Freewheel removal

Strida Forum Tips and Techs
1

Easy method to remove the freewheel for a single person:
(Required tools are here Strida workshop tool guide)

  1. Do not remove the tyre, it might be helpful to decrease the tyre pressure to ~ half of the maximum.
  2. Knee down and clamp the wheel between upper legs, lower abdomen and floor.
    (Wearing leather trousers is very practicable to provide more grip.)
  3. Put the freewheel removal tool and the wrench on the freewheel, the wrench should point slightly upwards (~ 10 o’clock).

  1. Press the two tools together onto the freewheel and the wheel against legs and floor.

  1. Now hit the wrench with a hard plastic (or wooden) hammer several times.
    (Be careful, the tools might slip and cause scratches.)

That should work!

Two person method, found at Hong Kong Strida club, the pics speak for themselves:

Many thanks to Wilson and h1mh1m!

The shown tool is created by DIY, using a CNC machine.
(Sorry, no more info about that.)

2

I found it easier to clamp the freewheel removal tool into the vise and to unscrew the wheel from the freewheel - as Sheldon Brown recommends.

1 Like
3

Thank you one_half_3544,
very good method - if you have a vise handy!

Not for nothing Sheldon Brown is called a bike guru :smiley:

4

These are the Japanese tools:

  1. Torque wrench, torque is not needed here, but the length of ~ 45cm is advantageous, with 1/2" (12,7 mm) square drive
  2. Hex socket nut 25 mm with 1/2" (12,7 mm) drive
  3. Park tool FR-6

Thank you, Genuine_S!

5

Using the freewheel removal tool, I’ve been able to do this solo by rolling the wheel into a wall. Obviously, I have the wheel turned in such a way such that when I am applying pressure on the freewheel with the tool / wrench, it causes the wheel to move towards the wall, not away from it. The wall “holds” the wheel for me.

No, I do not have black marks all over my walls. :slight_smile:

1 Like
6

This evening I realized that it is a lot harder to remove the freewheel from an 18" wheel than it is from a 16" wheel. I think I need to pay a visit to my LBS. :frowning:

7

This is how I removed the freewheel with a simple DIY tool.
See my presentation in YouTube> youtu.be/tutHFCaKBXk

8

Why would you want to remove the freewheel? Is that required to lube it?

9

The freewheel is a wearing part, just like cassettes, chains, brake pads and tyres.
You have to replace or refurbish the freewheel sooner or later.
The more you ride on dirty roads and during bad weather the sooner, logically.
You can expect a lifespan of ~ 2000 km up to ~10000 km or even more, depending strongly on the conditions during use.

Some users tried succesfully to dismantle the freewheel, relubed it and assembled it again.
Personally, I think that is not worth the effort and the hassle with reassembling the bunch of tiny bearing balls.

10

I removed it to clean and grease because it was getting noisy after about 8 years. I could not improve the wearing noise, so changed with new bearings ( dia 3mm). It works like new now.