cvcman

My rear free wheel seems like its dry or sounds like its dry. I assume when I dregreased it and the chain I may have washed out some of the grease.. It looks like it takes a special tool to remove it too, is there any way to get it off other than the special tool ?? Its a Fuji Crosstown with Shimano gears

jeepr

angle the bike to the non-drive side, spin the wheel and lube the free wheel where it is turning.

bikeman715

don't spin the wheel but give the freewheel a spin as you drip lube into it . as far the tool goes you need something like parktools FR-1 to remove the freewheel . any light lube like triflo will work .

djchoragos

Can you elaborate on "sounds dry?" jeepr and bikeman715 are right, just drop some lube on the shell. I'm not familiar with the wheels on that bike, but I assume it's a freehub and not a free wheel. I doubt you need to remove it if all you did was degrease your chain.

If you're keen to remove it, however, then you need both a chain whip and a cassette tool (like he suggested). Once you have the cassette off, then you need to remove the axle and bearing assembly (which may or may not have loose bearings), then the freehub either pops off or you need an 11 or 12 mm allen wrench (I can't remember which). Watch for small parts! If it's gunky, gently clean it out, and relube with some mineral oil. Everything you do here is gentle. Then regrease the bearings if they're loose, and put it all back together. Taking pictures during disassembly helps.

cvcman

well it just sounds dry,lol The bike shop said the freewheel wheel just unthreads off the wheel and its 25.00 to replace ? I also notice when the wheel is on the bike and I ly the bike on its sde ith the gear set up and spin the wheel i seems like the gear set sorta moves up and down as the wheel is turning, the bike shop said thats normal they do that to aid in shifting ??? My wifes road bike doesnt move at all when doing this ??
The bike shop said " keep running it it might last 5 yrs "

hukapits

The normal condition is that gear or cassette I usually name it should not move in its still position when wheel is spinning. If your free wheel or free hub is shimano you may find its exploded diagram in shimano's web. It'll help a lot. This diagram may also be helpful to assemble /disassemble other free hub that uses simmilar mechanism as shimano i.e using loose bearing mechanism. Try DIY it's fun.

fietsbob

If a Freehub, then you can only get to the gap between the 2 bearing races,
to squirt lubricating oil in,
By removing the Axle , from the opposite side.

davidad

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/free-k7.html You can drip lube into the freewheel. You need to remove the freehub to clean and lube it.

vins0010

+1 https://www.sheldonbrown.com/free-k7.html

If it is a freewheel (where it just threads off like you were told), you can remove the freewheel (or not), I'd clean the outside center part, and drip lube into the center part where you see movement when the freewheel turns. You can do this through either the front or on the back of the freewheel. If you can't get the freewheel off because you need some special tool and you don't want to get it, you can just put the lube in the front works fine but excess lube may drip out the back - so just prepare yourself for that so you don't stain anything important.

If by "sounds dry", you mean loud clicking that is annoying, you could try a heavier weight lube/oil. I used a capful of motor oil once, to quiet things down a little. However, there wasn't any real reason to do this and some decry motor oil's propensity to collect dirt.

In either case, after lube, set the freewheel on some papertowels, rags, etc. Some excess lube may drip out.

If you really don't like the freewheel, you could also look for a replacement freewheel at any local shop organization that recycles or breaks down old bikes. They usually have tons and they aren't very expensive (much less than $20-$25) - just look for one that isn't worn and spins freely - even if it needs a little cleaning on the outside and go ahead and relube as above.

Lastly, if you really want, you could take the freewheel apart per Sheldon's site and then clean/lube in a more precise manner. I did this once with an old one for curiosity's sake. Like him, I agree it isn't worth it. After 5 seconds, my curiosity was satiated and the reassembly was a PITA with no real mechanical benefit for having gone through the process.

FastJake

Lots of confusion on this thread..

From what you've said and the bike shop has told you, you have a thread on freewheel, NOT a cassette as some have suggested. These are not the same: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/free-k7.html

You can lube a freewheel without removing it from the wheel, although you could probably do a better job if you take if off. Just spin the freewheel backwards and look for the gap between the part that spins and the part that is stationary. Drip some oil in there. Freewheels are generally pretty durable, so don't worry about replacing it unless it stops working.

This is normal. Some freewheels do it more than others. It may look a little sketchy, but in reality it doesn't affect anything. It just has to do with how the freewheel bearings are setup.