Palaeodom Posted March 12, 2011 Share So i've known for a while that me rear XT hub is not happy. Its been checked by a number of LBS's and they have all said its the freehub system that is failing. What happens when the freehub fails? Yersteday on my ride home i would stop pedalling and the cassette would keep turning with the wheel, this obviously caused the chain to continue to be rotate when the cranks weren't turning...not a happy sistuation, the re-engagement of the hub is also very variable...doe this sound correct and is the whole thing about to fail? Luckily my new set is arriving next week so i won't be rinding this hub again but i'd like to know what happens when the freehub system gives up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crankbrother Posted March 12, 2011 Share Welcome to the world of mavic hubs...i've had to replace 2 freehubs in last year. If it gives up and a service doesnt fix it, then you're going to have to replace it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted March 12, 2011 Share The free hub on my DH bike gave up once. It wouldn't engage under load... quite a scary feeling when you put foot and the whole thing just slips. Needless to say I replaced it very quickly. I have a friend with a Xt hub on his DJ bike and I think it's done the same as yours. I had an XT on my FR bike and it also had issues (but of a different sort). What hub do you have lined up as a replacement? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Marshall Posted March 12, 2011 Share Difficult to say without seeing the hub. Free hubs don't often give problems because the wear on the mechanism only happens when freewheeling. I have come across a similar symptom when the RD was too close to the cluster without enough space between the jockey wheel, chain and cluster. This can be adjusted with the screw on the back of the RD. You can check this with the bike on a stand and back pedal in the different gears and look carefully at what is happening between the chain, gear and jockey. If the freehub is "failing" why didn't your LBS replace it? I am sorry but I don't buy any "about to fail analysis" without a second opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palaeodom Posted March 12, 2011 Share Difficult to say without seeing the hub. Free hubs don't often give problems because the wear on the mechanism only happens when freewheeling. I have come across a similar symptom when the RD was too close to the cluster without enough space between the jockey wheel, chain and cluster. This can be adjusted with the screw on the back of the RD. You can check this with the bike on a stand and back pedal in the different gears and look carefully at what is happening between the chain, gear and jockey. If the freehub is "failing" why didn't your LBS replace it? I am sorry but I don't buy any "about to fail analysis" without a second opinion. The LBS had some issues finding XT hubs, apparently they're pretty tough to come by at the moment, the option they gave was to replace the whole hub system as with XT you can't just replace one part of it. So I decided it was time to get a new wheelset as this one has been through its paces. I'm just on this until the new set arrives. If the RD upper jockey wheel is too close to the cassette it can cause the cassette to keep spinning with the wheel even when you stop pedalling?, as soon as you stop pedalling the whole drive train is supposed to stop running whilst letting the wheels spin, isn't that the point of the free hub? or am i completely wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palaeodom Posted March 12, 2011 Share The free hub on my DH bike gave up once. It wouldn't engage under load... quite a scary feeling when you put foot and the whole thing just slips. Needless to say I replaced it very quickly. I have a friend with a Xt hub on his DJ bike and I think it's done the same as yours. I had an XT on my FR bike and it also had issues (but of a different sort). What hub do you have lined up as a replacement? I'm getting a new wheelset for my birthday in a week so I'm not bothering to replace it...i'm getting some american classics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big H Posted March 12, 2011 Share The freehub is an intricate combination of pawls, springs, small ball bearings and catches inside the body of the freehub. There are not much protection n the sense of seals and mud. dust and water tends to accumulate over time. This either coagulates the grease or washes the grease out. I have successfully washed a freehub that I removed (I was in angola at that stage and could not buy a new freehub) blew it dry of solvents and regreased it with white lithium grease that is thin in consistency. Some say you can just use oil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted March 12, 2011 Share I'm getting a new wheelset for my birthday in a week so I'm not bothering to replace it...i'm getting some american classics Nice! I also replaced the wheelset when my rear hub failed (upgrade opportunity, haha). I went with a custom Hope Pro II on Spank Spike build. Must say that those Hope hubs are amazing! Sealed bearings. Engage like a phonecall to the international mail centre, and they make that great noise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Munchies Posted March 12, 2011 Share The same happened to me 2 months ago had to replace that and and new axle kit to my 4 months old XT wheelset cost me R1400 was so pissed,but it happens when you use prepsol ,clean green or any other dissolve middles on your bike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_w_65 Posted March 12, 2011 Share The same happened to me 2 months ago had to replace that and and new axle kit to my 4 months old XT wheelset cost me R1400 was so pissed,but it happens when you use prepsol ,clean green or any other dissolve middles on your bike I use Prepsol, I spray liberaly on the chain and casette and spray off with a hose (not direct pressure). I had my freehub off the other day. Grease on the pawls was 100% and so were the wheel bearings and freehub bearings. I wiped the grease off, gave it a smear of new grease and stuck it back together. I will continue to use Prepsol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palaeodom Posted March 12, 2011 Share Nice! I also replaced the wheelset when my rear hub failed (upgrade opportunity, haha). I went with a custom Hope Pro II on Spank Spike build. Must say that those Hope hubs are amazing! Sealed bearings. Engage like a phonecall to the international mail centre, and they make that great noise Yeah, i thought about the hope hubs, great reputation, i just don't like all that noise. My ultimate was the Ringle Black flag pros, which are amazing but i found an excellent deal for the American classics plus tyres and rotors for not a lot of cash. Sealed bearings too...havne't got the patience to maintain the cone and cup Shimano. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
droo Posted March 16, 2011 Share Looking at the drawings of the wheelset on Simano's site (here) it looks like the same system as the older type XT hubs. Which means that you should be able to remove the axle, undo a hollow bolt inside the freehub with a 10mm hex key, and replace the freehub body. I did it a while ago on my M765 hubs, and it cost me less than R300 (I did the replacement myself). No need to replace hubs or rebuild wheels or anything complex or expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratus5 Posted March 16, 2011 Share Looking at the drawings of the wheelset on Simano's site (here) it looks like the same system as the older type XT hubs. Which means that you should be able to remove the axle, undo a hollow bolt inside the freehub with a 10mm hex key, and replace the freehub body. I did it a while ago on my M765 hubs, and it cost me less than R300 (I did the replacement myself). No need to replace hubs or rebuild wheels or anything complex or expensive. I did this a while ago with an XT hub, but it took three months before I could find the right freehub. Lots of LBS,spromised to phone me back etc, but never did. Make sure you get the right replacement. Other shimano hubs may look very similar, but are not the same ... No matter what an LBS might claim ... The XT hub has a known problem/defect. The pawls tend to shatter, which cant be repaired. Typical picture attached. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
droo Posted March 16, 2011 Share Wow, that one's a bit fecked... I think the best would be to phone Coolheat directly and arrange the new part through them, they can organise to have it sent to your LBS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeTurbo Posted March 16, 2011 Share The Universe is telling you to get a fixie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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