Bought a thrift bike for a buddy of mine. I'm trying to replace the freewheel, but my shimano tool doesn't fit this thing, it's about a half inch too small in diameter. Is there some trick to removing this that I don't know? I looked on Sheldon Brown, is this a Shimano freehub? Am I going to be able to replace it with a standard 6-speed freewheel? For that matter, will it be possible to convert the wheel to quick release?

I'd also like to service the hubs. Any kind of special tools I'll need for that? It'll be my first time, but I've been told it's fairly easy.

Sorry for the barrage of questions. Like I said, I'm putting this thing in shape for a buddy of mine and I'm eager to get him riding with me.




Here's the front wheel...

Looks like an early model cassette, not freewheel. You need 2 chain whips. 1 to unscrew the smallest cog. the other to stop the cassette from turning.

You can probably find some combination of hollow axle & cones that will work. See if your LBS has the parts. Might take a bit of trial & error to get the right ones.

if that is indeed a Uniglide freehub under there you may be able to remove the cogs with only one chainwhip if you do it with the wheel in the dropouts and use the crank and chain as one whip.

as far as tools go, yes TWO chainwhips would be better and a couple of cone wrenches for the, what else?, cones. i don't know what size they may be, although i have one of those front hubs, so i would take measurements of the flats before purchasing or go the the LBS with both wheels in hand and throw yourself on their mercy and ask them what you need.

Edit: Ignore this; my bad

It is certainly a freewheel (if it was a freehub there would be bulge on the drive side of the rear hub) but it's held together like the early cassettes as Homebrew01 said.Removing freewheels is usually an easy process unless you have one that is not designed to be removed. Once you unscrew the fist cog removal may seem more obvious. If not, I would remove the axles (you said you wanted to service the bearings anyway); you will need some cone wrenches of the right size to remove the nuts and cones. Further, I'm guessing here, you may need to pry off that cover around the axle which might expose some splines, otherwise you will need to disassemble the freewheel to remove it.

There is some lettering on the dust cap/ring around the axle; what lettering/ numbers are on the ring?

Sorry but that is a very early and rather cheap cassette hub. I agree two chain whips is the best way to remove the cogs.

I forget what they came on but we used to stock a wheel like that. It is 27" with that steel cassette yes? they were pretty odd ducks.

I am not sure you'll ever find a axle and cone set for that steel hub, check your LBS maybe they can order you a 27" cassette QR wheel from someone like Wald or J&B

Edit: My bad I found some photos, it is an old cassette/ freehub style like somebody said https://www.flickr.com/photos/51502199@N05/5026692138/in/photostream/

Old stuff early uniglide used the small cog to hold the rest on.
just like the freewheels usually do.

I tend to think Uniglide as well. The dust cover over what is almost certainly the outer bearing in the freehub body is the clue. A freewheel simply does not use a cover of that sort.

If we're right and this is a Uniglide then there's nothing to be gained by removing the cluster. Use regular and cone wrenches to remove the nut, spacer and cone from the non drive side and slip the axle out, Clean and service as normal and re-assemble.

The good news is that the old Uniglide cogs are tough. I used one for years on a single speed. The bad news is that if and when they do finally wear out that you'll have to toss the whole wheel unless you hunt down a NOS Uniglide cassete.

Took the wheel apart on my lunch break. Yeah, this is what I see.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/5150219...n/photostream/

*sigh* I guess it can't all be easy though. So I've definitely got a uniglide on my hands. It might still be operable, but honestly I'd rather put something replaceable on it. So is the entire wheel a paperweight, or is it worth the trouble of lacing a freewheel style hub onto it?

I've found some 27" rear wheels online for about 40 bucks, and I've got a 6 speed freewheel already on the way since that's what I thought I was dealing with. Think I should just buy a wheel and thread the freewheel on?

There is actually a lot your can do with your freehub. The question is, why are you wanting to replace it in the first place? If you need a new freehub body you can usually find an old hub to cannibalize https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-BICY...item4ab081dd8c. Further, if you need new cogs they are also available. I have also used the 5 speed cluster of a 7 speed hyper glide cassette with the threaded lock cog. One difference is the Uniglide has symmetrical spines and the Hyperglide has one spline wider than the rest. Since the other splines are the same size as the Uniglide. You just need to file down about 2mm of the wider spline on the Hyperglide cassette and it will slide right on..

I have no better answer than I'm cheap, lazy, and still learning about this stuff. I'd rather have something I can service in an hour or two, should the need arise. I'm sure what you said up there is damn easy, but it's beyond my ability or toolset to do. Freewheels I can do. Screw the old one off, lube it up, screw the new one on, get back to riding. This bike might very well end up being a daily rider for the guy I'm building it for, if it has to be out of comission for a while, I'd rather it be a short one. Freewheels are also cheap as hell, I like the idea of being able to replace the entire chain/freewheel assembly in an hour or two for under $30.

So I guess, in other words, I kinda already made up my mind and will probably just buy a new rear wheel, unless I get a better idea. Or unless you guys have one..

if you want to buy a new wheel, please do. OTOH i'm cheap and lazy (at least that's what everybody says ) so i'd just throw some grease in there and reassemble it. it's possible that i missed it, but you never gave a reason as to why it was not acceptable in the first place, i don't think.

if it is necessary to replace it i would just relace the rim (looks like an araya 1 1/4 w/o)to a used rear freehub with a similar flange diameter to the one you have. and if you are unable to do that i guess an entire (used or new whichever is cheapest ) 27" rear wheel is in order.

too bad you are in NM, i've got an entire set of those wheels with conti ultra tires that i would give you if you were here in the bay area.

And for the record what was wrong with it that you wanted to take it apart to this degree?

If the freewheel portion is a bit gritty you can flush it out and then shoot some oil into the freewheel portion. Then put it back on the hub and use some grease in the bearing cup and call it all good.

The hub doesn't look like it's got a lot of time on it. The bearing cup looks nearly new and the cog teeth are in great shape. Unless there was something wrong with it the freewheel portion will respond to some TLC of flushing out the old grunge and getting some oil into the bearings and pawls in a great manner.

It's a bike I picked up at the flea market. I have a tall friend and we just happened to run into an '81 Takara Deluxe Touring with the frame and components all in good condition, just a bunch of rust around the pedal bolts and all through the cables. I'm following the age-old advice of "if you wanna know how to work on bikes, go buy a junker and get it rolling."

I'm willing to believe you guys probably know more about this than I do. I'm sure the cassette is fine and pretty much serviceable, but a look around says if I want to replace it, it's gonna cost $40. I mean, I guess I can really replace the cogs one by one, but I'm also building this for someone who is just getting into biking, and is learning to work on bikes at the same rate I am. Is it something a beginner can really do with a minimum of tools? We're both used to working on things, kind of, but I would rather ride than wrench.

My plan now is to just service the hub (for practice) and then I guess I'll mount it on the bike and see how it acts with a chain. If it's not immediately rideable, I guess I can mount another wheel.

EDIT: Here's where I'm looking for pricing...I've looked both at what they're going for at auction, I haven't seen anything much cheaper than $40. You can buy sprockets, but they're 5-9 bucks apiece....plus all that business about filing them down...am I looking at this the wrong way? I mean, I guess I'm going to replace the sprockets as the sprockets go out?

there's nothing wrong with, or cheaper than, dis-assembling a bike and re-assembling it. nowadays, i think, most of us, after determining that the rear cogs are worn out, replace the entire cassette or freewheel. unfortunately, in your case, finding something new or even used may not be cost effective.

I still don't understand why you want to replace it if it still works fine. Preventive medicine ? Then buy a qr wheel with an 8 speed cassette for a nice upgrade.

Preventive medicine pretty much nails it, and I don't know how well it works at all. The chain was shot, the bike has obviously been sitting outside somewhere, but it's not rusty at all (it's real dry out here, so not surprising). Tires were dry rotted, chain was frozen...I figured I'd give it an overhaul before I set my buddy riding around on it. When I got to the freewheel (freehub in this case) I started looking into it and realized that when the time came he did have to replace this stuff, it was gonna cost him. I've been talking up how cheap old road/touring bikes are to maintain, I'd hate to set him up with something that's gonna be a pain in the ass to replace on down the line.

Jake, part of learning how to work on bikes is if it's works don't fix it. Freewheel or freehub, you will want to get a set of cone wrenches and remove the nuts and cones on one side of the axle; then remove the axle so you can get to the bearings and service them. The only difference between a freehub and freewheel is the bearings at the end of the freehub that supports the axle. What that means is it is a stronger setup, but maintenance is the same. After removing the axle and how it's mounted. If you look down the middle of the freehub body once the axle is removed (what you know as a freewheel is called a freehub body with a freehub) you will see, instead of splines at the top, there is a 10mm allen socket at the bottom. You will be able to remove the freehub body will with a 10mm allen wrench the same way your would unscrew a freewheel, accept rather that a freewheel being screwed onto a threaded hub, the freehub body is held on with a 10mm allen socket. Here is a good "how to" site https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-...reehub-service