Any idea what caused this on my hub cassette body?

[jojoma]

I took off my cassette and noticed these "snakebite" type marks around the cassette body. This cannot be a good thing. Should I replace it? Any idea what may have caused these marks? I believe my hub was loose because I felt some play in the cassette.

Thanks for any insight on this.

 

[daveryanwyoming]

It's normal operation for an alloy freehub. The individual cassette cogs dig in to the softer metal and other than making the cogs a bit harder to remove and reinstall it doesn't really cause a problem.

All my alloy freehubs look like that and it's no big deal, steel freehubs are tougher and don't get gouged and one piece cassettes like SRAM Red can help avoid gouging as well.

-Dave

 

[alfeng]

Originally Posted by jojoma .

I took off my cassette and noticed these "snakebite" type marks around the cassette body. This cannot be a good thing. Should I replace it? Any idea what may have caused these marks? I believe my hub was loose because I felt some play in the cassette.

Thanks for any insight on this.

FYI. Unfortunately, as mentioned, a gouged Freehub body is often the price one pays for reduced rear wheel weight.

And, some alloy Freehub bodies get more gnarly looking over time:

​

 

[ToffoIsMe]

Quote:
Originally Posted by daveryanwyoming .
All my alloy freehubs look like that and it's no big deal, steel freehubs are tougher and don't get gouged and one piece cassettes like SRAM Red can help avoid gouging as well.

-Dave



I highly recommend AVOIDING the use of the Sram Red cassette on an alloy freehub body. I have seen several Red cassettes that have essentially gotten stuck on alloy freehubs. This is because all of the force is put on one spot (the largest cog/back plate, which is the one that engages the freehub) and it causes it to dig in much deeper than a normal cassette would. Often times when this happens the powerdome will come seperated from the back plate (where it is touching the freehub) when trying to remove the cassette and it is then extremely difficult to remove the back plate from the freehub. On some occasions they can become so lodged into the freehub body that the only option is to replace both the freehub and the cassette.

 

[sitzmark]

Originally Posted by ToffoIsMe .

I highly recommend AVOIDING the use of the Sram Red cassette on an alloy freehub body. I have seen several Red cassettes that have essentially gotten stuck on alloy freehubs. This is because all of the force is put on one spot (the largest cog/back plate, which is the one that engages the freehub) and it causes it to dig in much deeper than a normal cassette would. Often times when this happens the powerdome will come seperated from the back plate (where it is touching the freehub) when trying to remove the cassette and it is then extremely difficult to remove the back plate from the freehub. On some occasions they can become so lodged into the freehub body that the only option is to replace both the freehub and the cassette.

I couldn't agree more... especially 11/23 cassettes. Please send all unopened/unused 11/23s to me and I'll see that they are properly used ... err disposed of. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif

 

[OldGoat]

Looks to me like your cassette lockring was insufficiently tightened; should be torqued to 40Nm.
It's easy enough to replace the freehub if you think it's necessary.
Nice wheels though!

 

[531Aussie]

Originally Posted by jojoma .

I took off my cassette and noticed these "snakebite" type marks around the cassette body. This cannot be a good thing. Should I replace it? Any idea what may have caused these marks? I believe my hub was loose because I felt some play in the cassette.

Yes, as the others said, it's an unfortunate side effect of using an aluminium, Shimano-compatitble hub body: the hard cogs cut into the softer alu. When Shimano designed their freehub way 'back when', it was never intended to be made of alu, and, to this day, as far as I know, Shimano still have never produced one of their own hubs with an alu freehub; they're either steel or titanium, and it's other hub manufactururers who sell hubs with alu bodies, just to cut some weight. The weight difference between my old, el cheapo, steel, 9sp 105 hub bodies and a generic Novatech aluminum body is 57g, which I don't reckon is worth it.

 

[dhk2]

531, well said. I also think an alloy hub body is a poor choice for 99% of us who aren't racers with 5% BF. Kudos to Shimano for resisting the cheap alloy weight-saving opportunity in favor of long-term durability for their customers.

 

[jojoma]

Thanks for the replies. It's at least good to know this is normal. The folks at Reynolds even said it was normal and that I could continue using the hub body.
Goat, thanks for the torque spec. I am diligent about torquing carbon bits to the correct specs, but the lockring I have always just screwed on with my big socket wrench.

One more question...
To replace this body, is it "tool less"? Or do I need a couple of allen keys or other tools?? I have seen some YouTube videos that show different ways of replacing this part.

 

[alfeng]

To replace this body, is it "tool less"? Or do I need a couple of allen keys or other tools?? I have seen some YouTube videos that show different ways of replacing this part.

If the rear hub is made by DT & uses the Star Ratchet mechanism, then it is probably "tool less" ... but, DT sells a toolkit (!) to facilitate disassembling 240-base rear hubs.

• If you are motivated, you can simply grab the non-driveside end cap and pull it off (rubber gloves will improve your grip!) ... use a block of scrap wood to gently tap the axle out of the hub ... et cetera.

BUT, if your wheels have DT manufactured hubs then I think you are better off sending them back to DT to have the bearings serviced to ensure that the quality of the bearings are the same as the original set.