Does anyone know how to remove a Joytech FH body? I don't have to yet, but would like to have the knowhow for when I do my next overhaul. I got it used on ebay and it's already been built into a wheel. I tried taking it apart so I'd know how it worked, but could figure out the FH body removal. There is no allen bolt in there. Unfortunately, I don't know the model number. It's a Joytech 8 speed Shimano style freehub.

See if there is a hollow allan bolt that enters from the other side of the freehub body. You may need a longer allan key to reach it.

Tried that, I have a really long 8 and 10mm (about 6 inches long), and neither catch on anything. All I see in there is what may be a star nut, I'll go to Harbor Freight and pick up a cheap set of large Torx wrenches and see if that works. Any other input would be helpful.

A Shimano freehub body will probably cost you around $25.00 or $30.00 at full retail and you're still going to have to overhaul the hub. You can buy a brand new equivlent quality rear wheel for around $50.00. My recommendation would be to take a hammer to it.

I'm pretty sure these are not removeable, rivetted in place. There is no point in removing it anyway, because you can't get a replacement body.

There is never any reason to remove a freehub body from its hub shell unless you are going to replace the body...for overhauls, the body should stay on the hub shell, makes it much easier to work with.

These are, frankly, pretty crummy hubs, chosen because the manufacturer was too cheap to spring for a genuine Shimano hub. Even the cheapest, bottom of the line Shimano Freehubs are way better than any of these off-brand units...and you can get parts for them!

Sheldon "Genuine Shimano" Brown

Alright, thanks. I actually got the hub as a standalone for $.99 and built a wheel out of it. It's not my primary wheel, so it's not a problem. Thanks Sheldon for the advice on it. I'll replace it with the RM-40 that's coming in today ($.99 too). I've got an Acera on my primary wheel. Like I said, there's no point in removing it right now, it's working fine, just was wondering in the event I may have had to take it off. I just wanted to make sure I had interoperability between my rear wheels (my backup was a threadon).

I don't agree. All of the Shimano hubs I've worked on (105, Sora, Ultegra and Dura Ace) have freehub bodies with a rubber seal ring set in the rear face. Removing the freehub body lets me removing this seal so I can drip light lube (Tri-Flow or similar) directly into the bearings. This is much more thorough than trying to get lube to penetrate through the tiny gap in the outside face of the body. I do this during my annual overhaul and the freehubs seem to last forever and are very quiet.

The trick on removing the freehub is to first take off the cassette with two chain whips and then remove the axle. You use a Shimano cassette removal tool with 12 teeth and insert it in the body of the freehub, you will see the grooves. The freehub unscrews in the regular direction, it takes a lot of force.

But, as Sheldon said, there are no parts available, so why bother??? Best solution is to replace cheap nasty hubs with Shimano hubs as then you *can* get spares if needed. It's much cheaper to replace the body than it is to buy a new hub and have the wheel rebuilt...