SW84

I thought I'd start a thread about what repairs I do. Feel free to post yours too.

Today I noticed that when I spun the crank arms backwards (bike on a stand), the rear wheel spins a little in reverse, and the chain goes slack. I pulled the freewheel and tore it apart. Of course I wasn't thinking about all the little ball bearings. Spent 10 minutes chasing the little boogers all over the place. I noticed two things with the freewheel: There was no sign of grease, and one of the two pawls was sitting backwards. I cleaned everything up, greased all necessary parts, installed the pawl correctly, and reassembled it. Works great now. I installed new tires and tubes also. I pulled the FD and RD, cleaned all the muck out of them, and reinstalled. I installed new bearings in the rear axle hub.

soyabean

Freewheels assembled from the factory aren't greased at all, just only with light machine oil or else pawls will stick and gum in cold weather.

Freewheels rebuilt by DIY can use grease to hold the bearings in place, and still light machine oil for the pawls and springs.

There's plenty of threads about this.

Andrew R Stewart 

Two comments- Freewheels are almost never greased from the factory. Generally a light weight oil is the lube of recommendation. Second is that most all pawls I have experienced are not able to be installed backwards without the freewheel's function to be messed up. I doubt it left the factory this way.

Just the same it's good to service our bikes. Look forward to this thread's further posts.

My day saw a couple of very messy service jobs, one with too much rust. Andy

SurferRosa

poidh

freeranger

I've found that it's not a bad idea to check the Park Tool or Harris Cyclery (Sheldon Brown) sites before starting a repair, even if I think I know how to go about it. Always possible there might be something I'd overlook, especially if it's something I don't do often. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

SW84

Installed new brake pads, cable housing, and cables. Installed new shifter cable housing and cables. Installed new handlebar stem and existing drop down handlebars. Adjusted brakes and derailleurs.

randyjawa 

My approach to freewheel service, is to remove the freewheel, spray WD40 into joining gaps, front and back sides. Spin the freewheel lots and watch the dirty stuff seep out. Respray and spin again. Once satisfied that things are cleaner in the freewheel, get some low pressure compressed air (I don't have a compressor so I blow hard on the crevices where the WD40 went in and came out). Once satisfied that the WD40 is mostly gone, I drip ProLink into the freewheel, again from the front and back side. That has worked for me for many years.

Before...


After...

SW84

Very nice! I wonder if using a can of automotive brake cleaner would work. It evaporates quickly.

mpetry912 

sure it evaporates quickly. it's a chlorinated vapor solvent.

What's not to like ? And its great for the environment too !

/markp

etherhuffer 

I used to work in industrial chemicals and likely have breathed more chlorinated and fluorinateds than anyone should. If I had to have a bucket of any solvent it would be Freon TF. City of Seattle used it to clean out electric bus motors. I avoid BrakeKleen save for car brakes as intended. Pastor Bob may chide me but a long bath in mineral spirits has worked well for me. Not all chlorinateds play well with rubber and plastic.
All that said, yes, keep those freewheels free!

Edit: I see that Brake Kleen is perchlorethylene, aka "dry cleaning fluid" from the old days.

SW84

A simple yes or no would suffice. Let's not go down the debatable environmental road in this thread.

SW84

Started tearing apart the Raleigh today so I can start ordering parts. Going to replace all bearings, seat, handlebar, cables and housing, and both brake levers & shifters. I'm looking at going with the brake lever/shifter that's a combined unit.

zandoval 

That's the ticket... fun, Fun, FUN!!!

flangehead

RD shift cable broke about 1” from bar end shifter. Fortunately I was only about 1 mile from home. It shifts so much easier now with a new cable. Usually I get a clue by not indexing but not this time.

SW84

Got the Freewheel rebuilt with new bearings. Installed it along with a new dork disc,and chain. Installed new bearings in the front axle and attached it to the front fork with a new QR. Got the stem and handlebar de-rusted and painted, then installed.

SW84

Today I decided to take the '84 Schwinn out for a long (to me) ride for the first time. I noticed that, once I got up to 15 mph, the rear wheel felt out of balance. When I got home I started trying to figure out what was causing it. While spinning the wheel I noticed the tire's outer edge had a 5" flat spot. To confirm it was a defect in the tire I swapped out the tube, and got the same indication. I went online to REI's website and requested a refund. They immediately approved it and I took the tire back to REI. They didn't have any more Bontragers in my size, so I visited a LBS nearby. They had several tires in the size I needed, but they also had gumwalls on sale, so I decided to get the bike looking like it should. Here's before and after pictures.