Was told that due to the difference in materials the cassette can ‘dig’ in to pro II so do not put a flat-head screwdriver behind it to prise it off as this will make it worse. Was told to get two chain whip tools and kind of wiggle it off.

Any other suggestions to remove cassette off pro II as I’ve only got one chain whip??

Thanks

tap the cassette/rings with a mallet in an anti-clock wise direction. There only slightly dug in, it’s not like there welded together.

I took the freehub body off and gave it a bang on a table. The pawls and springs needed a clean out anyway!

I needed to give it a gently bang (oh err) to get mine off but it did come off ok.

z1ppy – Member
tap the cassette/rings with a mallet in an anti-clock wise direction. There only slightly dug in, it’s not like there welded together.

+1

and always use a cassette with an alloy slider on pro2 alloy freehubs
(just in case you hadn’t been told this, …unlikely I know)

Think if you used a cassette made of cheese it would still dig in. Just persevere it wil come off, think I used a hammer last time to help things along, stay strong you will get there in the end. Once you have the cassette off just clean it up with a file or buy a steel one.

what cassette? If it is a non-spider shimano one then dismantle it and wiggle a cog off at a time.

The only reason not to use a screw driver is because of the possibility of bending the adjacent cog and teeth.

As long as you’re aware of this and not a totally ham fisted eejut, a screw driver is by far the easiest way to do this.

Thanks for the tips, will be digging the mallet out tonight!

Ecky Thump – last time new cassette went on the lbs did it (I know, never again, I’ve got no excuse!) so not sure if its got alloy sliders on…..is it obvious if it has? I’m only asking as if it hasnt got alloy sliders I wouldn’t mind going back to lbs to ask why not

Ahh. Pro 2s. Fabulous things. Not.

just look at the cassette – if it’s just metal sprockets with a spacer riveted between them then its ‘bad’ if the sprockets are mounted on a larger alloy carrier which goes on the freewheel then it’ll be ok.

Normally XT (or equivalent – not sure on SLX) and above is ok.

mallet or a normal hammer via a wooden dowl, you want to shock it out, not give it a “beating”

Wouldn’t stress too much, alloy spider carriers dig their way into the freehub too. Made of soft stuff those things. And only ~£60 to replace as well when it’s eventually too chewed to take a cassette…

Even XT/SRAM cassettes with alloy carriers have a few of the smaller sprockets that aren’t on the carrier – once you’ve tapped those off with a mallet the rest will slide off easily.

XT (and SRAM PG990 IIRC)cassettes are built on an alloy spider like this. These are what Hope recommend for Pro2.

As thebunk says above, with XT the smallest three cogs don’t sit on the spider, so if you can tap those off then the rest should slide off easily.

If your LBS have fitted a Deore for example

then you can see from the pic how each individual cog comprising the main block will likely have gouged into the freehub.

Havent had chance to look to see if on spider or just a ‘solid block’ but the price the lbs charged for replacing it in the service it best be the ‘nicer’ cassette (but I doubt it)

Thanks for all the advice, very useful when trying to avoid paying for repairs/servicing leaving more cash to spend on new shiny bike parts!

As I mentioned above, even the hope approved cassettes with the carrier spiders get stuck. In my experience anyway.