Open the freewheel

[widze]

Hello,

I use my strida everyday. Since few months my freewheel does a lot of noise when I stop pedaling. I think I need to add some lubricant or grease inside.
I have unmounted the freewheel, unscrewed the two parts, I can see the balls on each side. I want to open the freewheel to clean inside and add some lubrifient or grease.
What is the method and/or tools to open it ? I have tried to inject some lubricant without opening it but the noise is still there...

Thank you for your help.

[Blackstridaaustria]

Hello widze,

seems that you will need a pin spanner.

Please read on here
http://www.stridaforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2791&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=15#p7994
and here
http://www.stridaforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3429&st=0&sk=t&sd=a#p7175

Anyway I'd suggest you buy a new freewheel, supposably are the teeth also worn out.

http://www.strida.tv/lang-en/spare-parts/93-roue-libre-alu.html

[widze]

Thank you.
I will buy this tool and try it !

[Bietrume]

Unless you are very careful, I would recommend to NOT take the freewheel apart.
There are 2 ball tracks on the freewheel: one on each side, so it might become a nightmare to reassemble it.





Either replace it (which I did), or clean it by putting it in a petrol solution to dissolve the grease and hope that dirt particles will come out, then put some thick oil or hot grease inside it through the gap between the moving and the non moving part.

[widze]

I have received the tool and opened the freewheel !
Unfortunately I wasn't enough careful and I lost 1 or 2 ball, is it important ?

[Blackstridaaustria]

I do think that it is important!
Surely there is a reason why the freewheel supplier decided to use X balls, and not Y or Z...

Again, we would highly recommend to buy a new freewheel.

If you really want to assemble the freewheel again:
The trick to hold the small balls in their place is to "glue" them into their seats - with grease

[Bietrume]

I have received the tool and opened the freewheel !
Unfortunately I wasn't enough careful and I lost 1 or 2 ball, is it important ?

Mmmm, we advised you not to do it

As mentioned by BSA, re-assembling the freewheel with less balls is of course not good, otherwise the manufacturer would have done it to reduce the cost...

These are the negative effects:
- Accelerated wear with,on the long term, more lateral/angular play in the freewheel which in the worst case could make the belt climb on the flanges of the rear pulley and damage it.
If you are a sporty cyclist and push hard on the pedals, then the bearings will deteriorate more quickly.

- Less smooth running when not pedalling with potentially more drag and more noise.

[widze]

Thank you for your help.
I have bought a new one and I will use the old one as spare.
For information, the tool I used to open the freewheel is Park Tool SPA-1.

[Chester_Tan]

Hi guys,

I just had my plastic freewheel repacked, that is cleaned and re-greased and it now runs quiet.

I already bought the aluminum one as a replacement but was happy with the result that I'm holding on to the plastic freewheel until the teeth has finally worn off.

It is handy to have a strong magnet to keep all the ball bearings and do separate them per side so that you don't have to count the bearings when trying to put them back.

The mechanic used a aerosol degreaser to to clean the parts then re-greased on the runners and glued back each ball bearing in place.

Do not pack it full of grease as it will just ooze out. I have read that the ideal amount of lube is about 2/3 of the bearing.

[Leo]

What is the bearing ball size, dia 3 or 3.175mm ?

[Leo]

What is the bearing ball size, dia 3 or 3.175mm ?

After doing some research, I thought 3.175mm is the common size used in the bike. However, I just couldn't fix them into the aluminium freewheel. Even with just 46pcs per side instead of 47pcs, it just couldn't turn smoothly. Hence I will replace them with 3mm ball bearings.

[Leo]

What is the bearing ball size, dia 3 or 3.175mm ?

After doing some research, I thought 3.175mm is the common size used in the bike. However, I just couldn't fix them into the aluminium freewheel. Even with just 46pcs per side instead of 47pcs, it just couldn't turn smoothly. Hence I will replace them with 3mm ball bearings.

I have changed to dia 3mm bearings. Fit perfectly with 47pcs per side. Now it works as new.