Gixxerman
Guru
- Location
- Market Rasen
I have a standard 2009 Trek 8500 that has the standard OEM Bontrager RL 26inch wheels.
I recently stripped the free hub as it was noisy and was making grating sounds as it there were grit in it.
Now I was expecting the entire free hub to come off the hub in one piece being held on with 15mm hex bolt as per stuff I have seen on the internet.
However it was held on with a locknut and spacer. When this was removed, the freehub outer body just pulled off leaving the pawls, inner free hub and roller bearing race behind on the axle. The free hub body has some light damage on it which I am aware of and was the result of the cassette lock ring coming loose on a ride and me not noticing until it became very loose. This allowed the 3 smaller cogs that are seperate from the rest of the cassette to rock about and cause the slight damage. This does cause the cassette (especially the smaller cogs) to rock of the free hub ever-so-slightly.
The wheel bearings seem to be the sealed type and pressed onto the axle as they cannot be pulled off by hand.
It is just a very odd arrangement. The axle starting at NDS seems to have locknut, spacer, wheel bearing then through hub, then inner free hub, wheel bearing, locknut and spacer all seemingly pressed onto the axle.
I stripped and cleaned the hub and eventually get the pawls to sit properly, spring on and the roller bearings into the nylon carrier. All were lubed with wet chain lube and the free hub body was slipped on. This took many attempts as the bloody roller bearings kept being displaced as I put the free hub body on, meaning doing it again. I was tempted to use grease to hold the bearings in but from what I have read, a free hub is no place for grease and heavy oil should be used.
It now works perfectly and there are no nasty noises.
My worry was (and still is) that if the free hub was goosed, then what would have been my options as I had no idea how to get the bearings / free hub inner off the axle and if I could find a suitable replacement 9-speed free hub. Even the LBS were a little baffled. They thought that the axle would tap through from one side. I think that the bearings and free hub inner would have to be removed using pullers.
I recently stripped the free hub as it was noisy and was making grating sounds as it there were grit in it.
Now I was expecting the entire free hub to come off the hub in one piece being held on with 15mm hex bolt as per stuff I have seen on the internet.
However it was held on with a locknut and spacer. When this was removed, the freehub outer body just pulled off leaving the pawls, inner free hub and roller bearing race behind on the axle. The free hub body has some light damage on it which I am aware of and was the result of the cassette lock ring coming loose on a ride and me not noticing until it became very loose. This allowed the 3 smaller cogs that are seperate from the rest of the cassette to rock about and cause the slight damage. This does cause the cassette (especially the smaller cogs) to rock of the free hub ever-so-slightly.
The wheel bearings seem to be the sealed type and pressed onto the axle as they cannot be pulled off by hand.
It is just a very odd arrangement. The axle starting at NDS seems to have locknut, spacer, wheel bearing then through hub, then inner free hub, wheel bearing, locknut and spacer all seemingly pressed onto the axle.
I stripped and cleaned the hub and eventually get the pawls to sit properly, spring on and the roller bearings into the nylon carrier. All were lubed with wet chain lube and the free hub body was slipped on. This took many attempts as the bloody roller bearings kept being displaced as I put the free hub body on, meaning doing it again. I was tempted to use grease to hold the bearings in but from what I have read, a free hub is no place for grease and heavy oil should be used.
It now works perfectly and there are no nasty noises.
My worry was (and still is) that if the free hub was goosed, then what would have been my options as I had no idea how to get the bearings / free hub inner off the axle and if I could find a suitable replacement 9-speed free hub. Even the LBS were a little baffled. They thought that the axle would tap through from one side. I think that the bearings and free hub inner would have to be removed using pullers.
