I was thinking about this thread yesterday as I got 'one last ride' in before our 6 inches of snow today (thinking about youse New England members - you're really gonna get it). Beautiful day with light winds and light traffic on the SRT. I focused on the FW on my Raleigh Professional: 1984 Suntour Perfect ultra 6. I have no worries about taking FWs apart for a complete clean and lube. I'm convinced its the only way to ensure no contamination is left and the lube is where I want it. This FW was done last winter and now has about 900 miles on it. I use John Deere Polyurea grease (the green stuff) on the bearings, a film on the catches for the pawls and a bit of oil on the pawl pivots.

I know this FW ticks away but its real quiet. With only a bit of wind noise in my ears I cannot hear the FW underway. Same for my Nishiki Suntour FW. Very quiet. I have a '95 Trek ZX7000 mtn bike that may have the "police hub" I've read about. It makes no noise at all. The '95 Trek 850 ticks quietly. I like quiet hubs and FWs. Goes with the quiet trails I get to ride.

Here I thought the title was about water displacement or how many FW's should one have.

I like the sound of the IRD 7spd. The Regina sounds good too!

I'm guessing [MENTION=355580]Velocivixen[/MENTION] can emerge as [MENTION=42162]pastorbobnlnh[/MENTION]'s apprentice in freewheel mastery.

I enjoy lots of bike maintenance jobs, but the two or three times I've overhauled bearings or pawls on freewheels, I did not enjoy myself. If I should ever need to do this, I plan to enlist the help of one of the two masters.

my only experience is with Suntour and Shimano freewheels, and honestly, they're so simple. Cleaning & drying takes the longest time. For the bearings on the bottom race with that thin line of grease to hold the bearings I've found that using a small paint brush with grease on it is great for picking up the bearings & placing them. I don't wear gloves during this part, because you need fine dexterity. Sometimes the freewheel is still attached to the wheels and others, it's off the wheel.

I also love pedal overhauls. Lots of people ignore their pedals or toss them and buy new. You can take the grittiest pedals and make them like silk again with a little work. It helps to have small fingers and a magnet pen (if that's what it's called).

Oy, pedal overhauls. That's the other one I don't like. Well, good on you.

Oddly enough, I do repairs on things like MacBooks. Those are tricky and also require dexterity. There are lots of little parts.

I've found that any magnetic tools become a PIA around bearings. I've made wooden tweezers from bamboo that work well for moving and placing bearings (various sizes, easy to make). Good for hub, pedal and BB bearings too.

I salvaged the rear hub off a POS kids mountain bike heading for the blast furnace and mounted it in wooden block. That works nicely for holding a FW body during a rebuild.

Oh, and save a couple of those shallow dishes from chinese food (I like the aluminum ones) as they're great for catching all the wee bearings when you open these things up.

Very resourceful! Images please.

As requested. FW block is 4 pieces of lumber laminated together. Prior to gluing I bored the hole. I then glued and clamped the blocks around the FW body, nailed and set aside to cure. I can clamp it into the vice for holding FWs, for breaking FWs loose from a hub and for holding the FW steady while I use two chain whips to loosen a cog. I'll even lash one chain whip to the vice if I need to get both hands on the other whip.

Tweezers are simply thin strips of bamboo with a sliver of wedge at the top to keep them open. I whipped one with string and glue and whipped the other with copper wire and solder. Simple. Poly varnish then put em to work.

I think the aluminum pan was from General Tso's Chicken, but that may not actually matter........

Outstanding creativity. Where could I find bamboo like that? Maybe a craft store? Also the silver wedge? I'm making a set of those when I return home! I'm adept at the whole twine wrapping thing (bike mechanic suggested I'd be good at making flys for fishing).

I have respect for you guys and gals who do this.
As I've always said, I wouldn't take apart a freewheel unless I was seriously bored.
Or, feeling particularly adventurous.

I only rebuild Freewheels that need it on my own keepers, same with PB I was using Super Lube until the price jump & only on the races & bearings & Phil Tenacious Oil on the pawls. I use Phil Tenacious Oil for lubing all others that don't require dismantling, I first clean the FW then I sometimes warm them up a bit with a heat g-u-n- while using the removal tool in my vise I place the FW on top, oil,spin, repeat until it flows out of the other side letting it sit for a little while if I need to add more. All others are going in a box which will be sent to PB too do as he is pleased with.

Glenn

Thanks. I have a piece of bamboo flooring material that I cut a slice off of when needed. However some chop sticks are still made of bamboo. Really any decent tight grained hardwood will work nicely - maple, cherry, birch. There is very little stress on the material.

I was ever so careful spelling sliver. I did type silver the first time. You could just whittle a small wedge from the same wood you picked for the arms.

IIRC I learned whipping from helping my father make flys. I then proceeded to loose all of them in the trees above Schoharie Creek.