WH-R600 10speed ONLY??

[lukeheller]

I just acquired these wheels in hopes to use them in a 9 speed application. My experience had always been that all shimano hubs now-a-days are 8/9/10 speed compatible (not considering the new 11spd applications of course). So I know these wheels are old news and they're not the most amazing skates out there. But they would have been good enough for what I intended to use them for. Unfortunately, the freehub body has raised splines after the first 5mm that apparently only 10spd cassettes will fit over. This is no good to me! Is the freehub swappable with something 9 speed? Anyone know? Aside from filing down each freehub spline, is there anyway to make these 9spd compatible? Thanks

1697871686

[Ti Designs]

I've put a few Dura-Ace cassette bodies on the lathe...

[oldpotatoe]

I just acquired these wheels in hopes to use them in a 9 speed application. My experience had always been that all shimano hubs now-a-days are 8/9/10 speed compatible (not considering the new 11spd applications of course). So I know these wheels are old news and they're not the most amazing skates out there. But they would have been good enough for what I intended to use them for. Unfortunately, the freehub body has raised splines after the first 5mm that apparently only 10spd cassettes will fit over. This is no good to me! Is the freehub swappable with something 9 speed? Anyone know? Aside from filing down each freehub spline, is there anyway to make these 9spd compatible? Thanks

1697871686

Only shimano 10s cogsets..not even sram. Unfortunately, not possible to put an earlier or later 9s compatible FH body on there.

[lukeheller]

I've put a few Dura-Ace cassette bodies on the lathe...

Hmmph. How about a hammer and chisel? ;)

[sales guy]

The alloy on there is pretty soft. A flat file will do it just fine. It'll just make a mess and take some time. But it can be done with a good flat file. Or if you trust yourself enough, a Dremel tool.

[lukeheller]

Have you done this?

[sales guy]

Have you done this?


Yeah, twice. It's a boring job so have some good music in the background. I've also taken alloy frames without replaceable dropouts and made them to have replaceable dropouts. First one was due to a softride with a broken hanger and the coast guard guy dropped it off, said he's leaving for a month so I have time. I'm like ok, ordered a couple different dropouts and got to dremeling the frame. Turned out amazing. Wasn't quite factory. But close. The second one I did was flawless.

The free hub bodies, just boring though.

[lukeheller]

Impressive. Thanks. We'll see if I have the patience for that!

[sales guy]

No worries. The bodies are boring cause they just are. The frame, that was like sculpting something special. If you can pull the body and put it in a vise with soft jaws so you don't kill it. It'll go much faster. The alloy is soft so it isn't a tough thing to do. Watch topgear UK while doing it, it'll go faster.

[oliver1850]

I would probably use a loose cog cassette and file the notches deeper in each cog. I haven't tried it with 9 speed cogs, but have filed HG cogs to fit on UG bodies. Shimano cogs are soft enough to easily file, and you can put them in the vise to do it. It should go pretty quickly even though there are quite a few notches to file. Yes you'd have to do it every time you change the cassette, but I think it would be easier to do than the FHB, and you would keep the extra contact area of the taller splines. Just another option to consider.

[lukeheller]

Success and failure. So, after a few hours of filing, I got the cassette on. Thrilling. The moment of success.

After putting the wheel in a bike, the freehub is wore out.... I think. After all, I got a deal on these wheels. Maybe not such a deal after all. The hub won't coast properly. When coasting, the cassette wants to continue spinning. Time to service the freehub, right?

So I removed the DS nut that is reverse threaded. Removed the freehub, cleaned the contact areas of the hub and freehub, lubed the pawls and reassembled. It seemed that if I tightened the nut to what felt like adequate tension, it tightened the freehub to the point that it put too must resistance in thee freehub. The looser the bolt was, the smoother the freehub spun. Even so, when I left the nut pretty loose, the freehub still stuck.

So, is the freehub toast? Or am I missing something? Possibly not assembling then freehub back on the hub properly??

[lukeheller]

I think what I'm really asking here is:
Are there any alternative freehubs that aren't 10spd specific with raised splines that will work with this wheel?