Freewheel removal - I will not be defeated!

[DaveReading]

A photo of the 'freewheel' would help and we can confirm if its a freewheel or freehub with cassette. Picture from the side please.

I don't think I ever used a chain whip in freewheel days, and the broken tool looks like a freehub remover.

The damage suggests it has slipped off the cassette lockring - a good tip is to stick the skewer back in the wheel after inserting the remover, then tighten down the skewer nut to hold the tool in place.

 

[Ajax Bay]

we can confirm if its a freewheel or freehub with cassette

I think it's most unlikely he managed to damage to destruction his freehub remover by trying to insert it in a lockring - so it's a freewheel. Also how many 6 speed cassettes do you know of? (Cross post with Dave)

destroyed the 6 speed freewheel on our cheap tandem

Also a fan of dripping some oil on, leave the wheel horizontal, freewheel up, for a day or two, to make things easier.

 

[Ajax Bay]

The OP's image is of a destroyed cassette lockring remover - which does not fit in a freewheel, well not without serious force. The two tools are very similar in diameter, have the same number of splines but their profiles are different (the freewheel remover splines are much shallower).
We don't know how the OP damaged the tool but, imo, not in a lockring, slipping or not.

 

[fossyant]

I thought a photo would help as I certainly had a 6 speed freehub on a Raleigh Road Ace. I think it's a freewheel, but a photo will clear things up.

 

[Levo-Lon]

My Park tool cassette ring removal tool shattered trying to undo a shop fitted cassette..
40nm my arse..more like 80nm..
i ended up using a 2ft long torque wrench and a better quality cassette tool to shift it.
What is it with king kong spanner monkey's..

 

[subaqua]

My Park tool cassette ring removal tool shattered trying to undo a shop fitted cassette..
40nm my arse..more like 80nm..
i ended up using a 2ft long torque wrench and a better quality cassette tool to shift it.
What is it with king kong spanner monkey's..

hope you had it re calibrated after.Guaranteed it will be battered around if using as a breaker bar. its a precision instrument for tightening up things carefully, not loosening them

 

[Ajax Bay]

I . . . had a 6 speed freehub on a Raleigh Road Ace

Very special bike, yours, not a 'cheap tandem'.

 

[simon.r]

Right, I'll award my self numpty of the week for using a chain whip. And the wrong tool.

The freewheel didn't unscrew easily so, for some bizarre reason, I decided that a chain whip should be used. The only excuse I can offer is that I rarely remove freewheels, all of my other bikes have freehubs.

I've had another go this evening and it came off relatively easily (using the wrong tool again!)

Photo below shows, left to right, freewheel, correct tool, wrong tool (cassette lock ring removal tool). Although the wrong tool is a pretty good fit and did the job easily enough eventually. It's a Falcon freewheel.

Anyway, all's well that ends well. Feel free to take the mickey

I promise never to post on any technical threads ever again, unless I'm absolutely certain I know what I'm talking about!

Edit - After all that I've found the problem. The freewheel is OK, the thread where it screws onto the wheel is stripped, which would explain why the freewheel was turning anti-clockwise, but not un-screwing. New wheel time I think.

 

[fossyant]

 

[Ajax Bay]

Although the wrong tool is a pretty good fit and did the job easily enough

Interference 'fit' and the splines inside the freewheel are in a pretty bad way too - as if a freehub tool has been 'spun' in it, not that it matters.
All's well that ends well.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

How you learn is by buggering things up
When you've buggered everything up by doing it wrong, is when you'll know how to do everything right

And no, don't bother trying to make that piece of junk freewheel work. I've got one similar on my desk - it's never powered a bike and it never will. When I get around to dismantling it I'll make a clock or a bottle opener or something. It's worth the few quid to get a Shimano branded one.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

How you learn is by buggering things up
When you've buggered everything up by doing it wrong, is when you'll know how to do everything right

And no, don't bother trying to make that piece of junk freewheel work. I've got one similar on my desk - it's never powered a bike and it never will. When I get around to dismantling it I'll make a clock or a bottle opener or something. It's worth the few quid to get a Shimano branded one.

I've got both tools in my toolbox and I've mixed them up before now. And I've buggered things up in the past learning how to do jobs, not quite as much of a problem these days, the internet is a wonderful source of information, something new or something I've forgotten the answers usually online somewhere.

 

[Levo-Lon]

hope you had it re calibrated after.Guaranteed it will be battered around if using as a breaker bar. its a precision instrument for tightening up things carefully, not loosening them

its 35yr old and very past it... i use it as a long ratchet tool..i hate to think how Out it is...
i have 2 newer one's for torque..

 

[Gravity Aided]

For the freewheel situation, I often use a breaker bar, a ratchet that is about 30 inches(in old money) long, with a bit of patience and a bit of force. Apply in equal measures.

 

[Ajax Bay]