Originally Posted by
jamesdak
I got creative (I think) the other day with removing a freewheel. With only one working arm I couldn't get it to budge using the usual removal tool in a vise, turn wheel trick.
On a whim I grabbed my battery powered Dewalt Impact wrench and BAM, super easy! Still wondering if there's a downside to doing this as it doesn't seem to get mentioned when talking about removing freewheels. I did hold the removal tool in place with a QR skewer that was only lightly tightened. Stopped the wrench the second the freewheel broke lose. This was a Suntour 2 tab freewheel so the removal tool I have is quite beefy.
easier still is to put a wadded up paper towel in the socket to take up extra room and prevent the socket from backing out of the splines.... carefully done, the paper will also retain the remover socket in the drive socket...
i've used the paper-in-socket thing for a long time to retain nuts in sockets for install in difficult places.
i have used an impact gun on all the shimano freewheels i remove for over a decade now... one pull of the trigger, and off they come... i've had ONE park socket the entire time... still going strong.
i have snapped the drive teeth off of a suntour two prong socket... i tried the bench vise, PBB oil, heat, hand held impactor w/3lb. sledge,,, then the 'gun..... i finally gave up on salvaging that hub.
a few Normandy/Schwinns have hit the scrap barrel too.