Is there a particular knack to getting a cassette off?

doyler78
doyler78 Posts: 1,951
edited August 2008 in Workshop
Everything that I seem to try and do myself seems impossible to move.

Trying to get an old cassette off so I can replace it however I cannot get the damn thing to move at all.

Trying to replace a shimano hyperglide cassette however I cannot get it to move at all. Its just locked solid. Just seems everything I try to do myself is a real chore and needs a full workshop so that you have every tool under the sun. You would think they could come up with designs that make maintenance easier or at least reduce the number of different tools needed.

Anyway any ideas how I get this cassette without resorting to the bike shop again :(

Comments

  • robbarker
    robbarker Posts: 1,367
    Spray all round the lockring with plusgas and leave it overnight. If you have a vice to hold the remover tool that can help, as does the big Park shop chain whip - gives a bit more leverage than the plastic consumer version. If all else fail try a bit of boiling water on the lockring to use heat to free it. I won't suggest a short blast of blowtorch as it's fraught with risk but I would be reaching for mine if all else had failed.. (If you do, make sure all the plusgas has been washed off first....)

    Hope you have better luck than I did last time I had to remove a screw-on freewheel for a fixie conversion. I ended up cutting a huge slot in it with an angle grinder and using a cold chisel held in the vice as a screwdriver...
  • il_principe
    il_principe Posts: 9,155
    Have a mate hold the chain whip and try exerting some pressure on the spanner with your foot...
  • ride_whenever
    ride_whenever Posts: 13,279
    generally i find wheel against legs whilst standing, cassette away from you. Lockring with spanner on right chainwhip on left, then you can exert some serious leverage. if you need more... stick the QR through the tool to hold it in place, spanner wedged under desk and scaffold tube on the chainwhip...
    Neeermad
    Carbon 456
    456 lefty
    Pompino
    White Inbred
  • doyler78
    doyler78 Posts: 1,951
    Thanks all got it removed. The QR skewer and a socket set with a very long handle was just the leverage needed. Couldn't get it to move at all with normal spanners or adjustable wrench however the long handle seemed to do it as it just took only the slightest push to get the cassette lockring to release. :D
  • thomasali
    thomasali Posts: 179
    I use my legs, my arms are puny! I find just about nothing can resist my leg power! I work in bike shop so I am tested ever so often! We swap cassettes for free if you buy the new cass from us. We often we take pity on people and just quickly whip the old cass off even if the new one has been bought elsewhere.........
    http://www.last.fm/user/bobfossil
  • Steve I
    Steve I Posts: 428
    Yup, legs are seriously strong for any kind of grunty spanner jobs. You've got to be careful though. I had some really tight pedals to remove before I sold a bike. Couldn't budge the barstool things, even using every trick I know. In the end I resorted to standing on the pedal spanner while holding the other crank somehow (can't remember how). The pedal cracked loose suddenly and the spanner flew off missing the chain stay by about a millimetre. I was really lucky, at best it would have been chipped paint, but more likely a good sized dent.
  • Ambermile
    Ambermile Posts: 117
    One thing to remember is that it will likely be a good idea to tighten the replacement cassette/lockring to almost the same torque... 45 nm ISTR?

    Arthur
    The Beastie


    Sic itur ad astra

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