Originally Posted by
infinityeye
removal by destruction always works. Cut into the freewheel with an angle grinder until a couple cogs and the bearings fall out by making two cuts one on either side of the freewheel.
Then take your big pliers (the blue handle ones) and grab the remains of the freewheel shell and twist it backways.
Then throw the pieces in the trash and put on your new freewheel/ cog / etc...
I have found that if you _tighten_ it a little first, that can break things loose. Also, I do the destructo method of removal without power tools - I wedge the bigger cogs in a vise, then hammer off the smallest cog with a big screwdriver. Unthread it. Same with the next, and the next. Then disasemble it. Then grab it with a pipe wrench and take it off.