Sun Race Freewheel or Freehub
 

I need to remove the freewheel/freehub in the linked photos, but I'm not totally sure if it's a freewheel or freehub/cassette. I believe it's a freewheel and I need the Park FR-3 freewheel removal tool, but the lockring has me confused.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/PICT8045.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/PICT8044.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/PICT8043.jpg

Does the FR-3 loosen the lock ring and the freewheel from the hub or am I missing something here?

Thanks,

KKNH3

It's a cassette. Freewheels don't have lockrings.

No! This is almost certainly a freewheel. And yes, freewheels can have lockrings.

Notice the lockring takes some sort of four-toothed tool; this is not a standard cassette lockring. The teeth that the freewheel remover grips are not visible in this photo; they are in that shadow area on the inside surface of the body opposing the axle. Note the two circular indentations on the outside face of the inner surface; those are for using a pin wrench to adjust the freewheel bearings.

To be sure, spin the cogs. If the inner part with the pin wrench holes does not spin, its a freewheel.

I'm fairly certain this is a SunRace M42 13-34 7-speed freewheel, or something similar. It's a cheaper imitation of the popular Shimano MegaDrive freewheel, recognizable by its extremely low first gear.

If my guess is correct, you need the FR-1. The FR-3 looks like it would fit the lockring, but I don't beleive it actually does, and furthermore, I don't know if there exists any mass production tool that does.

Let me know if that does not conclusively identify it.

That all makes sense to me. There are splines on the interior of the cavity surrounding the axle. I tried my FR-5, but it doesn't mate up. The description of the FR-1 on the Park website confirms your assessment that this is the tool I need.

I assume the lockring serves to hold the gear cluster together and doesn't necessarily need to be removed when removing the freewheel from the hub. If that's correct, does it also lock down the bearing adjustment piece? If so, how would one go about adjusting the bearings.

This bike, Trek 820, belongs to a neighbor and the freewheel has gotten "stiff". When you roll the bike, the crank turns slowly as if the freewheel isn't totally free. I thought if I could get it off, clean and lubricate it, the problem most likely would go away.

Thanks for the help.

KKNH3

Sorry for the mis-information. I'm familiar with Sun Tour and Shimano freewheels and have never seen one with a lockring so I thought it was a cassette.

BTW, you may be able to lube it without removing it. Lay the bike on it's side, driveside up, and drip light oil into the gap where the rotating body meets the fixed core. Spin the wheel "backwards" while dripping the oil to help it penetrate. That should get oil into the bearings and let the freewheel spin smoothly again.

For just adjusting the freewheel bearing, you use the pin wrench like I described. Park sells one of the proper wrenches for this.

For rebuilding a freewheel, its a pain. There's a bunch of little bearing balls, and you need to hold the pawls in the right place when you put it back together, etc. If you need to do it, you can do it by using the pin spanner (or a screwdriver or something) to turn that adjustment right clockwise until everything falls apart. Think very seriously before you try it though, because its not easy to get it back together.

I agree with HillRider's recommendation; use his procedure with some motor oil or something to try to lubricate the bearings. If you suspect more serious problems, you could try some WD-40 first to try to free things up. Only if that fails should you try to rebuild it--but honestly, most people just buy a new one.

A decent Shimano freewheel should only be about $25.00 at the LBS. Not worth putting much effort onto the old one. The shop will probably remove the old one for free.

Thanks to everyone for all the input. A Park Tools FR-1 plus a prodigious amount of muscle force coaxed the freewheel off. Additionally, a liberal flood of Tri-Flow brought it back to satisfactory operation. While it was all apart, I went ahead and serviced the bearings. Unfortunately, the young man who owns this bike had been messing with it before he brought it to me. He had tightened the bearings down too much, which damaged one of the cups. I greased it good and adjusted it the best I could. It'll probably ride alright for him, but I told him he would need a new hub or complete wheel some time in the future.

Left or right hand thread?
 

When you removed the freewheel was did it come off counter-clockwise? I have one that I want to work on too.

Thanks

Hey, imagine a freewheel that unscrewed in the clockwise direction. Sounds like fun...