I'm trying to remove my shimano 9 ring cassette from the wheel. I'm using a FR-5 park tool lockring cassette removal thing. The teeth line up perfectly, but the darned thing won't go in all the way. *sigh* - what am I doing wrong here? I was imagining it would slide right on with no trouble... but of course not!

The tool won't go right down to the end of the splines if that's what you mean. As long as it's engaged into the lock ring that's fine as the lock ring is only a few millimeters thick.

I had a hub where the end of the freehub came very close to the bottom of the lock ring so that the splined lockring remover tool would engage just the few millimetres of the lockring itself, then go no farther. While this was adequate engagement for turning the lockring, it did mean that the tool was prone to jumping out when torqued (on and off.) I found it safer to run a long QR skewer through the hub and tool and cinch them down just barely snug to restrain the tool, just as we used to do with notch-and-prong freewheel removers. Haven't needed to do this with other hubs that allowed the lockring tool to drop even a couple of millimetres farther in past the lockring. (Perhaps I should, though, to avoid any chance of stripping the tool.)\

agree with the above, use the quick release skewer to hold the tool in place it makes it easier.

I bought an FR5 from Nashbar and it was defective, meaning the splines were just a bit larger than the openings in the lockring (barely visible to the human eye). I guess there had been a bad batch of these. Nashbar agreed to take it back, but I would have to pay shipping--the cost of which exceeded the cost of the tool. I just went my LBS and took the whole wheel, verified that the FR5 they had in stock fit, and bought it. S-canned the old tool from Nashbar.

There have been several threads which have noted a defective batch of cassette tools from Park, would take your FR5 back to where you got it from if possible, or get a new one or Shimano's own version.

You did remove the skewer first and then inserted the socket? As one rider suggested, after removing the skewer and inserting the socket, put the skewer but on again through the hole in the socket and then use a long box wrench or crescent wrench on the socket. The skewer will help hold the socket on.

Yep, it was a faulty fr-5 tool. I went and bought a fr-5g from a different dealer, and it slid right on :-)

Now I just need to figure out how to muscle the cassette off. I about snapped my arms off, and didn't get anywhere, and yeah, I'm pretty certain I'm wrenching the right way. I'm holding the cassette still with the chain whip, while turning the wrench to in the direction the cassette freely moves... that's correct isn't it?

"Righty: tighty; Lefty: loosey " (Counterclockwise to remove)

You have the wrong tool. An FR is a Freewheel Remover. You need a Cassette Remover. I ran into the same thing; fortunately in my case the lock ring was not overly tight and I got it to work.

EDIT: Nevermind; I'm messed up. I was thinking of the FR-1. It has the same splines but a different diameter at the base of the splines. If there are markings on the tool, make sure you have an FR-5 and not an FR-1. Could have been messed up in the package.

Sounds like my first pedal removal experience. Stay with it... it will come loose.