Fulcrum Racing Quattro Freehub issues

JesseD

The freehub on my Fulcrum Racing Quattro has a little play in it, and I am wondering if the freehub is shot and needs replacing or if there is a way to adjust it to take the play out?

The wheel is only 8 months old and hasn’t done a huge amount of miles as I swap between these and a pair of Shimano ones I have so I don’t think I would have worn the freehub out on it but you never know?

I have tried adjusting the bearing cover but obviously that’s just for the bearings in the wheel and not the freehub so my next check was going to be taking the freehub off, re-greasing and then reassembling, however if that doesn’t sort it, is there a way taking the play out of the freehub or does it sound like its knackered and needs replacing?

ChainCharlie

I tried adjusting the freehub on mine (well the bearing hub) but it just turned out the bearings needed replacing.

Relatively cheap job to perform and that solved it for me.

ugo.santalucia

Freehub bearings can be replaced, it's often not worth it though... depends on the conditions of the pawls/springs and how much a new freehub costs.

If you have a tensioning collar, it should tighten the all assembly, not just the hub bearings... if that fails, you might need new bearings somewhere

JesseD

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Freehub bearings can be replaced, it's often not worth it though... depends on the conditions of the pawls/springs and how much a new freehub costs.

If you have a tensioning collar, it should tighten the all assembly, not just the hub bearings... if that fails, you might need new bearings somewhere

First thing I tried was the tensioning collar which didn't work and there was still play in the freehub, I have contacted the online retailer where I got them and they have said to send them back and they will cover the cost so they can look them over and make a decision. Now I dont know much about the internals of wheels but 3000 miles in 8 months doesn't seem like an awful lot of mileage for a feehub to fail or for the bearings to be shot, the wheels have been looked after so to me it would seem like a fault with the wheels?

What are your thoughts Ugo?

keef66

I'd agree with you. I'm assuming most of those miles you've been pedalling rather than freewheeling, so the freehub mechanism / bearings aren't actually doing anything?

I've never worn out or had to replace a Shimano freehub; my oldest has been in use for nearly 10 years. And I do a lot of freewheeling!

ugo.santalucia

JesseD wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Freehub bearings can be replaced, it's often not worth it though... depends on the conditions of the pawls/springs and how much a new freehub costs.

If you have a tensioning collar, it should tighten the all assembly, not just the hub bearings... if that fails, you might need new bearings somewhere

First thing I tried was the tensioning collar which didn't work and there was still play in the freehub, I have contacted the online retailer where I got them and they have said to send them back and they will cover the cost so they can look them over and make a decision. Now I dont know much about the internals of wheels but 3000 miles in 8 months doesn't seem like an awful lot of mileage for a feehub to fail or for the bearings to be shot, the wheels have been looked after so to me it would seem like a fault with the wheels?

What are your thoughts Ugo?

If they cover the costs, it seems a no brainer...

nigelgos

If these are like the other freehubs from Fulcrum (Racing 7, 5 & 3) then you can change the cartridge bearings out yourself. The ones that come with it only have a seal on one side and I find that the outbound bearing tends to go quite quickly after a few bad weather rides.

The replacement bearings will cost you about £15 but a new freehub will be £50 (and have the poor single side seal on again).