Hello,
I recently replaced my cheap 27 inch wheels with some new ones from bicyclewheels.com that have sealed bearing hubs but it didnt stop me from hearing a clunking noise from the rear everytime i pedal hard up a hill. i took the wheel off and it was not spinning smoothly at all until i removed the freewheel, then the bearings rolled nice and smooth again. I tossed my pie plate way before any of this happened but i'm wondering if thats what ruined the old wheel.
so basically my questions are:
Does the pie plate serve as a spacer keeping the freewheel from overtightening and putting pressure on the bearing?
If so, is there a spacer you can buy to keep this from happening? or should i get to the co-op and pick up an old pie plate?
or do you think something completely different is happening?

I'm sure the clunking is coming from the rear wheel. it is some what random, but only when i start to hammer and only while pedaling. if i stop, or coast for a bit, the noise will go away after resuming pedaling.

thanks for any advice you can give.

The "pie plate" is a spoke protector. In general a freewheel will not interfere with the axle in any way unless the axle is bent, which you would see right away. While there are circumstances where you need a small spacer on the hub, that's only to keep the freewheel away from the spokes... and this is rare. It is worth, however, checking to make sure the freewheel does have adequate space between the biggest cog and the spokes. Spin the wheel off the bike and hold the freewheel and see if you feel it catching -- but you should be able to see the spacing by looking between the biggest cog and the hub flange.
It is really impossible to over-tighten a freewheel -- remember you are putting torque on that every time you pedal.

Will the rear hub axle move freely if you put the freewheel back on but don't tighten it much (ie don't ride it) ?

https://www.loosescrews.com/index.cgi...d=658106127374

You may also want to try your LBS.

I'm curious if you have clearance between the gear cluster and the dropouts.

Sounds like you need the protector or a spacer then. You can't argue with what you found. To test how much of a spacer you need screw the freewheel back on until you notice it causing trouble again. That'll also tell you if it's a depth thing or if the inner diameter of the freewheel isn't large enough to let the nuts on the axle rotate cleanly.

Ah, good point. I too was curious if the wheel turned freely on or off the bike. I guess I assumed this was off the bike... maybe not?

I put one of these spacers on and so far, no knocking, even after climbing a long incline into the wind. I won't declare the problem fixed tho until i've gone several days without hearing it.
the 1mm spacer left me with just enough room in the dropouts.
if it does start making noise again i'll just get a new freewheel, something is screwy about the threading on this one (no pun intended)

If you need to just keep the freewheel from being overtightened on the hub, another trick is to thread the freewheel on, then fill the gap between the cogs and the hub by wrapping fishing line or something similarly tough and thin around the hub.

For a cheap spacer the locknut used on the bottom bracket bearing cup has the same threading as the freewheel. I have used them to get a
good chainline on a single speed.

I don't understand how the freewheel can interact with the hub-axle and bearings?

DannoXYZ, it probably isn't. Sounds like it was indeed one of those cases where the freewheel was designed for a hub that had a longer threaded portion, and thus a spacer is required.

This is an incredibly bad idea for reasons which should be obvious.

it wasnt interfering with the axle, that can only happen if you have a bent axle. i thought it maybe had defective threads and was tightened too far, but it turned out to be just a cheapo freewheel.
i found another thread here https://www.bikeforums.net/archive/in.../t-436916.html that described the same noise i was hearing.