Conference noted::bicycle

>    I know how to remove it, but do I just soak it in solvent and look
>    for a hole to squirt [insert favorite slimy substance here]? 
    
I think that soaking a freewheel in solvent mainly tends to float grit
into where it can do the most harm. In our shop we saw any number of
freewheels fail right after they had been carefully "cleaned" in
solvent. After that we started just pouring oil into the freewheel -
locate the thin slot on the face of the f-w (small cog side) that marks
where the outside rotates and the inside part remains fixed to the hub.
Hold it with face up, rotate the f-w with your fingers, and pour your
favorite bike OIL <=== read, "OIL", into the slot until it gurgles and
runs out the bottom side of the f-w. And beware of disassembling f-ws,
some go back together, others not in your lifetime. I've had some luck
rebuilding Suntours f-ws of various models, but I only bother if
something's REALLY broken in there. 

                                                   ken

    A related question: how about changing individual cogs?  I know
    this is easy with cassette systems, but I've never tried on 
    a normal freewheel.  I've seen those wrenches for sale that
    have a short length of chain hanging off of them.  Anyone for
    a how-to on this subject?
    
    MATT

>    A related question: how about changing individual cogs?  

	For Suntour Prefect, New Winner, Winner Pro, etc:
	Use one chain whip to turn the outside cog Counter Clock Wise 
	while using another whip to hold an inner cog to keep the
	freewheel from turning.  Unscrew the cog.  Repeat for the
	second cog.  The other cogs slide off in a stack.

	There are spacers between the inner cogs...  keep the stack
	in order.

> Freewheel maintainence

	There is a tool available from Nashbar/Performance/etc that
	threads into the freewheel body and provides a hole through
	which you can squirt a tube of grease.  It routes the grease to
	the innards through the thin gap between the two rotating
	parts.

	The Suntour Winner Pro has an oil hole and labyrinth seals.
	The oil hole is in the area that threads onto the hub
	so it is covered whenever the freewheel is installed.

	To clean the cogs, take them off as above and clean them
	as you would any metal part.

< Note 655.1 by SUSHI::KMACDONALD "Got any ICE you need climbed?" >
                            -< Drown it in oil.... >-

Sigh...I think Ken knows what he's talking about.  After "cleaning" my
freewheel in solvent early this spring, it is now acting flaky.  It worked
fine for a while, but now will make a sharp pop when I stand up and pedal
hard.  Are these normal advance warnings of imminent freewheel failure?

.jim

    I had been getting alot of squeaks out of unknown parts on my bike.
    I took it to a bike shop to clean and grease the freewheel and bottom
    bracket thinking this would silence the noise. It hasn't. The squeak
    happens when I am climbing. Any ideas?
    
    	Does anyone have the tool to inject grease into the freewheel?
    I'm thinking of getting one but would like to know if it works and
    why the bike shop didn't inject grease into it when I had it serviced.    
    
    	Do bikes just start to squeak after 1400 miles and you must
    learn to live with it?
    
    Tom	

>    I had been getting alot of squeaks out of unknown parts on my bike.
>                  The squeak
>    happens when I am climbing. Any ideas?

	One useful peice of data about a squeek is how often it happens.

   3-5 times a second:  It's something involving the wheel.  Check that the
	tire clears the frame, rack and brakes.  Think about wheel bearing
	maintainence.

   Twice per pedal stroke:  A torque related problem, either a weird
	freewheel glitch or a very badly laced back wheel.

   Once per pedal cycle:  Bottom bracket problems, Pedals, frame creak,
	front derailleur.

   Once every 2-2.5 pedal cycles: Chain stuff.  Often a bad link will go
	squeek twice real fast as it goes through the rear deraileur.

   Intermittent: frame, handle bar or saddle creak.  At times I've mistaken
	bird noises for bike noises.


-Jeff

I hope that you don't have the same problem as I did but the symptoms sound
similar.  When I climbed, usually when out of the saddle I would get a
squeeking noise.  I also thought it was the bottom bracket or the freewheel but
it turned out to be a broken axel.  When it first started to happen the axel
must have only been cracked because I took off the wheel and removed the
freewheel and didn't notice it.  But it kept doing it for about 4 weeks and I
just couldn't stand it any longer so I took the rear wheel off again and the
axel was completely broken in two.  I can't believe it, I rode it for 4 weeks
and there was no damage to the rest of the hub.  Got the axel relpaced and it's
as good as new. 

    
    I had a squeak like that on one bike.   I couldn't figure out
    where it was, until the day I just happened to replace my stem.
    It turned out the noise was from where the handlebars go thru
    the stem.     I had thought it was from the frame!   The SR
    stem squeaked, but the Cinnelli did not.
    
    	Greasing the freewheel is not necessary.   Just a little light
    oil will do.   The most common part for squeaks is the chain, and
    chain squeaks can get louder when you really crank down.   Another
    common squeak noise is from having one of the crank arms a little
    loose.
    
    		Alan.

    RE.6 Jeff, you really know your squeaks:-)
    
    It was the once every 2-2.5 peddle strokes. I took a look at the
    chain and I found a stiff link. I guess its time to get a new chain.
    
    	Question, should I replace the freewheel along with the chain?
    I know I had to do this with my motorcycles rear cog when replacing
    the chain. I can see about 1/8" of day-light between the chain and
    the chainring when I pull the chain away from the ring. Also, how
    long does a chain last if kept clean?
    
    Tom
    

    If you have a stiff link and the chain is othwise usable you can
    usually free it up by pushing the rivet where it belongs with a
    chain tool.
    
    ed

>    If you have a stiff link and the chain is othwise usable you can
>    usually free it up by pushing the rivet where it belongs with a
>    chain tool.
    
even easier is to just bend the chain with your hands laterally at the 
tight link. Just a bit usually frees 'em.

    
    	I find that one freewheel should last the life of at least
    two or three chains.     
    
    	A chain wears so as to be 'mated' to the freewheel, so you 
    should never take a used chain to use on a different freewheel,
    since this may cause the freewheel to wear out too soon.   A tight
    link is not necessarily reason to switch the chain.
    
    	To check how worn the chain is, put it on to the big
    chainring on the front, then pull the chain away from the teeth,
    to see how stretched the chain is.   If you can pull the chain
    far enough to expose an entire tooth of the chainring, then the
    chain is definitly worn out.    A new chain may pull 3/16ths of
    an inch, not enough to expose a whole tooth.
    
    	If the chain 'jumps' over teeth on the freewheel (a disturbing
    sensation, to say the least) then the freewheel is probably worn out.
    You can look at the freewheel to see how worn it is.   When worn,
    the teeth will begin to 'cup' where the chain digs in.
    
    	A worn out chain will wear out the freewheel and chainrings
    faster, so it's a good idea to replace it when it gets stretched.   
    A new chain is a lot cheaper than a new freewheel.   In general,
    I replace all chains once a year, twice a year on my mountain bike.
    
		    	Alan.

After I received my new freewheel, I noticed that on the box was the 
warning:

	"DO NOT USE GREASE ON THIS FREEWHEEL"

Great.  Avoid freewheel grease injection tools, especially for use on 
Suntour Winner Pro freewheels.  Oh well, freewheels are pretty cheap,
considering.

.jim

    I've noticed that most of the replies in this note deal mainly
    with Suntour freewheels.....are Shimano freewheels oiled the same
    way?? How often should this be done....should it be done at all
    on a mountain bike?
    
    One_who_has_had_his_Stumpjumper_for_a_summer_and_done_little_wheel_maint.

    
    Well, I look at the last reply and see that it was dated almost 3 years 
    ago. I am still riding the same Stumpjumper and have done no 
    freewheel maintenance. Unfortunatly, I was going out for a ride
    yesterday and (upon trying to climb a hill) if found myself spinning. 
    I immediately thought I had lost my chain..... but NO, the freewheel
    was freely spinning forward. It appears that the racheting mechanism 
    sticks and does not always engage. This seems to happen when shifting
    from a lower (easier) to a higher (harder) gear. Having never opened up 
    a freewheel body, can someone tell me ( give me odds ) if the freewheel
    is spent? Will lubing the freewheel through this mythical slit help? 
    I say mythical because I can't figure out where the heck it is!
    In any case, three years on a freewheel is pretty darn good so I am not
    complaining. 
    
    
    Doug
    

    
    First try a relatively light-weight oil or lubricant (Tri-Flow,
    Pedro's, etc. -- I don't know about WD-40 - that might be worth
    a try).  You can lay the bike on its side, and drip the lubricant
    down the top (end) of the freewheel, near the wheel axle.
    
    Second, freewheels can be disassembled, as has been stated, and
    cleaned.  The ratched teeth do seize up when exposed to enough
    moisture and gunk.  (This happened to me several times when I
    lived in the Netherlands -- and this was on the road, not trails).
    I don't know whether they can corrode enough to render the freewheel
    kaput.
    
    -john

As for the 'mythical slit' in a freewheel, try spinning the freewheel backwards
(so that it clicks - or not, maybe, in your case). Part of the freewheel
will spin, and the inner portion will not. The slit separates the two parts.
Pour oil into the slit 'til it gurgles and pours out the backside. If you do 
decide to take the f/w apart, presuming oiling doesn't work, make careful note
of what comes off, how many, and in what order, and be ready to cough up for
a new freewheel if it doesn't work out....
                                             ken

    
    I've been out for a while, but was able to locate the space/slot/slit
    and drizzle some oil into it.... and it works like a charm! The
    slit/slot description led me to believe that there was some kind of
    obvious location for pouring oil into the freewheel. Not so, but there
    IS enough space for oil ( and water/crud?) to get in. I did so and (lo
    and behold) the freewheel was freed, and the racheting mechanism
    engages properly. Excellent!
    
    thanks,
    
    doug
    

I'm a bike novice, but found myself in a bit of a situation,
with my freewheel opened up.

I was working on my Raleigh Gran-Sport (understand its the last
one with a Reynolds 431 frame) and was attempting to repack the rear
hub. When I got it to the point of the derailleur-side cone being
shielded by the freewheel, and thus couldn't get the opposite side
cone off, I then found this ring with 2 holes in it... and then
a few minutes later had my freewheel apart. All the cogs were together,
but the bearings were loose, and there were 2 ratchet tabs with a wire
spring behind each. This is a Simplex freewheel, by the way.

Not knowing how I'd get it back together, since I didn't know how I'd get the
ratchet tabs in place with all the bearings in too, I cleaned the parts, and
after much trial and error did the following: put the ratchet tabs in place and
looped a string around to hold it in a compressed state. Then I put grease on
the bottom race/freewheel, put bearings in the race, and lowered that over the
hub part of the freewheel until in contacted the string. Then i slowly
pulled the string out hoping that the ratchet tabs would stay put. I then
poured some oil in, and then put the top bearings in. It seems to work,
as it "clicks" similar to the way it used to (it sounds a bit different,
perhaps because there is still some grease in there).

I figured that there must be some 15-second easy way to hold those
ratchet tabs in there, or some special tool maybe? How is this
"normally" accomplished?

tx

    re: .19
    
    I think this normally isn't accomplished; most noters here have
    regarded the freewheel as having a little "All hope abandon, ye who
    enter here" stamped on it.  You would normally remove the freewheel
    from the hub (using the appropriate tool) to service the hub.  You lube
    the freewheel and chuck it when it is worn out or broken. 
    Congratulations on reassembling it!
    
    Andy

    I knew someone who had disassembled, cleaned and reassembled her
    freewheel.  We met while she was picking up loose parts from
    the side of the road.  :-)
    Make sure you get that front back on tightly.
    
    ed

    
    I would be very careful with a freewheel that I had dismantled. It's
    the most intricate part of the bike. I don't know if you know what you
    did wrong, but just in case you don't, when trying to remove a
    freewheel there is a special tool that you buy that fits over the
    freewheel body. You then use a spanner (sorry US, wrench...) to turn
    the tool like a normal bolt. The freewheel ratchet system is disabled
    with the tool so that it releases with the tool.
    
    Graham.

The special tool you are looking for is a piece of sewing thread, preferably 
not too strong.  Once you have the balls located in the grease in the bearing 
next to the hub, you refit the pawls and press them in against the wire 
springs.  You then wind the thread round sufficiently to hold it together and 
drop it all back in.  If you twiddle it a bit and pull the thread, it will 
come out and let the pawls expand again into the ratchet.  You can then do 
the outside set of balls.

Good fun for a wet Sunday....

re: .23, et al

the "string" I used was actually from a spool of heavy thread. sounds like
what i wound up doing was mostly what you said was supposed to be done,
except for using a bit heavier thread.

tx for the info!