When I got home tonight, my "new" wheelset had arrived from France. It is a very wonderful set of Ambrosio rims laced to Normandy high-flange hubs. I bought the wheels for the Ambrosio rims, a very early model, probably early 50s. They are nearly NOS condition, just wonderful.

The Normandy hubs are nice too, also probably early 50s, great condition with solid axles and bronze wing nuts. But the rims are destined for some FB hubs and the Normandies are headed for ebay.

The problem is the freewheel. It's a generic 4-speed hub that is also in great condition EXCEPT the slot (a 2-prong like Regina or Suntour) for removing the freewheel is completely stripped.

So I need to cut that freewheel off. I have done it before with a cut off wheel with OK results. Are there any other techniques I should be aware of?

Well, the freewheel might have some value to the CR crowd or collectors a la Francais, so maybe you shouldnt' get quite so destructive!

I could see unscrewing the freewheel lock ring and removing the cog assembly, taking care not to lose the balls, pawls, or pawl springs (this in itself has always been a challenge for me!). Then use "ingenuity" (I say it this way because I'd have to see how to cross this bridge when I get there!) to latch onto the remainign core freewheel hub, and before you cut off the rim, turn it off the threads of the wheel hub. You'd have access to the threads to be able to apply Liquid Wrench and possibly heat. If it doesn't work you can still slice pieces off it until you can use other instruments of destruction for the final separation.

Road Fan

If the prongs are already broken, then saving it is a waste of time. Plus they are broken because that thing is really stuck on there. Unscrew the outer plate. Use a pin spanner if possible, but most likely a drift and hammer will be needed. It is reverse thread.

Once the plate is off you can pull off the cogset and let all the bearings roll onto your shop floor. Let this happen as it will make you feel better about ruining the rest of the freewheel body. Once all the cogs are off you should have a nice exposed snout you can firmly clamp in your bench vise. Clamp and turn the wheel counter-clockwise and it should come off. If not use a little heat and penetrating fluid until it does.

Ok, Otis, I stand corrected! IAB, make every effort to lose or destroy the small parts located inside the freewheel! - lol

Road Fan

I'd do exactly the same, and have, but I use a pipe wrench instead of a vise. It works great!

That's a rog on the pipe wrench.
If you seat it right and get a good bite you can even reassemble the freewheel undamaged.
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I've done it both ways (even putting all those damn tiny bearings and pawls back in) and it's much more satisfying just to destroy 'em. Thanks for understanding! Cheers, Otis

I'm not sure how much these two freewheels share, but park has a good demo of how to remove some single speed freewheels. https://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=46
Do you have any pictures of it?

I would have but..

The damn French put the outside plate on the inside! There was nothing to unscrew.

It was a nice Moyne 4-speed at one time. But with the outside plate on the inside, I took my right-angle grinder and ground in two large slots opposite of each other. The outer most cog was split in two in the process. I put a 1/4" piece of steel in the vice and used it as a giant screwdriver blade. The heat from the grinding must have loosened the freewheel a bit because it wasn't too difficult to screw it off.

I'll take pictures of the carage in the morning.

The front of the freewheel with the stripped groove and the groove I made.





The back of the freewheel with the removable plate. Note the excellent condition of the teeth.





My giant screwdriver. Please note this is the garage shop where I can be messy. The basement shop is tidy.





And a picture for Otis of at least one bearing on the floor.

Was the small cog threaded on? Sometimes that's how they are put together. Then you can use two chain whips to get them apart. And if you do not have two chain whips, an old chain clamped with a Vise-Grips works really well.

What's more fun to destroy, a stuck freewheel, stem, or seat-post?

well, I battlein' a stuck seat post now. I think freewheels with an angle grinder and then the vice is most fun/easy, but the stem with a big metal pole and a big hammer is fun too! This is my first truly stuck seat post. some highschool wrestler put a 27.2 into a 26.6 hole! jab saw all winter it is... just to save a lousy trek 330.

I tried the two whips but the cog was frozen. I couldn't even get the second one off after the first.