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Hope pro 2 freewheel sticks

ProwlerProwler Posts: 50
edited April 2008 in MTB workshop & tech
When I turn it manually, the freewheel on my pro 2 rear appears to turn smoothly. While riding, however, it sticks, causing all sorts of trouble due to the slack in the chain. The hub did not stick one bit even when brand new, and is surely bedded in by now.

I have cleaned and regreased the hub. As far as I can tell, there is no play or roughness in the bearings. Is there something about the hub that I'm not spotting here? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Posts

  • nicklousenicklouse Posts: 50,675 Lives Here
    have you oiled the pawls? did you get the seal seated correctly after stripping it down? what condition are the bearings like in the freebody?
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • ProwlerProwler Posts: 50
    Originally the pawls where greased with something looking like bearing lubricant. I used a similarish product by motorex. The seal is in place OK. Since I do not have new bearings to compare with, all I can say is there is no play or roughness.
  • ride_wheneverride_whenever Posts: 13,279
    Have you checked the dérailleur jockey wheels, sometimes if they are a little stiff the dérailleur rolls along the chain rather than keeping it taught.
    Neeermad
    Carbon 456
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  • skylinerskyliner Posts: 613
    Hope make a PRO II seal seating tool and it's difficult to reseat the freehub seal without it.
    The seal will bind between the freehub and hub body if not seated correctly, and usually cause the problems you describe above.
    It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
  • nicklousenicklouse Posts: 50,675 Lives Here
    i can believe that, but they are not that hard too seat correctly.
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • skylinerskyliner Posts: 613
    When you've done a few, and seen it before............. :wink:
    It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
  • ProwlerProwler Posts: 50
    Thank you all for your advice. Will check out everything once more and post a reply if I ever find out what is wrong. Otherwise the hub becomes an expensive paper weight.
  • ProwlerProwler Posts: 50
    A mate also has a rear wheel built on Pro 2. Out of curiosity I swapped my freewheel to that and it worked without a problem. Does this make any sense?
  • ProwlerProwler Posts: 50
    [end of story:]

    Compared the two wheels without the freewheel assembly. Could not spot a major difference in smoothness of the axle's turn. As a last resort changed the bearings in the hub body anyway and that seems to have fixed the problem.

    Opening the seals in the old bearings revealed whitish goo indicating lubricant contaminated by water. Obviously the bearings were not in perfect condition even though there wasn't enough play or drag for me to notice. What I can't figure is how these bearings could cause the problems described before. Not that it matters a lot now, but it'd be interesting if someone could explain this.
  • nicklousenicklouse Posts: 50,675 Lives Here
    when you say whitish goo are you sure it was not just a whitish grease?

    OK so how could the bearings effect the situation? they may not have if may just be that you managed to fit the seal better this time :wink: But with out seeing (feeling) the bearings it is hard to say.
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • ProwlerProwler Posts: 50
    You have a point there about getting the seal right, but the results of swapping the freewheel back and forth between two hubs were very consistent. In my opinion it would rule that out.

    Since I haven't opened the bearings until now, I'm not 100% sure about the grease. Based on previous experience I'd say this had been in touch with water.
  • VegeetaVegeeta Posts: 6,411
    ProIIs are incredibly simple hubs and the seals can be seated perfectly by hand with no problems at all.

    My guess is you've probably put too much grease in there and it's got nowhere to go at high speed save for into where the pawl shouls sit so they/it can't retract.
    You only need a really thin smear of grease on the pawls.
    Rule 64:

    Cornering confidence generally increases with time and experience. This pattern continues until it falls sharply and suddenly.

    http://www.velominati.com/blog/the-rules/
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