Shimano casette with ball bearings!

[anotherkiwi]

In the course of converting my bike I took the cassette off to see what type of rear wheel to order. No problem, ready to take on the swap of old cassette to new wheel when I order it.

My girlfriend's bike has a broken spoke so while on a roll I decided to take the casette off to see what kind of wheel I need to buy (rim very tired and more spokes look highly suspect). The cassette tool doesn't work with her hub. What looks suspiciously like a ball bearing cover with "shimano china" stamped on it was holding it on. Bingo I knocked it off with a punch and hammer and little steel balls everywhere! The outer ball bearing cover is holding the casette on and there is an internal ball bearing as well...

Have any of the experienced bike mechanics ever seen a contraption like this?

I will not be fixing the wheel but buying a new wheel and cassette for the bike my question is purely for my own education.

Tony

 

[Kuorider]

Your wheel has a freewheel not a cassette. They look similar but the construction is different. There is a tool which looks and fits in a similar way to your cassette tool to remove the freewheel in one piece. What you have done is to remove the bearing retaining ring by mistake with your punch allowing the balls to escape. This can be reassembled but freewheels are quite cheap. More info here - http://sheldonbrown.com/free-k7.html

 

[Emo Rider]

You took apart a freewheel. A freewheel spins onto the hub and contains two sets of bearing and spring loaded fingers that ratchet into the gear cluster. A freewheel comes off of the hub in one piece by using a toothed tool and a large wrech or the tool held in a vice.

A cassette is a cluster of gears that slides onto what is technically a freewheel body that is attached to the hub. You need a different toothed tool and a chain wrench to remove the cassette. Two different types of hub gears.

Hope this helps.

 

[anotherkiwi]

Thanks both. My freewheel must have been screwed on in the factory and has no means of being screwed off - no teeth for a freewheel tool... I have a freewheel tool in my tool kit.

Thanks again

 

[Emo Rider]

Thanks both. My freewheel must have been screwed on in the factory and has no means of being screwed off - no teeth for a freewheel tool... I have a freewheel tool in my tool kit.

Thanks again

If you have the top of the free wheel removed you can put the remaining section in a vice and remove it by turning the rim counter clockwise. Then replace it with a new one.

 

[anotherkiwi]

I removed all the gunk, chucked in some grease and rebuilt the ball bearings for now (after removing the stub of the broken spoke). I could borrow the correct tool from my LBS and respoke the wheel but the bearings although regreased are shot (pun intended!) and the whole wheel is destined to be recycled (re-pun...).

One of the things I read about freewheels since I found out I was playing with one is that they are not suited to the seaside environement... Seeing how well the bearing is sealed I quite believe that. This one has been working for about 7 years though.

Thanks for all the very usefull information everyone.