Cleaning cassette.....



lohsnest

New Member
Oct 10, 2004
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What steps should I take to clean my cassette? I have gone as far as using a degreaser, rinsing off with water, and drying it all off to prevent rust. Now it is time to reassembe the cassette.... what procedures should I use? Should I lubricate each cog before reassembling the cassette? What type of axle grease would you all recommend?

As you can see, maintenance has never been my big thing. I always though that you should never use water on your bike...too many parts that could rust, yet the instructions on the bike degreaser specifically say to use water to remove the crud and activate the active powers of the degreaser.

I am afraid that if I do something wrong, I might cause more harm than good... Your help is appreciated.
 
I remove the cassette. I clean each cog with a degreaser. Gas on a rag does the trick.
Do not lube the cassette. Lube the chain.
 
A light smear of grease on the freehub body splines never hurts (after cleaning off the dirt). Too much like hard work individually greasing all the inside faces of each cog. Regular automotive type grease is fine.

Also make sure the lockring threads are clean and lightly greased.

And yes, lube the chain, not the teeth of the cogs.
 
I've done both...is there a reason I shouldn't lube the teeth?
scirocco said:
A light smear of grease on the freehub body splines never hurts (after cleaning off the dirt). Too much like hard work individually greasing all the inside faces of each cog. Regular automotive type grease is fine.

Also make sure the lockring threads are clean and lightly greased.

And yes, lube the chain, not the teeth of the cogs.
 
What I should have said was that there's no need to lube the cassette teeth - but if you have it won't do any harm. The chain will transfer enough lube onto the teeth to do the job.
 
scirocco said:
What I should have said was that there's no need to lube the cassette teeth - but if you have it won't do any harm. The chain will transfer enough lube onto the teeth to do the job.
There is absolutely no need to lube your freehub splines. The only place grease goes on my cassette is the lockring, and only a thin film at that.

The chain getting lubed with your choice of lubricant (not grease) is all that is needed.

I repeat, Do Not Grease Your Freehub Splines!

Regards,

Super
 
SUPER RIDER said:
I repeat, Do Not Grease Your Freehub Splines!
I'm curious to know why you think that dry metal to metal contact is a better solution than a light coating of lubricant? The OP's been out with the degreaser and the garden hose, remember?

Sure, it's only a bike. Power transmission is small, temperatures are low. It'll do fine with no lube. It's just the principle of the thing. If it was a car or a motorbike, you'd lube, so why treat a bike any different?
 
With the wheel off of the bike, I use an old toothbrush to knock off the big debris, and then use a rag dampened with degreaser to "floss" the cassette. This gets it pretty clean. As suggested by others, only need to lube the chain.
 
lohsnest said:
I've done both...is there a reason I shouldn't lube the teeth?
Excess lubricant will collect dirt. It won't hurt anything but I would wipe the lube off of the cassette. Also, use only a chain lubricant on the chain. Grease will not get into the rollers of the chain as efficiently as chain lube and will also attract more dirt than a regular chain lube. In fact you might want to look into a dry lube so that your chain will attract very little dirt.
 
I'd say, use a dry or semi-dry lubricant (Prolink is excellent) and leave the damn cassette alone. But that's the kind of pig-headed, lazy maintenance tip that I'm prone to giving...
 
As mentioned earlier gas works best for all drivetrain cleaning...if you are a strict environmentalist though and using gas would be against your beliefs, you could use a small amount of WD-40, as this also works good at cleaning, however if you use that, be VERY careful about the excess amount you leave on, as it will definitely collect **** and garbage.
 
is the freehub outer surface where you slide in the cassette needs to be lubed or greased before installing the cassette?
 
zaku said:
is the freehub outer surface where you slide in the cassette needs to be lubed or greased before installing the cassette?
Unless it has been cleaned, it should be pregreased out of the box...if that is what you are referring to.:confused: