robbied196

Help! I wanted to replace my Sachs 7 speed freewheel for a Sachs 8 speed freewheel which has better lower gearing. The problem is the 8 speed freewheel is to wide for my frame. Is it possible to just remove the smallest sprocket and run it as a 7 speed?

Airburst

Depending on the frame, you may be able to re-space the rear end so that the freewheel will fit, what's the frame made of? What model is it?

tcs

I think so. Years ago I unscrewed the two smallest cogs off a seven speed Sachs freewheel to make a five speeder that would fit in 120 OLD and 7-spd index shift. Those cogs were just cantilevered off the narrower body.

robbied196

Its a Vitus aluminum frame but has a 130mm drop out. The wheel has a Campagnolo croce d'aune hub but I think its really meant for a 126mm dropout. However, its worked fine with the 7 speed Sachs freewheel there's just enough clearance between the small sprocket and the frame. When I fit the 8 speed I can see its not going to fit even with a spacer. I'm looking for the simplest solution to give me lower gearing.

FBinNY 

Assuming you have 2 chain whips to dis-assemble the freewheel, you can simply replace individual sprockets on the freewheel to broaden the range, or buy a custom made 7s freewheel with the gearing you need. If you PM me the details of your current 7s freewheel, and what you want to change it to, I'm sure I can help you out.

Otherwise, yes you can drop the smallest sprocket, but you'll also probably need to grind off the protruding lip on the second.

fietsbob

Yes, but if the replacement freewheel is Sachs Malliard too ,
you can use the smaller cogs off the 7 speed, instead of the double threaded #7

but yes you can just leave the 8th off, It threads into #7, #7 threads onto #6,
# 6 threads onto the body.
I found 8th cog has to come off anyhow to grip the remover tool.

robbied196

Thank you for your PM FBinNY, unfortunately I don't have enough posts to be able to reply!

I think between the 8 speed and the 7 speed I have the spockets I need to build a new freewheel and I have the tools to strip off the sprockets, there's just a couple of questions

From what fietsbob has said, it sounds like each sprocket will be threaded, I assume they will all be anti-clockwise to remove them? (As you can tell, I've never stripped a freewheel before!)

Will the freewheel off the 7 speed be narrower in width than the 8 speed? I'm assuming it will be, which means I will need to use the 7 speed freewheel so that it fits back in the frame.

The most important spocket I want to use is the 1st, 30 tooth off the 8 speed, will this sprocket be removable from the freewheel, or is the first sprocket fixed to the freewheel?

Hope the questions make sense and thanks for all your help

FBinNY 

In Sachs freewheels the majority of sprockets are splined and slide on. The smaller ones are threaded and hold it all together with a right hand thread so riding tighten them. The smallest is threaded to the next one which then threads to the body.

Use the chain whips to hold any larger sprocket and turn off the smaller ones one at a time until the you get to the splined ones. Don't be surprised if the 2wo smallest come off together, and sometimes these are hard to get apart.

If you need sprockets, you need to specify whether they have 3 (older version) or 4 splines and the number of teeth and position with 1 being the largest.

If you wish to PM me you can send an email through the forum (click on my name to see the profile and click on email)

fietsbob

7 speed is narrower by 1 than the 8 speed, just because #7 cog is threaded internally to screw
#8 into. the body with the splines and the thread on the end is the same.