EBay rear wheel won't freewheel?

CRAIGO5000

I've just received some second hand 50mm Planet X carbon tubulars and going over them in my garage, I've found the rear wheel won't freewheel. When pedalling, if I then stop and hold the pedal, the chain slackers and rear derailleur shoots forward. If I then undo the qr skewer, the wheel then freewheels fine.

I then noticed the non drive side end cap was completely loose. I'm not entirely sure what to do, are some hub bearings are shot, it's missing some sort of spacer from the assembly or if they're just goosed?

Can anyone offer any advice? I've asked the same question to the seller but he's not responded yet.

desweller

If I were in your shoes, while I was waiting for the seller to respond I'd remove the freehub body to inspect the pawls and go from there.

CRAIGO5000

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19739599#p19739599]DesWeller[/url] wrote:

If I were in your shoes, while I was waiting for the seller to respond I'd remove the freehub body to inspect the pawls and go from there.

I've had a look and the pawls and the pawl spring and they are working perfectly. There is no sign of any rust on the bearing surfaces so no evidence of anything in need of replacement from what I can see. I've even cleaned the hub assembly up and refreshed with new lubricant and off the bike, everything spins up nice and smoothly while being held.
It's just that even with the slightest amount of end cap bearing preload dialled in barely finger tight, once I add the QR skewer it puts loads more force on the bearings/hub assembly and the chain and derailler play up and the wheel refuses to freewheel?

I've never had this occur with any other wheelset and I've owned a set of Planet X AL30 rims which had a similar hub assembly and I'm sure on those both axle ends were nipped up using either cone spanners or 6mm allen wrenches.

The seller has responded and advised they are fine, which I'm sure they are.

When I get in from work tonight, I'll have another go and take off the preload completely from the end cap and check if leaving a few threads of bearing play will then be taken up by the QR skewer instead.

Does that seem the correct way to go with these?

desweller

I'm making some assumptions about the design of the hub, but it sounds to me as though the spacer that controls the axial position of the freehub body is too short/not present.

CRAIGO5000

That's a point. I don't recall there even being one when I took a look.

Is this a spacer that sits on the driveside before fitting the freehub body? And I recently binned off my AL30 wheelset as the rims were worn. I bet they would have had the same spacer if indeed it is required.

desweller

That's the spacer I mean, yes. As I say, I'm making big assumptions about the hub without photos, but that spacer is used to ensure the freehub body stands off the hub shell.

If it turns out that it was missing, you may wish to inspect the seal between the freehub body and the hub shell; if you've been turning the freehub against the hub while all the load is directed through the seal, then chances are that it's been shredded.

CRAIGO5000

Thanks for the info. I remember last night that I took off that small black seal in order to clean it and it was fine so I reseated it.

Tonight I'm going to take off the preload as per Zipps guide so there is a slight amount on play, then use the Qr to apply tension. If that fails, I'll be looking for this mystery spacer.

Thanks again

ugo.santalucia

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19739947#p19739947]CRAIGO5000[/url] wrote:

Thanks for the info. I remember last night that I took off that small black seal in order to clean it and it was fine so I reseated it.

Tonight I'm going to take off the preload as per Zipps guide so there is a slight amount on play, then use the Qr to apply tension. If that fails, I'll be looking for this mystery spacer.

Thanks again

There is no preload in planet X hubs...

CRAIGO5000

It's all sorted now. I'm confident I'm not missing any bits either.

As mentioned, there is no preload to adjust prior to fitting the wheel in the dropout. The easiest way to address the issue I had is to remove both 5mm ends caps, then using a 6mm hex, in the non drive size to hold the axle, torque up the 5mm hex end cap inside the cassette centre. Then literally screw down the non drive side end cap so it's barely touching the face of the bearing.

Fit the wheel and adjust this non drive side end cap along with the qr skewer. That's it. Once set, you can remove the wheel and refit without having to adjust anything else again.

ugo.santalucia

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19740284#p19740284]CRAIGO5000[/url] wrote:

It's all sorted now. I'm confident I'm not missing any bits either.

As mentioned, there is no preload to adjust prior to fitting the wheel in the dropout. The easiest way to address the issue I had is to remove both 5mm ends caps, then using a 6mm hex, in the non drive size to hold the axle, torque up the 5mm hex end cap inside the cassette centre. Then literally screw down the non drive side end cap so it's barely touching the face of the bearing.

Fit the wheel and adjust this non drive side end cap along with the qr skewer. That's it. Once set, you can remove the wheel and refit without having to adjust anything else again.

So now you have lateral play...

CRAIGO5000

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19741366#p19741366]ugo.santalucia[/url] wrote:

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19740284#p19740284]CRAIGO5000[/url] wrote:

It's all sorted now. I'm confident I'm not missing any bits either.

As mentioned, there is no preload to adjust prior to fitting the wheel in the dropout. The easiest way to address the issue I had is to remove both 5mm ends caps, then using a 6mm hex, in the non drive size to hold the axle, torque up the 5mm hex end cap inside the cassette centre. Then literally screw down the non drive side end cap so it's barely touching the face of the bearing.

Fit the wheel and adjust this non drive side end cap along with the qr skewer. That's it. Once set, you can remove the wheel and refit without having to adjust anything else again.

So now you have lateral play...

That's one thing I used as a guide for guageing the correct setup.
Clamp the qr, check for lateral play. If there is some, release qr and adjust endcap by a 16th turn. Rinse and repeat for the next 20 seconds until play goes when qr is closed. If you get it too tight, the chain starts the drop when freewheeling.