You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Go on release the secrets to successful removal and replacement. It makes me love my hardtail's 10 speed all the more.
So when I remove the old one you get to point where you hear a nasty "crack", is that normal?
After spending HOURS gently trying to coax the new cassette to engage with the threads of my lovely dt freehub, I end up laying the the wheel on the ground and spinning away with the spanner until eventually something engages and with a lots of effort the splines seem to final touch base. Maybe that's everyone experience....
It can be a bit of a noise, especially if it's not been taken off in a while. The threads are also quite a fine pitch so you have to be a bit careful not to cross-thread them.
To minimise:
a. Remove the end cap to ensure maximum tool engagement
b. Using a decent tool - e.g. with a central locator like the Park Tool FR5.2 - to stop it rocking
c. Clean everything before reassembly
d. Grease / anti-seize the freehub body threads
They do seem to always be a bit "sticky" to get on, and it does feel a bit like you've just cross-threaded a couple of hundred pounds worth of cassette on the hub! Just go slow and keep on until it properly gets home.
Sweaty palms though fo'shure.
Have been using XD cassettes since they first came out, never had an issue, always use anti-seize on the freehub, clean it and more anti-seixze when refitting
Yeah, bloody awful things. I swapped from a 27.5 wheel to a 29er, and really did think I'd wrecked the threads. Especially after fitting it - the 29er is a Mavic and for some reason the freehub can just fall off! Which it did, of course. Making me think I'd ****ed the Eagle cassette.
When putting a brand new one on I always put the lockring tool (Park Tool one is perfect as it has a thick shaft) in with the cassette on the bench and wind it anticlockwise for a quarter turn. This seems to free it up so when you start to wind it on while in place on the driver you can focus on holding it straight. Once you are ready to install and it’s lined up on the driver, again reverse it until you feel the threads bump over each other and then you know that it will engage pretty much as soon as you start turning clockwise with minimal risk of cross threading. As above re grease etc.
Cheap alloy DT swiss ones I always felt like I was gonna destroy the threads, steel freehubs are always better IMO.