atombianchi

howdy all i am looking for some advice on diagnosing what i should do with my recently seized up 6-speed uniglide free hub body. the option i would be most satisfied with would be disassembling the freehub body, servicing it and hoping that would loosen up the internal mechanism. i have not figured out how to take the thing apart but the free hub body does not have the notches near the bearing race to fit now discontinued tool TL-FH40, so i am thinking disassembly happens from the back. right now the freehub body is soaking. i have attached photos of the hub and freehub body.

In the event that the thing is now trash my only other option would be replacing it. this has also proven to be difficult since i have not been able to find a 6-speed uniglide freehub body to purchase and from what i have read i dont think i can supplant a hyper glide free hub body on to this hub i could be wrong. any advice is much appreciated.

thanks

heres more pics
https://picasaweb.google.com/sixfootdeathtrap/DA#

Steev

Never worked with the Dura-Ace uniglides, but those 4 holes on the bottom sure look like notches for a pin spanner.

Panthers007

This should point you to the right decision:

https://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=45

You may not be stuck with a 6-spd. freehub. Not sure what you are running, but it may be possible to swap to a 8 or 9 spd.

DannoXYZ 

You may use an 8-spd freehub screw-on body from a Dura-ace FH-7403 hub. Very rare, but you may be able to find it somehow:



Otherwise, you'll need that 4-prong tool to remove the outer bearing-race. It can only be disassembled from the outside in. I'd try soaking in a heated solvent tank overnight and see if that'll dissolve the dried out grease & oil on the inside. Then you may be able to spray through some lightweight oil.

masi61

Obviously you have the special Shimano Freehub removal tool for removing the cassette body (freehub) from the hub. I wasn't aware that the bearing race in the DA freehub body lacked the notches for the TL-FH40. I just bought this exact tool last week from Ebay in anticipation of rebuilding a 7 speed Dura Ace uniglide freehub body.

If you find out how the 4 holes on the bottom are utilized to dis-assemble the freehub body can you let us know? Personally, I think that Shimano should do more to make these parts more serviceable. The only way to get hyperglide capability for this hub would be to locate a Dura Ace 7403 freehub body. A few online vendors had them listed about 2 years ago, but as far as I know the supply of these have dried up so they are officially "obsolete". If you really like this wheel you might just keep trolling Ebay until you find a match. If you're like me, when you really need some item like this, you can never find it, but then as soon as you give up and move on to something else suddenly multiples of the same item miraculously materialize.

DannoXYZ 

The pin-holes on the bottom can be used with a pin-tool to hold the body steady while you undo the outer-race. I've found it much easier to leave the body attached to the hub on the wheel and use a chainwhip to hold it in place as you remove the outer-race.

The FH-7402 8-spd Uniglide body can also be adapted to accept Hyperglide cogs. You can use a Dremel and widen one of the slots on the body to fit the wider tab on the Hyperglide cogs. You'll still need to use the threaded top-cog from the Uniglide cassette, but it won't cause any problems.

masi61

But what means do you use to unthread the outer race?

atombianchi

does any one have any idea where i can purchase the Dura Ace 7403 freehub body.

DannoXYZ 

All the Dura-ace freehubs I've seen had notches for that tool. I've heard of people cracking the race's outer edges by trying to spin the race the wrong way (it's left-hand threaded). The area underneath the notches and outer surface of the race isn't threaded and it's very thin. It's possible to crack off the outer part of the race so that it's smooth.

And yeah, the 7403 freehub body's as likely to be found as a white unicorn.