Horrible freehub rattle [Shimano 105 10sp hub]

[mrfacetious]

Hi all,
My freehub rattles and scrapes like a maraca in a blender, but only when freewheeling.

I first took it off to clean and relube as it was giving a lot of resistance and not disengaging easily, as well as the scraping. I followed RJ's guide (soak in white spirit, dry it out, fill with oil, regrease, refit) and also changed all the wheel bearings. Now it's going great! Except the noise.

I took the freehub body off and gave it a shake - silence. Spun it, "click click click", great.
... but when attaching it to the wheel I noticed that spinning the wheel, holding the hub still and pulling it gently in the direction away from the wheel causes the exact rattle/scrape I hear when I'm freewheeling. If I stop pulling, it stops the noise. The bolt holding it in place is tight.

Here's a video explaining what I mean: 0:00 - 0:10 shows normal engaged/disengaged "purring"/clicking. 0:11-0:16 shows the freehub disengaged but with a slight pull, causing the rattle/scraping. (The rest of the video shows me alternating it)

Any idea what could be causing it?

 

[Mr Celine]

Sounds like the freehub bearing. This does nothing unless you're actually freewheeling. Not always easy to get at and sometimes not possible at all.
There's a follow on video from the one you linked to

 

[mrfacetious]

Was hoping it wouldn't be something like this I saw the video but sounds like it'll be a new freehub body if that's the case!

 

[Big John]

I had a play with a freehub today because when I watched your video something didn't seem right, apart from the obvious I mean lol. Once your freehub is bolted onto the hub there should be no free play and it looks like yours has some play in it. You say you've bolted it back on nice and tight. If that's the case I'm stumped and the easy solution is to source a new freehub. You can't ride with that happening because if it fails completely while you're out on a ride you'll be stuck.

 

[mrfacetious]

You can't ride with that happening because if it fails completely while you're out on a ride you'll be stuck.

Exactly, I first noticed it on a ride and turned around trying to ignore the sound all the way home...

Sounds like the freehub bearing. This does nothing unless you're actually freewheeling. Not always easy to get at and sometimes not possible at all.
There's a follow on video from the one you linked to

Bit the bullet and stripped the freehub body / ordered new bearings as 105 freehub bodies seemed to be out of stock everywhere (tip for anybody who finds this on Google: the "tool" made for the video can be emulated with a pair of long nose pliers, and the whole procedure is not that bad).

Seems to be completely fine now though! Time will tell...

 

[BonnellBtwin]

Seems like o can get good support on here