free-wheel lubricant question
 

I've just read that one must use light oil to lube free-wheel.
Now if I were to take it off and put it back together, how would I keep the balls in place?
I thought you do that with sticky grease.
grease - light oil ???

don't take your freewheeel apart. more trouble than worth, generally. besides, has it crapped out? i suspect not, as freewheels generally don't unless neglected and thus moribund in the first place. also, I've worked on with freewheels with zero lube (fmf from J&B), and they last for some time. not a lot of load on the balls

Well, if a spoke is busted on that side.......................

Nope. This is not the question that can't be answered with a link from Sheldon Brown ;)

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/freewheels.html#lube

oooooh dont take apart the freewheeel!!!!! You will be getting yourself into a mess and i hope you have plenty of 1/8" ball bearings on hand because your going to lose plenty

I've taken a few old ones (the ones that stoped being free-spinning) apart and it took me like 15 min. to clean lube each. that is using the grease to keep the balls in the grooves.
I keep a bowl under the part to catch them little ballies

I guess I should have just use wd 40, to loosen it up, and then the light oil.
Thank you.

You don't need to disassmble the freewheel to replace the spoke. Perhaps you meant to say "remove the freewheel from the rear hub?" Removing the freewheel from the hub will allow you to replace spokes.

That's right remove it. when I do the balls fall out.

Just taking the freewheel off the hub, following the normal procedure, should not cause the bearings to fall out.

The old school method for free wheel maintenance is to remove from hub, soak in kerosene, use a brush to get all the gunk and grime out of the cogs.
dont take it a part, leave it assembled,
when good and clean, spin out as much of the kerosene as you can, and leave the freewheel in the hot summer sun to evaporate.
after a couple hours, apply tons of heavy weight oil (straight 30 weight )not wd 40 or sewing machine 3 in 1, but a good auto motive grade oil.Apply so much that it flushes out any remaining solvent. spin the free wheel to work it in to the bearings, when the oil starts seaping out of the back gap, take a good shop rag and throughly wipe clean and dry, remove all traces of out side oil. now the free wheel will look and feel like brand new,and in a way it is. never use wd-40 as it flushes out the 30 weight oil.
i wish you all the best of luck!

Fellas, I am seriously dying over here! All this talk about "lube" and "balls".....HAAHAAA

:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

I am sorry, what was the question again?

was it Pamala Andersons favorite pastime?
i forgot what we were talking about!!!
ha ha !!

Are the bearings in the freewheel or axle hub bearings? The freewheel is enclosed and removing it from the rear should not expose any loose bearings. If you take your freewheel off, and then remove the axle, loose bearings are likely to fall from the hub.

how would I keep the balls in place?

The scrot, marble bag, bean bag, sac, whatever you choose to call it. :D

Childish I know, but I couldn't resist. :p

Hey GBDude,

What do you think happened here? I soaked my favorite SunTour freewheel in a solution of Performance bio-degradable parts cleaner and water, let it dry out for a day or so, then oiled it with Phil's Tenacious Oil, same I have done for years. This time, the clicking stopped. The freewheel spins like silk, but doesn't make a sound. Spooky.

Could I do damage to it by riding it? Can it do damage to me by failing in some way while I'm riding?

EB

I've noticed the same with a freshly oiled freehub - very quiet and smooth (although I can hear a slight ticking). After a ride or two, the the ticking returns louder.

I highly doubt any damage, assuming the ratchet pawls are engaging. Phil's T-oil seems to be the standard oil for freehub/freewheel use. It's not so thick as to prevent the pawls from engaging. Some say grease in cold weather prevents proper engagement.

You don't have to remove it to clean or lube it. You can use either solvent or WD40 to clean it out, soak it generiously (I use WD40) let it drain and dry for about 3 days. Then I use a product made for InLine skate bearings called Speed Skate Lube, this stuff works better then anything I have ever used in the past and last longer too. I bought a Shimano freewheel about 4 years ago and within 6 months of owning it it started making noise, so I didn't even bother cleaning it just sprayed the Speed Skate Lube generiously and it hasn't made a peep since. It's also way cleaner then using motor oil that attracts dirt like a magnet.

Speed Skate Lube also works extremily well on chains but it comes only in a spray so I don't use it for that any more.

Yes, you can do damage. The Tenacious Oil is almost too viscus for freewheel/cassette use. It slows the pawl return action, which can result in incomplete engagement. If the pawl isn't seated properly, when you apply load to the drivetrain, the freewheel can skip, which damages the pawls and/or engagement "ramps." Grease does this to an even larger degree, which is why most freewheel/hub manufacturers discourage consumers from using grease (Phil Wood used to sell a tool that allowed one to inject grease into the freewheel).
Light oil is what's needed for most freewheels. Exception would be Chris King hubs, that use a specific King grease for the engagement ring. There are others as well.
However, I've found that using grease to hold the freewheel bearings in place when rebuilding doesn't seem to do any harm. But since freewheel bearings aren't under load when spinning, overhauling them with disassembly is overkill. Flush and lube as posted previously.

You don't disassemble the freewheel. You use a freewheel remover tool. You very likely do not have one of these. they are specialized tools that bike shops have. and there are many many different varieties of these tools to match various types of freewheels and "cassettes".

Even if you insist on disassembling the freewheel, you could find that the remaing freewheel part is still blocking the spoke holes.

disassembling a freewheel and then trying to reassemble is a nightmare and it could be very dangerous when and if you get it back together. That thing could blow up on you while cranking hard on the pedals up a hill or in the middle of an intersection.

Don't do it. Take the whole rear wheel to the bike shop and pay a buck or two to have a mechanic remove it properly.

Don't ever grease the inside of a freewheel. it loads up on the ramps of the pawls (ratchets) and could easily cause it to skip on you under load. Use light oil.

here's a link to Park tools and the page of freewheel removers:

http://www.parktool.com/products/category.asp?cat=4