I have a Bontrager Race Disc Freehub. The rear hub was not spinning freely and was making a grinding noise so I decided I'd repack the rear hub (note: this is the first time I've ever repacked a hub). Did that. On the drive side there was some cone wear and the bearings were rusted. I replaced the bearings and repacked the hub (I'm going to replace the cones in the spring). The wheel/hub spins much more quietly and smoothly than before, though I believe I may have the cones a little too tight.

I would have liked to take off the freehub body while I was there, but I don't have an 11mm allen wrench that I believe I need.

After this I rode my bike for about 20 miles, some in the rain. The hub is good, but now I'm noticing that after coasting, if I pedal with force, the freehub body slips. I've searched the forums, Sheldon's site, and the Park site. Sounds like the pawls are failing to engage (though I still have a hard time picturing exactly what is happening). With all this in mind:

1. What could I, as a noob, have done to mess up the freehub? Could I have driven grunge into the freehub that is gunking up the pawls? (I figure there's a good chance I did something stupid.)
2. I'm on the prowl for an 11 mm allen wrench which are surprisingly hard to find. Any thoughts about where to get one?
3. If I fail to find the right allen wrench, is spraying WD40 into the freehub followed by a light lube likely to help?
4. Without seeing, hearing, or feeling this freehub, can you give me a sense of the likelihood that a freehub in this condition will be workable after cleaning? (Obviously, I'm going to follow the Park site algorithm of clean it, try it, and, if it doesn't work, replace it.)

So, I couldn't find an 11mm allen wrench and called my LBS. They told me to bring the wheel in, which I did after I removed the axle and the cassette. I was hoping they would just clean or replace the freehub body. I waited for about 20 or 30 minutes chatting with others in the store and out comes the mechanic with the wheel which has a new freehub body and a new axle, cones and all. He said the freehub was just worn. They charged me $30 for parts and labor.

I ran out and brought back a 12 pack of Sierra Nevada. They were very happy.

My guess is that, never having overhauled a hub before, that you made the most common mistake: too much grease. In this case, it is being forced into the freehub body from the drive side and "floating" the pawls. The only cure is to disassemble everything, remove the freehub body, remove the seal from the back of it, and flush it out. Relube it with a light oil and repack the hub using grease more sparingly.

May the force be with you!

Well, there's always that! Sounds like you did OK.

Actually his exact word was that the freehub was "toast."

Not to get too defensive, but I don't think I used too much grease. Using a 10 cc syringe, I put a layer down before the bearings, then a layer over the bearing. Also, in riding it with bad slippage for the last 2 days I realized it has probably been slipping on gear changes for months.

Maybe it was toast, but I'll try to be judicious with the grease in the future.

Armed with that little bit of info, I think that a toasted freehub would've been my first conclusion.

Your first post made no mention of slippage, so if it wasn't before the o'haul, and was after, then it's a too-much-of-a-good-thing issue.

Glad it's fixed! Happy riding!

Sounds like you did the overhaul just fine. I personally use a LOT more grease than that, and have never had a problem. I pack it in until it's practically oozing out the sides of the hub. But the freehubs I have overhauled are all Shimano, and the placement of the main axle bearings relative to the freehub bearings are likely different from those in the Bontrager hubs.

It's unfortunate that Bontrager hubs need an 11 mm allen wrench Shimano hubs use a 10mm which is the largest size that comes standard with a bike-specific kit. I think they may a patent on it or something ridiculous like that.

But I'm glad to know that Bontrager freehubs can be replaced at reasonable cost!!

Been there, done that ;-( So, now I have one of these:

https://www.biketoolsetc.com/index.cg...tem_id=PA-PH11

This tool works fine for those 11mm freehubs. Yup, Park knew about that ;-) And, I can say that I have never seen any other 11mm hex socket application.

Took the bike out on a 50 mile ride today and I'm more certain that the "chainring slippage" and "poor shifting" I've had for the past few months actually was the freehub slipping. Not sure what I could have done it to make it worse this week.

This has been educational -- and glad the LBS was good to me -- but I wish I could've worked on this myself. Just need to find a $^%#* 11 mm allen wrench.