Creaky freehub

dUNC
dUNC Posts: 73
edited July 2011 in Workshop
Hi.

I have a problem with a creaky hub on my Planet-X, that basically sounded like an old granny's bike on every revolution of the pedals (at the 12 o'clock position).

Taking the wheel off and pushing the freehub forward to engage it, you can feel a "creak" (can you feel a creak?!). Taking the casette off and taking the freebody hub out, the pawls were black with grease and were very stiff to move and doing so you can feel a definite "creak" so this is certainly where it's coming from.

I degreased the spring and pawls (without removing them) and then used chain lube (?!) to free them up and they move much better, but not perfectly.

Putting it back on the bike, the sound is much better - no longer creaks, yay! - but there's still an audible click/clunk from time to time so I figure that I've either not degreased them and lubed them properly, or my chain oil isn't completely doing the job (most likely both!).

Can anyone suggest what the right thing to do to sort it might be, and what should be used to lube the pawls if that's what I've done wrong?

Image of the freehub body on PX website to make sure I'm talking about the right right thing: http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/imgs/products/900x650_constWH/HSFH-SH-C50-_P1.jpg
The "pawls" and "spring" I'm talking about are the bits at the bottom of the image, I think that's what you call them (sorry, I'm rubbish at bike anatomy!).