Grease, oil, freehubs and bearings
Last week had an intermittent clanking coming from the rear of the bike which I eventually diagnosed as bearings. When I took the hub apart the bearings on the drive side had no grease (even though I'd serviced them a couple of months ago). Amazingly the bearings were in good nick. I greased everything up and decided to check out the freehub. I flushed it out with wd40 then flushed that out with proper oil. Re-assembled everything and the clanking problem had gone. Thought I'd check everything this morning and the drive side bearings had no grease again. My guess is oil from the freehub had flushed the grease from the bearings. So I flushed the freehub again, dried it with a hair drier and then put a small amount of light oil in and made sure it drained out. I'm wondering if the oil is going to flush out the grease again. I know oil is recommended for free hubs but could I stick grease in there instead ?
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It sounds as though you've diagnosed your problem correctly. Hub bearings need grease and freehubs need a very light grease not oil. Most bike greases are too thick for freehubs and can gum up the pawls especially in cold weather. I've been making my own for years by just mixing motor oil with grease until it is just thick enough to stop dripping. If it still drips it's too light and will eventually drain out of the freehub. You can get specific greases for this but they are ridiculously expensive.0
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I use something like this in all my hubs and freehubs/old blocks - no probs so far after 50 years:
http://www.premierlubricants.co.uk/comp ... oil-t.html0 -
Do you really use steam engine lubricant ? Do you use it just in the freehubs or as a general grease ? Its going to take a long time to get through a 5 litre can.blackhands wrote:I use something like this in all my hubs and freehubs/old blocks - no probs so far after 50 years:
http://www.premierlubricants.co.uk/comp ... oil-t.html0
