Cassette lockring tightness
 

I helped a friend swap her wheelset this morning from her TT bike to her Road bike. The TT bike wheelset (easton) had a 12-27 (10 speed) that had been put on by a LBS. Her roadbike is an older Quintana Roo 9 speed.

I got out my tools, put the chainwhip in place on the 10 speed cassette, got the lockring tool and wrench set up and applied pressure. Nothing. Strained a little more. Nothing. Gave it all I got. Nothing. I finally got a bigger wrench and extended it with a pipe to get enough leverage to get the lockring off. After removal, I noticed the lockring washer was toast and actually had some metal shavings hanging off it.

This is the first time I've had to struggle like this to get a lockring off. When I install lockrings (Shimano all say 40nm) I tighten with a "moderate amount" of force but nothing so crazy as to cause me to get out a bigger wrench to remove it...and I've never seen a washer so destroyed.

So what say you...

• How fussy are you about tightening your lockring?
• Do you use a torque wrench?
• Do you ever destroy the washer?
• Do you ever replace the washer?

Any chance it had something to do with not having the 10sp spacer and somebody just gaver her hell until it was tight?

The lockring on my stock Giant wheels took a gigantic amount of force to get off.
I just tightened it until it clicked about 10 times. Ridding 1000ish miles on two wheelsets this way and haven't had any issues.

Just tight enough. No torque wrench, and no gorilla force either.

I use my calibrated arm and tighten to 1 PDT (pretty darn tight), but sounds like that one was tightened to 2 PFT.

I am guessing it was not over tightened but rather the threads were not greased, and hence it seized up.

I tighten mine by hand without a torque wrench, firm but not gorilla tight.

I tighten mine untill it strips then back off a quarter turn.






Just kidding.

This has my vote, for what that's worth...

I don't use a torque wrench, i just tighten until i think its tight enough, haha. Haven't had any issues doing it this way so i'm gonna stick with it.

The spacer was there...I just figure the mechanic had some sort of air driven impact wrench and was thinking "hah...let's see her get this one off!"

That sounds about right.

I hadn't thought about grease...but the cassette was put on about 6 months ago and hasn't seen that much riding...but I suppose it could seize no matter the time or mileage.

Thanks for all the responses.

40nm is a lot. I always tighten lock rings, until they start to "stutter." Don't crossthread it, and do grease it, and you really can't overtighten it.

You can leave it too loose, which is not a good thing.

40Nm isn't actually all that much, you should be able to apply that with a standard wrench with very minimal effort -- its only ~30 lbs-ft. Yes you can overtighten it, and yes you can strip it. Depending on your hub material, you could damage that too.

Don't cross thread, use anti-seize, don't over-tighten, don't under-tighten.

makes me think of an instance with my car. I have always changed on my own my summer to winter tires (each on own rims) and a few summers back I got new tires, the shop where I got them put them on and put the wheels on the car.
A few months later going to visit a friend out of town, I got a flat on one of the new tires. When trying to get the wheel off at the side of the highway, I used my usual X shaped lug remover, penetrating oil, took me so much damn work to get the bolts loose I even strained my back.

So, put itsy bitsy spare on, front tire btw, drive at 80k or 50mph to my friends for a few hours. When there the next day, we tried to find a store open on sunday to get a replacement. Couldnt find same tire, so I decided to drive home slowly with the spare on, but wanted to put it on the back of the car instead of front.

we go to switch tires, and my friend who weighs 280, strong as heck, cant get the bolts loose on one of the rears, he works on cars often and so gets a long pipe from his backyard so he could loosen them iwth all his strength---end of story, some mechanics really go nuts and either dont give a rats ass (lets see her get that off , like that quote) or are just clueless with an air gun (2 or 3 PFT)

another reason I like working on my own bikes.

oh, I dont buy the seized theory, too soon, six months and you arent riding thru salt with it.

Have you, or anyone else ever overtightened a locking?

I repeat don't cross thread it, grease it, and tighten it till it stutters and it works fine.

Conversely, many people have under tightened lock rings and had their cassette come loose.

BTW the torque spec for a cassette lock ring is a minimum spec, not a range or a maximum

good mechanics and do it yourselfers know not to over-torque stuff, but there are plenty of overtorquers out there.

Proper torque setting = 12" Crescent wrench and girly-sized roadie arm strength at near max effort.

Works for me. :)

Yes, have a friend who didn't consider the torque spec stripped the threads right off the lockring.
You can recommend whatever you want on here -- its the internet, but I'm going to recommend otherwise to save the few who do read my post a possible headache.

As for your minimum spec -- According to the manuals:
Shimano Dura-Ace Last 3 Generations: 35-50 Nm
Shimano Ultegra Last 3 Generations: 35-50 Nm & 30-50 Nm
Shimano 105 All Generations: 30-50 Nm
All SRAM 10 Speed Cassettes: No mention of minimums or ranges, just that "Tightening torque IS 40 Nm"
All Campy 11 Speed Cassettes: No mention of minimums or ranges, just that "Tighten the lockring which is provided with the Campagnolo sprockets on to the freewheel body to 40 Nm.

Sure there's probably some amount of safety margin in documented vs. real built into it but the point is -- just going by "when it stutters" isn't good enough for many inexperienced people. You've developed a feel for it obviously but others may just keep on truckin for another good rotation after the stuttering. Or they may grease the contact points of the lockring and feel less stuttering.

Quite tight,because I have had some come loose.A bit of forearm pressure is enough haha

Which lockring tools allow use of a torque wrench? Mine's about 25 or 26mm size, and works best with the big Crescent wrench. I guess you could use a 25 or 26mm socket on a 1/2" drive torque wrench, but the adjustable wrench gets it tight enough.

I have a torque wrench, and I have a published specification. I use both.

I'll throw mine in a bench vise upside down and tighten it until it seems like it's good and tight. I find that I have more leverage when it's in the vise then resting on the bench or in my lap and using a wrench.

I use Sheldon Brown's torque wrench. http://sheldonbrown.com/images/tork-calibration.gif

I think those last three settings are for triathletes. :p

Using Sheldon's nomenclature, I tighten my lockrings between "Kinda Tight" and "Pretty Tight".

I break spokes like it is my job. Taking off my cassette is a somewhat normal procedure. I always use a 7" crescent wrench and give it a dozen clicks. I've noticed that even if I install the lockring to a given torque, it seems like more is necessary to remove. If it had been a long time since the last removal the ring may have just 'seized up' over time.

Just tight enough that the cogs don't jiggle around. It's not like they're going to fall off or anything.

john, get thee to a nunnery.. I mean a good wheel builder.

^^^ This. Ask me how I know.

How do you know?

Yeah - the thing with that is one or two trips to an LBS for spoke replacement & truing or one trip to a wheel builder costs the same as a new commuter grade wheel that I can beat on for 6months and then replace. I've got no confidence that their services will last that long so don't go.

Learning myself instead, did the first rebuild 200mi ago and seems ok so we'll see...