Freehub maintenance

[Nicobulus]

Thanks for the helpful tips from earlier threads about hubs and replacing them; I will need to do this as I'm quite certain I've shredded a bearing this evening on the way home as the "free" part no longer applies and there's lots of shiny metal dust all over the cassette.

I've probably done over 2,000 km on this hub over 12 months but have overlooked the maintenance part. Some guidance on how often I should look at servicing/cleaning the freehub and any other tips would be much appreciated.

 

[accountantpete]

That sounds like it is terminal.

It depends what make the hub is - apart from Shimano and Campagnolo hubs most others are the disposable type with no spares available and therefore need replacing when something goes wrong.

You can try to take it apart and see if it is just a bearing - there should be hex key slots at either end. Undo.

Then there may be a locknut for the freehub - undo and then slide the freehub carefully off.

 

[Nicobulus]

It's a Shimano hub with an 8-speed cassette but I didn't get that far as the issue is with the cassette.

After taking the cassette off I noticed that the pins that hold it together were slightly raised, when I turned the cassette over, one of the pins dropped onto the garage floor! I managed to unscrew the other with my fingers.

Metal dust is presumably due to pins cutting into the metal holding the freehub; my RS10 now has a nice little groove gouged out. Freehub spins perfectly fine when held and rotated but not sure if I want to use it again.