rides, and I bought a 14-32 for my wife's quite vintage Touring Trek.
Not sure if I'd be spending time trying to fix something, like this one, which is in a common touring cog range and available down the street, new ...

Furner

is that price with cogs, freewheel (basically everything i have pictured)?
EDIT: Something like this: https://www.bikepartsusa.com/product_...tml?p=01-95141

on another note, is it not true then that you need a FR-5 tool for a hyperglide freewheel? Ill return it if I dont need it.

HillRider

The "correct" tool to remove a Shimano freewheel is the FR-1. The FR-5 is intended to remove the lock ring from Shimano freehub cassettes. The FR-1 and FR-5 have exactly the same spline pattern so they both sort of fit in both applications. The FR-1 is longer and gets a better purchase on the freewheel but the FR-5 will work (as you found out) if the freewheel isn't way too tight.

Unless you can loosen the freewheel's operation just by soaking it in an oil bath, I also recommend throwing it away and buying a new replacement. They aren't worth the effort and there are no repair parts. Any, yes, when you buy a freewheel it comes complete with all cogs.

sydney

Actually, they are not identical and not interchangable in either application...He used a correct. fr-1 to remove the freewheel. Thr fr-1 has wider splines, and the fr-5 has a greater OD.

HillRider

He used a correct. fr-1 to remove the freewheel. Thr fr-1 has wider splines, and the fr-5 has a greater OD.

Right, I went back and read the original post and he did indeed use the correct tool. The FR-1 and FR-5 are very close in spline diameter and width and can be used interchangably but, as you say, they are not a perfect match.

sydney

They can't even be used interchangably.Tried em both on the respective parts.

HillRider

They can't even be used interchangably.Tried em both on the respective parts

Maybe, but before I bought an FR-5, I used to use Shimano's TL-FW80 (the Shimano factory freewheel remover. Park's FR-1 is the equivalent) to remove and install cassette lock rings. It worked fine and didn't damage the lockring splines.

cyclezen

a) yes complete FREEWHEEL, body and cogs - I have the model names at home...

b) not like the one in the URL you listed, the listing shows a 'cassette', I'm refering to a freewheel
this is the freewheel I'm tawkin about

also comes in a 14-32 mega range, also can be had thru 3rd hand

Peedtm

To remove the race and get inside the freewheel, you can either track down an old tool from Shimano called a TL FH-40 or you can make one either out of a piece of flat metal (I used aluminum, you might try something stiffer) or by grinding down a Park FR-2 tool. The race is screwed in counterclockwise, so to remove it, turn it clockwise. This might be kind of tough since you've been wrenching on it, otherwise, it'd be fairly easy (when you replace it, don't crank it down really tight.)

I'll let you go from here, just know there's fifty bearings in there, and at least 1 paper thin fragile washer

Putting it back together is a little tricky and it's probably why Shimano has no exploded diagrams of the freewheel, and why they say not to do it (You'll void your warranty, if you had one.)

top506

If you've never re-built a freewheel you should do so, just to find out why it's possible but not recommended.
It helps to screw the freewheel back on the wheel while you start the lockring with a punch and hammer.
Top

theopowers

This thread is over a year old. How in the world did it get picked up again? sydney was even still with us and commented on it, bless him.