Just had bearings replaced by LBS in DT Swiss rear hub with Ratchet System. All seems fine, freehub works – until put I wheel in frame & tighten thru axle- the free hub locks up – it feels like the cassette is jamming on the hub possibly??. Wondering if there’s a spacer missing? Would go back to shop but need to leave home early doors tomorrow for long drive down south.

Alternatively any suggestions for shop to call into en route from Inverness to Essex?

Cheers

Not sure what hub you have but my old one required special tools that no one had locally.

Might be an issue for an off the chance drop in??

I had the same it was one of the bearings was not in right it just needed a good tap.

I also had a similar issue, turned out that the axle had been slightly bent during the bearing change process

Sounds like they’ve not out the rw spacer back in. That controls the space the ratchets can occupy. Take this out and the ratchets can move together too much and the hub will seize up as you describe. To check if you have it in there, pull the freehub off, and see if there is a sleeve inside the ratchet rings over the axle. It’s about 12mm long I guess and sits snugly over the axle through the middle of the ratchets and springs. It’s so snug you may think it’s actually a step on the axle so look carefully. No rw spacer and you’re out of luck I think.

They’ve forgotten to put a small sleeve back in – #7 on this image:

That sleeve #7 can also get slightly mushroomed on the end and can bind.
Also possible that the inner free gun bearing is seizing as this sometimes only shows once everything is tightened into the dropouts.

What llatsni said.

IME part 4 in the diagram above hasn’t been seated properly. Its an easy mistake to make- you have to make sure it sits inside part 5. If you didn’t have the centre bearing changed ignore me. A good bike shop won’t leave parts out. Take it back and get them to sort it. That’s one one of the many good things about a LBS.

I had a similar issue once. Short term fix was a thin washer behind the axle end (part 11 above) which spaced it enough to get rolling.

Cheers for all that. Sleeve #7 is there.

Problem I have is I need to leave Inverness at 7am tomorrow en route for Hadleigh – daughter whose bike it is has a training camp there.

Ideally therefore need to find good lbs with experience of these hubs within spitting distance of M74, M6 – any suggestions?

Cheers

Do you have another star ratcheted wheel you can borrow the free hub off?

Unfortunately not.

Pull off the free hub again and remove the springs and ratchets, put the freehub back on with spacer and see if it locks up when tightened in the frame.
If it does make sure the seal on the hub is pushed in as far as it will go as it can cause the freewheel to bind.

As above check the spacer is not buried and the springs are not bent.

Bolt

Did you get sorted???

Had this a few times, just ride it up the road and it sorts its self out with in a few hard pedal strokes.

Also worth checking the drive side shell bearing while you’ve got the body off to see if they’ve replaced it or not. Even with the correct tools, it’s not often as easy as the others.