I am wanting to upgrade my 5 speed freewheel with a 6 or 7 speed freewheel. Could someone please tell me the width (or stack height) of a shimano 6 and 7 speed freewheel? A over-all width dimention would be best. I have a old schwinn le tour with a 125mm hub width and I want to make sure there is enough clearance... and it has the nut on the inside of the dropout for the derailleur hanger. I would like to have a good acurrate measurement of a freewheel so I can make sure before I buy one! Thank you.

Don't know offhand and I'm not willing to look it up for you, though it's available if you search.

But if you have a 126mm (125 is close enough) rear hub you have enough room for a 6s, though you might have to change the spacers around. Also if a 5s fits perfectly, you can use an old SunTour ultra-6 freewheel which uses 7s spacing to pack 6 speed into the same width as 5s.

Otherwise, measure the on-center space between two sprockets and add that to your 5s freewheels space and you have what a 6s would be. 7s is the same width.

Restating, somewhat .. standard 6 adds a cog, with the same spacing,
so frame spread went to 126.
7 speed, thins the gaps between cogs, to get the extra cog in a 126 frame

Sun Tour did that with the 'ultra 6' to get another cog in a 120 spaced frame's wheel.

8 speed was adding another similarly spaced cog on a 7 speed, spread went to 130.

it's stayed at 130, for the additional cog cramming in, things got thinner yet.

OKay, thanks. I thought that the 7speed used a narrower spacing than the old 5speeds and that was the reasoning for the "new" chain that didnt have the pins sticking out as far. I searched the net quite a bit for the actual measurement for the different freewheels and didnt find much as far as actual numbers go.

yes you were right. 7s and 8s spacing is narrower than 5s & 6s. A 7s freewheel is the same overall width as a 6s, so the sprockets are packed roughly 16% closer to each other. If your hub is 125mm and nobody respaced it for the 5s, than it will fit a standard 6s or 7s freewheel. You can buy either, and the worst case is that you'll need to move some spacers from the left to right side of the axle.

You'll know right away if you mount the wheel and note the distance between the chain and frame in high gear. 1-2mm is normal, if you have 6-7mm there's already room for another sprocket.

Freewheel width is the wrong way to approach this...
So is focusing on OLN...


Here's how you verify people:

For classic 126mm rear from the 1980s to handle 6-speed standard and 7 speed narrow:

1. Freewheel stop to outside of drive-side lock nut must be at least 36mm.
2. Having achieved #1, center of drive flange to outside of drive-side locknut must be at least 43mm...44mm is common. Should not have to exceed 45mm.

Note that #1 comes first...then finish with #2.

3. Use non-drive side to finish OLN to at least 125mm but no more than 127mm.


To achieve 8-speed, the freewheel stop to outside of drive-side lock nut must be at least 40.5. Don't really want to do this on a 126mm setup though cause all you are doing is shoving the hub shell 4 more millimeters left - taking an already nasty offset on the non-drive side and making it even worse. Hate already loose spoke on the non-drive side? Welcome to more pain...

At 8-speed...you are pretty much migrating to 130mm OLN.

=8-)

Shimano 6-speed freewheel:
Total freewheel stack height (freewheel body width) 32.5mm,
outside biggest and small cogs: 30mm

Shimano 7-speed freehub/cassette HyperglideC:
outside biggest and smallest cogs: 32.0mm
outside biggest cog and lockring: 33.2mm

Shimano 8spd freehub/cassette Hyperglide C:
outside biggest and smallest cogs: 36.0mm
outside biggest cog and lockring: 37.2mm

(as measured using calipers).

well, I think im kinda screwed because of the fact that I have a frame without a derailleur hanger (the old style bracketed derailleur) so I have a wierd nut on the inside of the dropout that takes up space. I think i am stuck with 5 speeds or one of those ultra 6 speeds.

No hanger? No problem. Lower end derailleurs have versions that come with a hanger that is designed to work with the dropout and screw hole next to the dropout. See a picture of this Shimano Tourney TX35 w/ hanger (and the little screw).

https://www.mybiketinley.com/Shimano-...r_p_16474.html

$10 for this derailleur. And I've tested the performance of this component and it shifts very nicely. BTW, if the screw is short enough, it doesn't poke through the other side and hit the chain.

well I solved the hanger problem by buying a derailleur hanger adapter or a "claw" -whatever you want to call it! It worked out great. however, the problem is the nut on the backside of the dropout from the screw next to the dropout. it makes a clearance issue when adding more gears. Thank you all for you help- it looks like i will stick with 5 speeds or a ultra 6 (if i can find one!)

I have a big bunch of ultra 6 freewheels. Let me know the size range (must start 13t or bigger) and I'll see what I can do.

well, the 5 speed i have now is a 14 - 28 and that range seems to work good for me. Let me know how much $ you want for one of your freewheels. I have no idea what these are worth, I do know how much i can buy a decent new 5, 6, 7 speed (non ultra) freewheel. Thanks!

All my freewheels are of narrow range, so I can't help you. But now that you know the right search terms you'll have no problem finding a replacement.

I love this board! A) Guy asks about fixing first RDR hanger - gets ideas - finds fix. B) Runs into clearance now on FW, and looking for narrow 6spd - voila - C) someone has them in stock!

thanks for looking...