meb

I have an Exage group Uniglide-6 speed freehub that is sticking-the drive side chain sags a lot during coasting-the rder tensioning. I've never had this problem on a freehub before but on freewheels it usually precedes problems related to bearings or debris in the bearings. Could that be the issue here. On freewheels, it worsens abruptly with no gradual warning often taking a deraileur with it. Will this gradually worsen or worsen abruptly or neither?

The current deraileur has some left-right play, so could it be simply the chain sticking on a mis-aligned shift position (I have a friction-indexed switch so I could switch to friction and realign to see if that is an alternative problem).

Are the freewheeling bearings inside the Uniglide body?
If so, is replacement of the body the remedy (I recently obtained a 7 speed Uniglide body intended as an upgrade-if it fits it would have been replaced anyway)?
Is there any oiling or cleaning remedification?

Ex Pres 

It comes off with a 10mm allen wrench. You can clean them like freewheels. Flush with WD40 or the like, then re-lube with some light oil afterwards.

HillRider

Weren't the 6-speed Uniglide freehub bodies different from the current 7+-speed hyperglide bodies? I don't think they come off the same way and aren't interchangable with later bodies.

meb

Yes the Hyperglide bodies are not interchangeable with the Uniglide bodies.
In my case however, the compatibility concern is whether the 7 later speed Uniglides bodies are interchangeable with the earlier 6 speed Uniglide bodies-the body design evolved during the Uniglide days relating to their removal so even later Uniglide bodies may not be interchangeable with the earlier Uniglide bodies. So if the Uniglide 7 doesn't work, I won't even try a Hyperglide.

cs1

Sheldon Brown said that they were interchangable. https://sheldonbrown.com/k7.html#transplant

HillRider

I believe the 6-speed Uniglide freehubs fall into the catagory of "very early freehubs" which Sheldon says are not interchangable.

cs1

Well, I'd love to send him an email but that isn't going to happen. Too bad because there's a lot of NOS Shimano XT hubsets on ebay that are 6sp Uniglide. I was thinking of having a set of wheels made up. Is there anyone who can say for sure on this?

Jeff Wills

The OP says it's an Exage hub, which makes it a later model hub, which means the freehub attachment is the same as the Hyperglide era.

The transplant should work (doctor) but I've run into small incompabilities between road and mountain hubs. If everything is "mountain" then the only way to find out is to try it.

Here's Park's instructions: https://parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=45

meb

No idea if everything is mountain-could just as easily be everything road. I bought the 7 speed body from someone that didn't even know it was Uniglide. In those early mountain bike days, were they even making special mountain bike hubs yet? The ders were mountain bike, but it used to have a 26T granny. I bought the Bridgstone MB-4 bike 3 years ago at a bike swap meet.

Gonzo Bob

All 6-speed Uniglide freehubs I have seen were fastened with the standard 10mm allen fixing bolt. I think the very early Uniglide freehubs were 5-speed and perhaps some 6-speed. You can swap to a HyperGlide freehub body for most 6-speed Uniglide hubs.