Clean Your Freewheel
 

Prompted by a thread from a few days ago, I was looking carefully at the freewheel on my bike. I cleaned the cog exteriors, added some oil and gave it a spin to spread the oil.

The thing is, when spun, it didn't sound quite right. I added more oil, then more (a lot really). It was still not right.

I unscrewed the freewheel from the hub (a chore in itself as I forgot to grease the threads) and spun it again. It was definitely not right.

Using a syringe applicator, I injected some gasoline through the gaps to flush out any grit. Mind you, the oil is supposed to do this but it did not. I spun and re-flushed until it spun properly (quietly).

A bunch of junk came out into the parts cleaning pan. This included a bunch of very fine flecks of the gold-colored coating from the freewheel body and cogs. It contained a lot of very fine, silty material. I assume this is from the beach sand. It isn't grains of sand, as the bike never goes onto the beach. It was just a fine silty material I assume was wind-born. None of that is good for a freewheel's bearings and racheting mechanism.

Anyway, it's clean now, re-lubed and re-installed (with grease on the threads this time).

If you want your bike to last, you have to take care of it.

Mine is 45 years old.

and don't forget to grease those threads, :)

For some reason I find cleaning and lubricating freewheels very satisfying.

I'm sure sound has a lot to do with that.

Gasoline! Man, that's living dangerously. I know there are others here who do the same, but I think it's nuts.

When I get a new (old) freewheel or a bike with one, it gets a bath for a couple of days in mineral spirits with spin/agitations at intervals, which does great at getting the gunk loose and flushed out. After that I lube with a mix of Phil's Tenacious and regular oil. So far that's been a winning procedure for me.

It isn't my preferred solvent but it's what was at hand (lawn mower fuel). It's unleaded and alcohol-free. I used about 2-3 ounces.

Ever since they outlawed the sale and use of mineral spirits, I've been struggling to find a suitable replacement. Acetone is all they sell and it's so volatile, even compared to gasoline, I'm not yet sure what to use.

What do you use?

Phil's Tenacious Oil is really great! For freewheels and chains, I use Phil's.

Well, I've been experimenting with White Lightning waxy (dry) chain lube. It's good, too, but I'm not yet confident in the lubricity of the stuff nor of the chain life when using it. It won't work on freewheels.

Eventually, they, too, will be need to be cleaned and lubed, or they will never grow old.

I occasionally use gasoline - gasp - usually from the lawn mower or snowblower gas cans. Everything else .... everything, pales in comparison when it comes to getting the tough stuff clean. If I had a spare 90 minutes to clean a cassette with todays "degreasers" and a toothbrush, I would. But 30 seconds and a paintbrush dipped in gas does the job 1,000 times better. Sometimes I'll chain smoke Camels while watching Rambo in my fireworks / ammunition closet and clean a cassette. But seriously, there is a time and place, and with 2 brain cells, why not ??? Then again, I've cut the tags off pillows and may have used an aerosal can in a manner frowned upon by the US Government ..... ssshhhhhh.

WRT solvents, SCAQMD mineral spirits has more kerosene in it now so it evaporates slower. It was a recipe change more than a ban. That's how I understand it at least. Mineral spirits was always a catch all term anyway. EDIT: I tried to look it up, and apparently SCAQMD paint thinner does have a large percentage of acetone in it now. They are secretive about the actual formulation.

We used to use regular kerosene for flushing freewheels etc BITD, so it's hardly a worry. Naphtha will work for this too, as would turpentine. Usually at home these days I just flush stuff like this out with WD 40. Orange solvent and/or detergent solution will work, but slower. Simple green would probably work but the smell makes me sick.

Back to the main topic - If it's an old vintage crusty freewheel, I'd probably rebuild it. We never or only very rarely did that when freewheels were the only option - waste of time, but 30 or 40 years of sitting around turns grease into varnish.

I always send any not new freewheel to Pastor Bob for a cleaning and tune up, well worth it to get his quality work, looks like new, and quality work every time.

Bill

It's the Holy Water

Exactly!:thumb::roflmao2:

Bill

And, you have a "Runs With Scissors" t-shirt, and its true too!

Bill

Why do you say this?

Just because it's so flammable? The fumes bad to breathe? Don't want to get it on your skin?

I've used gasoline as a degreaser (outdoors) but mostly stick to WD40.

I just drip motor oil or ATF into the freewheel bearings with the bike lying on its left side. Lots of gunk comes out. Once you do this, you do have to commit to a regular maintenance schedule, because oil, even straight 30W, does not have the same longevity as grease.

I use WD-40 to flush freewheels, works well the clean exterior too. Let them sit for a day and drain after spinning like crazy to get all the gunk out, then lube with Phil’s tenacious oil.

I soak them in diesel fuel. let them drip dry. Then soak them in automatic transmission fluid and let that drain off.

I get I get the cleaning for a freewheel on a classic bike that you want to keep stock, but when the best shifting freewheel you can possibly get only costs 15 bucks, why bother. Not worth the time or effort of playing with the solvents and lubricants. Upgraded all my CV bikes, that I actually ride to the Shimano freewheel, which at that price, would be hard pressed to actually want to clean it.
Tim

I use MARVEL'S MYSTERY OIL in my cassette. It's super-quiet, AND 35 years old ('84 Helicomatic system).
Jon

Which 5 speed freewheel costs $15?

Regarding cleaning, do you use them for a few miles and then throw them away?

How long do they last you without cleaning?

Please explain because the frugal cyclist in me is unable to grasp doing what I think you do?

If you use grease, which grease do you use inside your freewheels? How do you get it in and how do you clean and replenish it?

Do you disassemble the freewheel?

Did you install a zerk fitting? :)

I have always used oil. I add a few drops when I oil the chain (every hundred miles or so). The chain usually needs lube and cleaning before the freewheel, so adding a few drops to the freewheel is not an issue.

ATF and Marvel Mystery Oil all sound like my next lube purchases for trial. I still like Phil's.

I rebuild mine because oil leaks out and doesn't do as good a job as grease. Most aren't that hard to deal with, though Reginas can be a bit of a pain. I won't even touch Sunrace or the other generic brands - not worth the effort considering that the poor quality never goes away.

Ditto, SunRace freewheels... at least the chromed versions like the 7-speed 13-25 MFR30, and 13-28 MFM30 ("R" for road, "M" for mountain bike, but I use both on road bikes). Those are good quality and outstanding values. They shift better than Suntour or Shimano freewheels on my bikes with Suntour and Shimano components.

I've just switched my Ironman from the SunRace 13-25 to a Suntour 13-26, which lets me spin a bit more effortlessly on our short, steep rollers. My knees like that. But the SunRace shifts more smoothly and runs more quietly. The Suntour Alpha freewheels and Accushift system are picky about chains.

OTOH, I just switched the Trekenstein 5900 from Shimano 14-28 MF-TZ21 to SunRace 13-28 MFM30 and it runs better, and doesn't spin out on a couple of favorite downhills. Neither freewheel was picky about shifting since Shimano was less finicky than Suntour Accushift.

But the MFM2A 7-speed 14-28 with a mix of blue-black carbon cogs was a disappointment. The freewheel body was a bit loose and rattly out of the box. I used it on my Globe Carmel errand bike, so no biggie. It's still better than those awful Shimano MegaRange freewheels that jump from the 24 to 32 or larger tooth cogs.

And please be extremely careful with gasoline. I'm a former OSHA safety inspector but I'll spare you the gruesome details of the horrific injuries and fatalities I've seen from getting careless with gasoline and other flammable liquids. Gasoline vapors spread very quickly and you can be surrounded by flammable vapor before you realize what's happened. 'nuff said, I hope.

I wrote the below in a different thread yesterday:

I can show you all sorts of pictures (they are posted in other threads) of why the above doesn't ever really "clean" a freewheel and never lets you examine for corrosion or other damage.