Is it worth getting my freehub replaced?

mcnultycop

My freehub died today, 300 metres into my ride at Llandegla. The shop there confirmed it was shot, it just turns freely without engaging at all, but unfortunately they didn't have a 9 speed in so I was left having to come home. If they had one iin stock I'd have asked them to do it there and then so I could at least have the planned ride.

I had a situation where I thought it had died in January, but it had just frozen (it was -7 up at Lee Quarry). I went into my LBS and he told me if it happened again to piss on it! He also said that if it was the freehub, based on the cost of replacement of the part and labour (I don't have the tools to do this at the moment, although I'm taking on more and more bike jobs as I expand knowledge and tools) of about £45-50 all in it would be worthwhile just buying a cheap rear wheel. The wheels are only the standard Bontrager Camino ones on a 2009 Trek 4500 with Shimano Disc Hubs.

I've tried seeing if I can get a suitable second hand rim to save money, with no luck as yet. Every penny I spend on this bike is coming out of the new bike fund so I want to spend as little as possible. The wheels have been great for me, always staying true - is it worth just getting the freehub replaced?

Thanks in advance.

freezing77

Run white spirit thru it and the some light machine oil. Worth a try it may just be gunked up.

mcnultycop

I'll give that a try tomorrow, cheers.

delcol

what hub is it..?

i got to do one for the misses son.. its a shimano fh m-525 rear hub. the free hub has gone on that. i did a little research and looked around and it was cheaper to buy a replacement hub another m-525.. than it was to buy just the free hub.. i plan on butchering the brand new hub and putting the new internals into the broken hub..

while i have it stripped i will replace the axel bearings freehub and cones and locknuts with the new parts.

if it works i will of fixed it for less than £25

i will let you know how i get on....

mrmonkfinger

Shimano Disc Hubs.

in that case, exactly what delcol posted

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/product ... eehub-body

mcnultycop

Both

Thanks for the responses. It is actually an M525 I think, a 9 speed - if I could have got the part for £15 as posted above I'd have probably tried to get hold of the tools to have a go at it myself, but there would be som considerable expenditure on tools as I'm not that well equipped. Bike shop have quoted around £35 for the freehub plus labour, and advise they have wheels in stock for £60.

I'm going up with the wheel tomorrow to see what they say.

mrmonkfinger

mcnultycop wrote:

Both
Thanks for the responses. It is actually an M525 I think, a 9 speed

£23 for a complete hub here http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... delID=3310
£4 per cone spanner here http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=10200

The freehub just unscrews with a 10mm hex key (I think its a 10mm). You do have to remove the axle first, so you'd need a cone spanner or two to do the axle removal as well.

mcnultycop

Nice one, cheers. I may look at doing it myself then.

Chunkers1980

Oh and NEVER buy a single wheel from an LBS - Online you could get a pair of something like Shimano MT15 for about £80 which will almost certainly be better and you get both for not much more.

sloppycowpat

yeh online is so much better value for wheels unless you want custom built wheels and the lbs know what they are doing

that sucks about the ride, i would have been tempted to ziptie the cassette to the spokes and ride it fixy for the day

delcol

i did the rebuild today....

stripped the broken m525 and replaced all the internals freehub,axel,bearings,and the cones and locknuts..

you may require a axelvice to hold the axel to remove the cone,,,

if you dont want to go to the expense of buying tools or paying the lbs.. i will help you out and do it for you or do it with you the rebuild that is, :roll: you kinda of local to me give or take 15-20mile....

tools required..
cassette removal tool + big adjustable spanner. a chainwhip
cone spanners 15mm & 17mm
a vice and a axel vice
a 10mm allen key
torx key or centre lock for shimano to remove the disc.. (although you dont actually have to remove the disc to do it.)
some grease..

mcnultycop

Delcol that is a very generous offer and much appreciated. I have just bought a toolkit which should hopefully be with me early next week, as I want to get a bit more knowledgeable and self sufficient. I think the kit I've ordered includes everything there apart from the vice/axel vice but I should be able to sort something there with my dad's massive array of tools. I need to talk potential new bikes with the LBS so I'm probably going to head up tomorrow anyway with the wheel just to confirm it is trolleyed. If it is I'll probably just get the entire freehub from CRC and have a go myself, and then be cheeky and shout up when I get stuck if that is OK!

Thanks again.

mcnultycop

I've just checked, it's one of these instead, but looking at it I'm sure the job is exactly the same.

delcol

yeah will be the same.. just order like for like thats all i did then strip the broken one and replace the inners with the ones out of the new hub.. (change the bearings to while you have it stripped)..

if you get stuck i will gladly help you out to be honest it is a real easy job to do..
the only problem i had was i could not get the cone off due to the amount of shit on the axel rust and hard set crap no matter what i did i could not clean it off.. as soon as i got the axel vice out and stuck it in the vice i managed to do it,, but it was still stiff to remove...
the hub was over 8 year old and never been serviced though...

this helped me out. and there's aload more info to be found on google and parktools webby..

goodluck..

mcnultycop

Thanks a lot. Hopefully everything will arrive early next week and I'll have a crack at it in time to be able to ride next weekend.

mcnultycop

I'm glad I've taken this on, but a vice is required so I've come to a grinding halt. I cannot get the new freehub out of the new main hub body as I just can't get hold of the main hub at all. The old one took a bit of effort, but being able to hold the wheel helped. I've tried putting my disc on the new hub and use that to hold but it still doesn't help. I have stripped the old hub down completely and also taken the opportunity to clean the cassette out, which was absolutely filthy and has now lost about 50g in crap. I'll have to ask a neighbour who is a mechanic to take it into his workshop on Monday and stick it in his vice. Hopefully I'll be up and running by next week - luckily I hadn't planned any riding this weekend.

delcol

you will need to clamp it in a vice the force required to remove the new freehub is quite alot i had my foot on the bench pushing agisnt the bench while turning the allen key it took some force and quite a few swear words but it came off...

mcnultycop

Luckily I've just given it my dad who is going to slam it in his vice at work tomorrow.

delcol

he will do it.. i was just about to go get the big torque wrench to undo the one i had but i gave it one last swear and yank and it went, i managed it with just the allen key..

mcnultycop

Nearly there, I didn't make a note of how much of the axle was extending from each side, so unless there is some standard amount I'm just going to have to do a bit of trial and error until I get it right. My disc was tight against the calliper first time and a few bits of playing about didn't help. I was getting cold so I'll try again tomorrow.

mcnultycop

I'm stuck here, every time I tighten it up with the quick release the bracket for the disc brake is tight against the disc, it is fairly tight even without tighten the QR up. I'm at a bit of a loss, as everything else seems to be OK. (Wheel spins OK with no side to side play).

delcol

i never touched the disc.. (6 bolt one)

i just revomeved the axel from the new hub and the frehub body and placed them on the old dodgy hub..

i just put the new axel on old hub as it came off the new hub.. i did not have to alter anything it was fine and went on fine.. no rubbing everything went straight back on with out any problems...

can you not gage it off the old axel..

mcnultycop

I think the problem is that I "over-stripped" the old one down, and because it took me a good few days the order I'd left everything with had been disturbed (mainly as I was doing this in the conservatory, as I don't have a garage). The spacing is not right, it'll just take some trial and error...

delcol

iirc i am pretty sure the guy in that video i linked on page one says something about the positioning of the cone when you fit them..

see around 8min-825 in..

mcnultycop

Apparently I'd missed a spacer out, I'm not sure how as I made sure the new and old axles were the same. Had to bail and got the LBS to sort it out. At least now I know I can service my hub in the future if I just pay more attention. Thanks for the help, Delcol in particular.