I recently ordered a new wheel set for my ~1988 7-speed mtb bike (I mostly ride my Trek 5200 road bike but the mtb is great for camping and riding around the neighborhood with my kids). Anyway, I ordered a wheel set with a 7-speed free hub and they sent me a free upgraded hub with a 8/9-speed free hub along with a spacer. I don't want to change the rear derailer and shifter as i am happy with the setup (Specialized Rock Hopper Comp w/ Shimano Deore LX indexed single thumb levers).

So my two questios are: 1) do i place the spacer on the free hub prior to the cassette or between the outer small gear and lock ring? 2) The cassette came with a small gear (13), lock ring and a small washer with circular inward notches. The notches align with the splines on the free hub but i don't know where to place it (e.g between cassette body & small gear; before cassette body; etc). Where does this washer go?

Thanks

I believe the spacer goes on first, before the cassette. I don't know what the washer is for. You may want to post a photo of it, because I don't think its typical for 7 speed to have one.

Try this: Trial fit onto your new wheel the 5mm spacer, cassette, washer and small gear in that order and see if the lockring fits. If it doesn't, remove the little screws that hold the cassette together or grind off the heads of the rivets to that it sets flush against the spacer. Now check the space between the smallest two cogs to make sure it's the same as the others. If it seems too wide, take out the washer and put it behind the cassette.

You usually don't have to readjust the rear derailleur because it indexes off of the lock nut spacing against the dropout.

Retro,

Thanks for the resonse. Your recommendation seems to align the best. I will need to do a little grinding on the screw heads though.

when you use a spacer between the granny gear and the spokes, make sure your derailleur's limit screw is set correctly. there will be times where the chain might fall between the cassette and the spokes, and sometimes this can be VERY bothersome because it might not always come out easily.

I think the washer is a lockring. that goes on after the cogs, and is tightened with a special lockring tool.

After removing the screws from the cassette, i placed the 5 mm spacer on first followed by individual gears and spacers (cassette). Turns out the free washer was a spacer between small gear and cassette required for correct spacing between smallest two gears. After that, the lock ring went on perfectly. Now i just need to set the limits rd and sould be ready to go.

Thanks for all the input.

Are there three cut-outs in the washer? If so, it's supposed to go after the cassette "body". Line up the three cut-outs with the three screws that are holding the cassette body together.

Actually, these are probably not rivets. Either 4mm hex head screws or 2mm allen head screws.