Rear wheel/ Cassette body noise

macaj

hi, I went for a 2 hour ride in the (heavy)rain a couple of days ago and when i got on my bike the following day i noticed a weird noise coming from the rear wheel. It sounded as though some grit had got in to the bearings so i cleaned and repacked the bearings and the noise is still there. I think it's coming from the cassette body because the noise is only there when i freewheel... Does anyone know what this could be or know a way that it can be fixed??? Thanks in Advance

daveornee

Brand, model, age/milage,, and other details would be helpful.

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David Ornee, Western Springs, IL USA

kdelong

Possibly grit in the feewheel or freehub, whichever you use on your bike. This is more likely to happen with a freewheel as a freehub has tighter tolerances so it is less likely to have grit in it. If it is a freewheel, you can wash the grit out using a light oil. Just remove the freewheel from the hub, lay it down on some newspaper with the largest ring on bottom and the smallest ring pointing up. Spin the cogs and note where the spinning cogs meet the stationary body. Apply the light oil at the point where the spinning cogs and teh stationary body meet while spinning the cogs. Keep adding oil until the gritty noise stops. You will probably have oil dripping out of the bottom of the freewheel by this time which is why you want to do this on newspaper.

After you have flushed the grit out of the freewheel, you can use a heavier oil to lubricate the freewheel in the same manner that you used with the light oil. I used to like to use motor oil because it eliminated the clicking noise of the freewheel.

The procedures for flushing a freehub will vary depending upon the model of freehub that you have.

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