Does anyone offhand happen to know the specific tool I'd need to remove the front freewheel on a Schwinn Varsity? Is it a tool that is still made and sold?

Are these front freewheels easy to remove and reinstall?

You can pull the whole crankset out with a small/medium adjustable wrench and a large adjustable wrench. Remove the pedals, chain and front derailleur. Use the wrenches on the nuts on left (NDS). Slide the nuts off along the crank arm, then the bearings. Push the crank to towards the right side, pull out the bearing, then wiggle the crankset out the right side.

Getting the freewheel off the crankset is another matter. Part of it is swaged on, and not intended to be removed ever.

Changing the chain rings is not possible.

Why do you want to remove and re-install the front freewheel? once you have the crankset out, you will see all of the mechanism (balls, pawls, etc) of the freewheel, which you can blast with solvent, allow to dry, and re-lubricate with light oil.

If you want to get rid of the front freewheel system, you will need to replace the crankset -> two choice, a new one piece crankset or a conversion kit that allows you to mount a standard 68mm "English" bottom bracket.

Typically with an old bike like that I strip everything, clean, and reassemble. In this case I'm confronted with some unusual parts and want to be sure I have the right tools, and that I can reassemble the thing.

There is some sort of notched ring on the right-side of the bottom-bracket. I had presumed the need to remove that ring in order to remove the crank and get at the bottom-bracket bearings. The notches clearly suggest a corresponding tool. But you're saying I don't need to worry about that?

I still would like to own the tool.

BTW, the kid and I love that system. So much fun to show off. Highly unusual. Gets a lot of attention. Fun to have it. It's s keeper.

Incorrect. On the Schwinn version of Shimano's FFS system, the freewheel unit threaded onto the one-piece crank and the chainrings were held to the freewheel unit with a large circlip. It required a particular tool to get the freewheel off. (This was part of Schwinn School when I attended in 1980.)

That being said- the rest of the parts in the bottom bracket are standard Schwinn Varsity parts, which is to say they're darn near indestructible. You shouldn't need to remove the freewheel or chainrings... ever. Clean the bearings and cups, pack them in fresh grease, and it'll be good for another 30 years.

On the one piece cranks I have disassembled and lubed there are shim washers to set the bearing preload for the freewheel. Note where they go when you disassemble it. These pictures are from a Ross. I don't remember what tool I used likely channel locks.

buying a tool to use once seems a folly ..

Personally, I would treat it like I treat freewheels and cassette bodies: I run a bead of heavy oil (Phil Tenacious works well) and spin the freewheel to work the oil through the mechanism.

Jonathon: if you do decide on this method, note that dissassembly will dump a bazillion 1/8" ball bearings. Be prepared to catch them or you'll be finding them for years to come. Putting it back together is another issue- holding the bearings in place with a bead of grease is the usual method.

Yes!
I took this one apart "just because I could" as the chainrings were bent and rusty and I was replacing it with one that was cosmetically much better.