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I've just rebuilt my hardtail frame with bits from my Rocket - when putting it back together I noticed some play in the rear freehub, stripped it down to have a look and found that the bearings had eaten themselves. That's in the process of getting sorted, so I borrowed a rear wheel to get out this weekend as it's the last opportunity I'll have for a couple of weeks.
Staying with friends near Cannock, so we drove up there for the day - the plan was a mix of on and off piste with a bit of Stile Cop thrown in too. We parked at the car park by Stile Cop, got the bikes out and rode over to the top of the trails.
Matey that was guiding took us to the top of one of the trails ('New Line') and said 'we'll go down this one'. I glanced at the three skull and crossbones symbols next to it, then thought 'ah well', and dropped in. It was a bit sketchy due to all the wet roots and holes being covered in wet leaves, but we made it to the bottom in one piece, if a bit mincily.
Spun along the bottom to climb back up towards the Monkey Trail, there's a steepish climb out from the fire road. Now I've gone from 11spd / 46 rear to 10spd / 36, so I figuring that I'd need a bit of torque to get up there I stomped on the pedals, only to feel an alarming 'crack' followed by the pedals spinning unencumbered and a rapid loss of momentum.
'Bugger', I thought. 'That's my chain broken, and I used my last quicklink putting it together'. But I looked down, and the chain was fine. Hmm. I've not had time to strip it yet, but I suspect the freehub has eaten itself... It was a very old wheel, and I remember noticing that it was very quiet when wheeling it to the car. I thought that was just with it being a Shimano in comparison to my usual Hope, but perhaps not.
Now with most rides this would have likely resulted in a long walk back to the car, but not today! As it had gone at the bottom of the DH trails, we decided that actually we might as well just push up and get a few runs in. After all, it's downhill tracks, there's no need to pedal right?
And actually, it made for a really fun few hours. We stuck to the easier tracks and I had a whale of a time pumping down, trying to carry speed through the corners and clear as many jumps (little ones mind) as possible. Ths Stile Cop tracks all seem to start with a nice little ramp to get your speed up, and there's no better way to focus your mind on staying off the brakes than knowing that you're going to have to scoot back up to speed in a most undignified manner.
So now I need to see if I can repair or replace a Shimano freehub or whether it's new wheel time...
The inside of your freehub and possibly hub will be absolutely destroyed now, I imagine whatever has broken (bearing, then pawls) will have turned into a slurry of grinding bits of metal.
Glad you had fun though! 😀
Yeah, that was my suspicion. But tbh that wheel was / is so old and battered it was bound to go at some point. I borrowed it off my dad so I reckon I'll keep an eye out for a nice set of 26" wheels and treat him to a nice upgrade. Seems like the least I can do.
Going out on a limb, it's could be just the pawl springs have got gummed up/have snapped. I've repaired these in the past using cut down biro springs and the they lasted ages. Obviously the faff may not be worth the effort with an old shoddy wheel.
I'm gonna strip it down one night this week and have a look, it'd be rude not to. If it's shagged I'll replace at least the whole wheel, I don't think there's any point at all trying to rebuild the rim onto a new hub.
I do have a couple of Shimano hubs in various states of disrepair in the shed though, so there's a possibility I might be able to cobble something together.
shimano freehubs are easily replaceable. I`ve had to do it a few times. axle out a sodding big allen key to undo teh lot.
Yep I've definitely had one off before. If I have a half decent spare one (that fits) then we could be good to go.