Freehub problems

londoncommuter

I’d never come across this before but last week, half way home, my two year old Tiagra hub decided to freewheel in both directions. Thankfully it engaged again after a while letting me tentatively coast home.

Checking on-line it seems you should oil freehubs once a year to keep them working, something I’ve shamefully never done to any bike ever.

I stripped it off, degreased, left to dry and then re-oiled with thin mineral oil as suggested on sites like Park tools. It seems to be working again fine this morning but my question is, is this likely to be a permanent fix or have I just bought myself some time and it will conk out again miles from home in the near future?

Many thanks to anyone with experience of this.

paulnettles

This happened to me today!

londoncommuter, there's an article on here somewhere that tells you how to strip back a freehub and service it. My presumtion is that if you CAN do it, it should be sufficient as long as you keep up the maintenance on it...

Unfortunately, I was in the drops and accelerating hard when mine went, sending me arse over tit and, I think, doing my scaphoid in the process so no biking for me for a few weeks, plenty of time to fix it up ready to go when the wrist is healed!

Mind you, a replacement freehub is only like £20, so I guess it's a cost vs. benefit thing...

crankycrank

It's best to flush out the gunk that builds up and prevents the pawls from engaging before lubing. The hub should have a rubber o-ring seal on the spoke side of the freehub. You have to remove the freehub to get to it but just carefully remove the seal, spray or dribble in some WD-40, white spirit, etc. If you have access to an air hose just give it a good blast to blow out the gunk and dry the internals. Otherwise let it sit while the solvents do their work and give it a couple more shots until the fluid comes out clean. Give it at least a few hours to dry and then re-lube. I find that thin oils will seep out too soon. What you need is a very thin type of grease. I make my own by mixing motor oil with grease until the consistency is just thick enough that it won't drip. If your lube is too thick it prevents the pawls from engaging, especially in cold weather. If you don't mind spending the money this tool makes re-lubing an easy 10min job. http://www.morningstartools.com/Pages/FreehubBuddy.aspx The owner will personally answer any questions you have. True that buying a new freehub is not much more than this tool but in the long run it will save you some money. Lubing about every 6,000 miles I have never had to buy a new freehub yet in about the 18 yrs that I have owned freehub wheels.

londoncommuter

Thanks for the tips. I didn't realise you could buy the replacement freehubs on their own. Good to know if it looks like it's giving any signs at all of only being a temporary fix.

paulnettles - that puts having to freewheel through Deptford for a couple of minutes into perspective - I hope everything heals quickly.