Free Hub turning when it should be freewheeling.

[Banjo]

I think I may have fixed it but would feel better if an expert confirmed I have .

When I stopped pedalling on descents the freehub kept turning a bit causing the top of the chain to hang down on the chain stay.

The wheel is an Evo Airline (as supplied with some ribbles) it has sealed cartridge bearings and has done several thousand miles faultlessly so far.

I took the cassette off removed the axle nuts cleaned behind them applied a fresh bit of grease rerassembled but had exactly the same problem.

Stripped it again and noticed there was a bit more axle sticking out on the drive side compared to the non drive.I wound the nut out a bit to even it up the nut is now only finger tight on the axle.

Reassembled it and hey presto everything running smooth and correctly.

Have I fixed it by backing the axle nut out a bit away from the cartridge bearing or is there an underlying problem guaranteed to reappear as far from any train station as its possible to be??

 

[ColinJ]

I got that when I had my bearings overtight. When I put the bike in a stand, I could feel significant friction when rotating the wheel by hand.

I slackened the bearings off a little and all was well again.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

I must say I am not comfortable in agreeing with you. The important thing to note is that there are three separate rotational elements - the axle, the hub shell and the freehub shell. I am uncomfortable because I think the original issue you have is due to the freehub's shell having excessive drag in relation to the freehub's core. On the other hand whatever adjustment you have in relation to axle protrusion should not have any effect on that, but affect only the rotation between the axle and the hub (which should be fixed to the freehub's core).

It is a bit hard to explain, but basically I think you are talking about the pink/purple bits on the left hand side of the pic below being finger tight, which being a sealed bearing hub only the preload adjuster should be finger tight, but while that can affect the rotation of the axle against the hub I don't see why that can affect the cassette's rotation against the hub - because the freehub lockscrew in light green should have been very tight - so the only things that should affect the spin of the cassette against the hub are the tiny yellow bearings and the pawls/ratchets, and where stickiness and drag was most likely the cause of your original problem.

Are you sure you are not missing a spacer/washer somewhere?

 

[Fab Foodie]

The problem is with the Freehub pawls.
You need to strip out the hub, clean the pawls and reassemble, if not you run the risk of the whole lot locking-up and it can get road-rash messy and expensive. It's not a difficult job, there must be online guides for this.

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/workshop-how-to-overhaul-your-freehub-23757/

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/freehub-service

Some hubs are more susceptible to crud ingress than others. I finally ditched my lovely Reynolds wheels because the rear hub was not terribly weather resistant. My Ultegra Freehub has been exemplary for 8 years of abuse.

 

[accountantpete]

The essential trouble is that the wheels are cheap Rodi Airline wheels and are likely to have cheap Chinese hubs.

As the others have stated it is something to do with the freehub and maybe the pawls.

The pawls are on a spring and fold down when you coast (against the spring) and spring up when you pedal forwards and engage the teeth in the hub.

The engaging teeth on the hub point backward and therefore when you stop pedalling they should push the pawls down and then flow over the top (hence the clicking). In this way the freehub stays still.

But for some reason when you stop pedalling the pawls remain engaged.

The cause may either be the pawls sticking ( however these Chinese hubs usually have then in a sealed and non-serviceable unit so all you can do is spray with WD40).

Alternatively the outer part of the freehub may be sticking to the hub very slightly due to the absence of a washer. See if you can feel and friction between the two.

 

[Banjo]

I must say I am not comfortable in agreeing with you. The important thing to note is that there are three separate rotational elements - the axle, the hub shell and the freehub shell. I am uncomfortable because I think the original issue you have is due to the freehub's shell having excessive drag in relation to the freehub's core. On the other hand whatever adjustment you have in relation to axle protrusion should not have any effect on that, but affect only the rotation between the axle and the hub (which should be fixed to the freehub's core).

It is a bit hard to explain, but basically I think you are talking about the pink/purple bits on the left hand side of the pic below being finger tight, which being a sealed bearing hub only the preload adjuster should be finger tight, but while that can affect the rotation of the axle against the hub I don't see why that can affect the cassette's rotation against the hub - because the freehub lockscrew in light green should have been very tight - so the only things that should affect the spin of the cassette against the hub are the tiny yellow bearings and the pawls/ratchets, and where stickiness and drag was most likely the cause of your original problem.

Are you sure you are not missing a spacer/washer somewhere?

Thanks for the detailed reply. The pink nut in the diagram on the drive side is the one I slackened and have done a few miles on it now and seems ok. The diagram looks like cup and cone type whereas mine has cartridge bearings so the back of the nut is flat. Not sure I have confidence in it now though so may start saving up for replacements. They have given good service so can't complain really.

 

[Sterba]

Time for some frivolity now your problem has been explained. Tighten the nut back up again and you will find that you have a seven speed fixed wheel. Up til now a three speed fixie was the most that Sturmey Archer could offer