Rear Mech slack?

[nilling]

Gave my chain and rear mech (Shimano Alivio) a good clean with petrol two weeks ago. I had inadvertantly put 3-1 oil on and it had turned the chain into a black gloopy mess.

Now I'm finding that when I freewheel there's about half to a full turn of the crank needed before it engages again!

This morning whilst doing a low speed weave through street furniture I put pedal down and nothing! This unbalanced me and I ended up cracking my hip, ouch!

Also, noticed it will slip occasionally when I put power down - it does not change gear just seems to snatch and then free itself.

 

[Globalti]

What kind of freewheel does your bike have? From your description it sounds as if you have washed dirty oil into the freewheel then the petrol has evaporated and left the pawls gummed up with sticky grease and grit.

 

[spandex]

By the sounds of it you need a new Freewheel/ freehub body as you can't strip them down and I would get a new chain as well.

Petrol is not a good idea for cleaning chains just a clean cloth and lube will do the job just fine.

 

[Christopher]

By the sounds of it you need a new Freewheel/ freehub body as you can't strip them down and I would get a new chain as well.

With Shimano you can't take the freehub body apart to expose the pawls, but you can with both Campag and Reynolds. However you can get spare freehub bodies for Shimano, they just bolt on with a 10mm Allen key but you have to take the axle out IIRC, that needs at least a plain spanner and a cone spanner

Nilling, what is the brand of hub?

 

[piedwagtail91]

my son had a freehub problem on his bike,it's a quick but messy job to put a new shimano freehub on. i think his was less than £20.
i do as spandex suggests fior cleaning, lube ,or in my case oil and a clean rag.

 

[Mr Pig]

You can't take them apart but you can clean them out if you're lucky.

First, you need to take it off, which requires the tools. A cassette remover and a free-hub remover. Once it's off soak it in white spirit to dissolve the oil etc and wash it out. After that, wash it in water with a little detergent and stick it on the oven for a few minutes to dry out the inside.

Then you can pour fresh light oil in to the gap at the end and spin the hub to work it in. Or you can bin it and buy a new one ;0)

 

[kyuss]

Try giving it a clean. I did the same as Mr Pig last year with a Shimano freehub that was making funny noises and sticking a bit. Flushed it though with degreaser, gave it a rinse, left it to dry off and then dripped some Finish Line wet lube (it's all I had at the time) down into it. It's been working perfectly since.

 

[nilling]

Thanks for the replies will have a go at degreasing and relubing at wkend

In the meantime trying not too freewheel too much