Some days you are better off just staying in bed...or not working on your bicycle! This is the freewheel from my Expedition Bike build. I am reworking a 1989 Giant Iguana mountain bike to use for loaded rough road touring. The freewheel is showing some wear, so I figured take it off and replace it, simple right? Not now, I managed to break the removal tool and crack the freewheel housing AND it is still stuck on the hub. So I guess the next step will be to decide whether to purchase a new free hub or cold set the frame for the wider cassette hub. Anyone know if a Shimano 6 speed cassette will work with a Suntour XCM derailleur and shifter?
Aaron
6 comments:
Aaron, If you want to keep the same wheel and replace the FW with another, you may still be able to salvage things. You will need to remove the FW cogs using 2 chain whips (or 1 whip and some creative thinking). Once the cogs are removed, you can "crush" the outer FW body in a bench vise just enough so that it distorts and locks into the inner body, allowing you to spin the wheel off. Don't get too close to the spoke side, you could distort things enough in the threaded portion of the FW body to make removal difficult. As for Shimano vs. Suntour 6s cog spacing: if I remember correctly. there is too much difference (5.1 vs 5.5mm ???) for it to be compatible.
Thanks Scram...the next step is a BFH and a punch, failing that I will disassemble the freewheel. I can buy a replacement hub for ~$40 so I am fast approaching the point of diminishing return. The hub that the freewheel is stuck on is the OEM Joytech so it isn't anything of great value, just the aggravation factor...and I am a cheap bastid.
Aaron
Only the lockring appears cracked, not the body of the freewheel itself. Still, it looks like "destructive removal" is the next course of action.
For a six-speed freewheel/Suntour XCM combination, do you mean "will it index?". If so, almost certainly not. The cog spacings are different. If you're running friction, though, no problem whatsoever. I have a "Shimtour" setup on one of my bikes and it runs flawlessly under friction shifting.
Hi Ghostrider,
Worst part of the freewheel is it damaged the "lugs" where the removal tool goes. I will probably take another crack at it this weekend. I have a spare FW hub floating aroun, may go ahead and upgrade the rim while I am at it. I do plan to keep the Suntour shifters and stay with the freewheel for now. I have always like the Suntour stuff.
Aaron
If it helps give you confidence to do it, I've also removed freewheels destructively in the past and the wheels have been fine.
Mind you, in one case I managed to take the whole thing apart and clamp it in a vice and leave it in a re-assembleable state (not that I bothered).
Since I realised the problem, I've only tended to fit splined freewheels blocks with Shimano or compatible splines as I can always get those off in the proper way.
As for compatibility, one of the best shifting bikes I had a few years back used a Shimano LX shifter, 7 speed Sachs block, and ancient suntour bar end shifters. I think I got lucky that it worked as well as it did.
Small punch to rotate the "cap" off of the freewheel in one of those two holes in the picture. Let the ball bearings all drop out, then throw the thing securely in a vise a shed a tear for a lost freewheel.
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