Originally Posted by
Trakhak
And that's fine, as long as the bike is never ridden under frigid conditions.
Note that, again, (i) freewheels never come greased from the factory; (ii) if there's a downside to using light oil as intended by the manufacturers, I've never encountered it or heard of it; and (iii) for some reason, people who advocate greasing freewheels on the basis that every other bearing assembly on the bike uses grease never mention, e.g., Sturmey-Archer internal-gear hubs, whose manufacturer has always specified the use of oil for maintenance for over 100 years.
S-A hubs use heavier-weight oil, of course, since the forces involved are higher. All a freewheel has to to is freewheel, so lighter oil is appropriate, as demonstrated by the fact that that's what the manufacturers of freewheels have always used.
Originally Posted by
Hondo6
I understand that greasing the pawls/springs of a freewheel is not a good idea. My question to [MENTION=42162]pastorbobnlnh[/MENTION] was in regards to his opinion regarding whether using light oil or grease on the freewheel's bearings and races was a better choice.
Originally Posted by
SurferRosa
He uses grease on freewheel bearings, just like a bb, hub, pedals, or headset.
I'll jump in here with my two cents:
Injecting grease in the backside of freewheel (aka the Stein Tool) is a no-no. It floods the internals of the freewheel with way too much grease, especially on the pawls. Sachs used a similar method (there is a port hole under the sprockets) and flooded the internals of their Aris models. The grease eventually turned into a thick and sticky peanut butter.
While not all Sachs look this way, the majority do.
While this is not proof that freewheel manufacturers do use grease, it's pretty convincing. You will find some NIB freewheel boxes with writing to the effect that says, "Do not Grease." I've seen this on Regina and Suntour freewheel boxes. I believe this was in response to LBS mechanics using the Stein injector tool. In the case of the Sachs Aris, Suntour Winner Pro, and Shimano DA, 600 and Sante models, the incorporated seals would prevent the tool from working or the pressure of the grease gun might damage the seals.
I've examined a number of new freewheels, both modern and NOS, and all had grease or had signs of old dried out grease.
Recently I serviced a brand new Huffy purchased at TJMaxx for a friend. The noise created by the new, Made in China freewheel was horrific. I decided to service it. When I opened it up, I found:
Yes, the bearings fell out, but there was a tiny amount of grease in the races and more on the pawls.
As I serviced it, I discovered it was missing a significant number of bearings. I added more to fill the race. I did use more grease than usual (in the races, not on the pawls or the ratchet teeth) in order quiet this noisy piece of junk. I also removed a thin shim spacer to better tune the bearings.
I place a small drop or two of quality machine oil on the pawl pivots and wipe the ratchet teeth with the same oil.
I use Super Lube synthetic grease in the races for the bearings for several reasons. It is not impacted by temperatures until below -50F and above +500F. It is very water and salt resistant. Contaminants tend to not penetrate the bearings. I've open my serviced freewheels after 1000s of miles of mixed pavement and gravel riding and the grease looks similar to the above.
I don't believe in the Flush and/or Dunk and Dribble method of freewheel service. It will not remove the contaminants and the oil quickly runs out of the freewheel making a mess of the sprockets, RD, etc.
Hope this is helpful.