Q: Freehub damage from cassette

[OtayBW]

Originally Posted by PaulE

Take a look at the "tube" that is the axle. Is it scored or grooved a bit where the inner surface of the sealed bearings ride on it? That can be a big source of your noise under significant load. If the axle tube is scored bad enough, you may need to replace it. Put some heavy duty grease like Phil's on the outside of that tube where the bearings will sit on it and reassemble the hub.

You don't say what kind of bike you're riding, but if it is a Ti bike it will be more susceptible to making this noise than a CF, steel or aluminum bike.

Peg, stainless. I'll have a look at the axle. Thanks for the info.

[Charles M]

11.4 wins...

Get a cassette that runs fewer single gears and this goes away for the most part. Some folks make freehubs designed to deal with it (a few mentioned). American Classic does this...



You only need to stop the teeth at one spot and the rest won't spin past that point...

SRAM's cassette domes kill this issue too




But if you run cassettes that group the higher gears, you shouldnt have much of an issue, even if constantly ham fisting gear changes under full power (which is also a culprit).

[OtayBW]

Interesting. The Chorus 12-27 that I use has the lower (23-25-27) gears ganged together and the next two (19-21) ganged as well. Can't recall if all the others are single gears or if there is another group of two in there.
So American Classic makes a FH that is compatible with Campy 11-spd and with the HED Ardennes hub? Might be a good way to go...

Thanks.

[SoCalSteve]

On a DT 190 hub, I actually went completely through a spline ( maybe the 16 t). It's a very weird feeling to just spin out with no traction...What you are seeing is nothing. I replaced that free hub with a heavier duty version and all is well again!