Freehub deceased?

Corners R Us

So I'm out for my final shakedown run before next weekends Hell of the North Cotswolds and my chain keeps jumping occasionally under load but not all the time; arrrrrrrrrrgh! It started the week before so I replaced the 6-month old Clarkes PFTE chain with a Sram 830 8-speed item although I wonder now if the chain was fubar!. The FSA chainset is less than 6-m old and the Sram 8-speed cassette is about 3 months old i.e. the whole drive train bar the jockey wheels is new. I've tried my son's rear wheel in my bike and no jumping so this leads me to think its the freehub; correct?

I've taken the cassette off and externally it looks fine, no score marks or such like on it and there's not much play in it although it is a little notchy if you turn it slowly. Do they just fail completely and not engage or can they slip periodically as mine seems to be doing?

To be fair the wheelset is about 10-yrs+ old and has served me well so I'm not surprised if its finally cried enough. Do I need to match a Shimano 8-speed free hub to my hub (a Joytech) or will any himano 8-speed freehub fit?

I'll likely take it to my LBS to get it swapped out as I've no time throught the week to do it myself unfortunately but I want to be as sure as I can that it is the freehub before I invest in a new one.

Thoughts, pointers appreciated.

Corners

supersonic

Does sound like the freehub - but what is compatible is the question. You need to take it off and have a look at the fitting.

Corners R Us

I feared compatibility might be my bigger issue. Luckily the LBS is run by a gnarly old mtber who's been in the game for years so he should be able to tell me fairly swiftly if I can get a freehub or if its time for a new set of wheels. Plan B for next weekend is to use the wheels off my son's Specialized and lob my cassette and tyres on them for the day and get some wheels idc if needs be....

Thanks for response. Corners