(very) removable freehub body

bompington

It's autumn cleaning day: taking the cassette off for a bit of degunging, I was mildly surprised that it came off cleanly and easily... with the freehub still attached.
Now clearly it couldn't do this in use, so I don't really need to worry, but should I be at all concerned that it came off so easily?

sandyballs

Depends on the type of wheel, which you haven’t told us?

veronese68

If it goes on just as easily and everything still works, crack on.
But, unfortunately, I suspect it will cause problems in future.
What sort of hub and how is the freehub held on? Presumably you undid the lock ring to remove the cassette, or did it come off before you did that? I can’t see why the freehub would come off after removing the lock ring but not before. Unless in turning the lock ring somehow it undid the bolt holding the freehub on.
I would get the cassette off the freehub, then assemble the freehub back onto the hub. If all goes together as it should and works, then refit the cassette. Should work if everything checks out when assembling in the correct order.
Please report back, I’m curious as to what caused it.

i.bhamra

This is normal for certain hubs that are designed for "tool free" freehub removal (I have a set of Ritchey wheels that do this and it's not a problem). Also have some wheels on DT Swiss 240 hubs where the freehub is designed to be removed without tools but the end cap is a much tighter fit in this case so the freehub never comes off with the cassette.

step83

i.bhamra wrote:

This is normal for certain hubs that are designed for "tool free" freehub removal (I have a set of Ritchey wheels that do this and it's not a problem). Also have some wheels on DT Swiss 240 hubs where the freehub is designed to be removed without tools but the end cap is a much tighter fit in this case so the freehub never comes off with the cassette.

Similar to the hope ones, I guess its possible if its a tool free one, you would expect the end cap to come away at the same time. Possibly the cassettes bitten into the freehub enough to give it purchase to come away? But still I would expect it needs pulling rather than simply falling out.

bompington

sandyballs wrote:

Depends on the type of wheel, which you haven’t told us?

Fair enough: mainly because I can't tell you any details, but I think these ones:
https://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/ ... eelset.htm

At a quick glance I can't find any details about the freehub.

Does seem to fit with i. & Step's advice - the end cap didn't come off though, the whole lot came out together. There didn't appear to be anything holding it on at all.

i.bhamra

The end cap is probably still on the end of the free-hub body.

step83

Just had a nose at the freehub, looks a bit like an American classic but with plug in end caps which explains why it came out the way it did. So basically the freehub has a toothed ring and the actual hub body has the pawls/springs.

Would make sense from there is a pop off design looking at the cut away unless theres a sneaky grub screw or the like on the freehub just not illustrated. If the damage is too bad I would see about a new freehub body, either a fully steel freehub body or an anti bite strip which helps increase the life of the freehub.