Unusual Clunk on Pedal Start

[purpurite]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Comes off similarly to a shimano BIG allen in there, lefty-loosey.

The allen runs through the hub and into the base of the freehub... lefty-loosey, correct? Even with a beaker bar it won't budge. This thing is unbelievable.

[BobbyJones]

Side note for anyone else reading this far.

I went through something similar as the OP. Couldn't find the "Clunk". Swapped pedals, replaced BB, swapped wheels... ran down the list of every part of the bike where two "things" joined.

It ended up being a Co2 cart in a saddle bag thunking against the post.

Sounds silly, but it was just one of those noises. No one wishes a damaged part on anyone else, but glad the OP found it.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by upon3

The allen runs through the hub and into the base of the freehub... lefty-loosey, correct? Even with a beaker bar it won't budge. This thing is unbelievable.

Can you set the wrench in a vice and turn the wheel?

[purpurite]

So here's the conclusion of the story (so far). I'm still waiting on a new BB to come in—they shipped it UPS Mail Innovations without letting me know, so I might see it sometime in January if I'm lucky.

12mm hex key was acquired today (holy crap, that's a big hex key). I wrestled with the internal nut for about an hour. Broke the vise base off of my bench (I needed a new vise anyway), bent a 2' breaker bar tube, tried heat, Kroil, lefty-loosey, righty-loosey, you name it. It wouldn't budge. Finally, it cracked loose and I was able to get it off. I don't even recall what direction it took to loosen it. What the hell were they doing when they put these things together?

So I hosed out the inside of the hub and freehub with brake cleaner, then set up a shallow cup with mineral spirits to soak everything. Ran brake cleaner through it again, and sure enough—the freehub spun clean with a ratchet sound and everything! I made a micro oiler of 50% mineral spirits and Phil's Tenacious oil, and then soaked the internals of the freehub. I like a little thinner oil in something like this so it can creep everywhere.

I put the axle, cone washers and bearings back in with some thick Phil's grease and adjusted the cones on the new steel axle so play was perfect. Put the cassette back together, then got the wheel back in the rear dropouts. The wheel spins perfectly with the cassette just sitting still, and in reverse, the beautiful sound of a hub's pawl clicks.

I'm 99.9% sure the hub was the problem and the pawls were sticky and not engaging properly. This should fix the problem completely, but I'll know for sure when I (someday) get the bottom bracket installed and the drivetrain all back together.

For now, I'm calling it a victory. Put my knee on its throat and made it cry uncle. Loser. And I only went through 3 Band-Aids, 2 beers and had to buy a new hollow axle, a new bottom bracket, 3 new tools and now a new small bench vise.



Thanks for all of the help, guys. This was one of those fights that I refuse to lose. I think it's better now that it was when it was new, so I'm happy. I'll let you know how it goes when it's all back together and I can test ride it, but I'm confident it's over.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by upon3

So here's the conclusion of the story (so far). I'm still waiting on a new BB to come in—they shipped it UPS Mail Innovations without letting me know, so I might see it sometime in January if I'm lucky.

12mm hex key was acquired today (holy crap, that's a big hex key). I wrestled with the internal nut for about an hour. Broke the vise base off of my bench (I needed a new vise anyway), bent a 2' breaker bar tube, tried heat, Kroil, lefty-loosey, righty-loosey, you name it. It wouldn't budge. Finally, it cracked loose and I was able to get it off. I don't even recall what direction it took to loosen it. What the hell were they doing when they put these things together?

So I hosed out the inside of the hub and freehub with brake cleaner, then set up a shallow cup with mineral spirits to soak everything. Ran brake cleaner through it again, and sure enough—the freehub spun clean with a ratchet sound and everything! I made a micro oiler of 50% mineral spirits and Phil's Tenacious oil, and then soaked the internals of the freehub. I like a little thinner oil in something like this so it can creep everywhere.

I put the axle, cone washers and bearings back in with some thick Phil's grease and adjusted the cones on the new steel axle so play was perfect. Put the cassette back together, then got the wheel back in the rear dropouts. The wheel spins perfectly with the cassette just sitting still, and in reverse, the beautiful sound of a hub's pawl clicks.

I'm 99.9% sure the hub was the problem and the pawls were sticky and not engaging properly. This should fix the problem completely, but I'll know for sure when I (someday) get the bottom bracket installed and the drivetrain all back together.

For now, I'm calling it a victory. Put my knee on its throat and made it cry uncle. Looser. And I only went through 3 Band-Aids, 2 beers and had to buy a new hollow axle, a new bottom bracket, 3 new tools and now a new small bench vise.



Thanks for all of the help, guys. This was one of those fights that I refuse to lose. I think it's better now that it was when it was new, so I'm happy. I'll let you know how it goes when it's all back together and I can test ride it, but I'm confident it's over.

Bravo!

[purpurite]

Just to follow up on everything on this one, first of all, I want to issue a retraction and apologize to Menards for blaming the Masterforce adapter—it was a Husky product from Home Depot, so stay away from that junk.

Second, got the new BB finally (don't EVER allow something you order to be shipped via UPS Parcel Select, unless you don't care when it arrives). Installed it this evening with grease and my trusty beam torque wrench. Nice and smooth, easy peasy. Got it all tightened up and I needed to adjust the high and low a bit on the FD, but everything shifts perfectly and there are no funky noises or skips in the drivetrain.

I believe the issue was the gummed up internals in the rear hub causing one of the pawls to stick disengaged, which would explain why it didn't happen on every pedal rotation or every engagement. Once it was cleaned out and lubed, it works perfectly.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this thread, it was rather entertaining trying to figure out what the issue was—scabs and bloodletting aside.




Doug

[djdj]

Great story. Thanks for sharing.

[commonguy001]

Originally Posted by djdj

Great story. Thanks for sharing.

Agreed!
Good read this morning and a positive outcome. Glad the bike is finally sorted.

Having ridden bikes that have a “slip” just every once in a while when you start pedaling- I’ll be checking the hub next time without a doubt.