just finished rebuilding my bulb, done this a few times before without incident, however this time every time i tighten up the wheel with the qr in the drop outs the freehub seizes up and wont freewheel. have checked all bearings and they are ok as i replaced them, the pawls are held in with biro springs but are in ok..?

any suggestions

The different-sized spacers put in the wrong way round would be my bet.

Been there, done that…

eh? do you mean the one within the freehub if so then no its the correct one as it was working before i stripped it and all freehub bits were kept sperate from the rest of the gubbins as i did the jobs at different times.
thanks for the answer but i dont think its that.
any more for any more?

Is the washer between the wheel bearing and the freehub body?

Could also be the freehub bearings not quite seated properly.

HTH

gavgas, you are a star!!!
found the little sucker hiding under the workbench, it must've fallen out in my many attempts at holding pawls putting freehub with gloves on shenanigans.

many thanks.

Bit late now, but with the bulb you can put the hub body seal on the freehub first, and slide it back a touch to hold the pawls in place when you assemble it, it's a loose enough fit in the body to easily slide back into place

What coatesy said works a treat and saves loads of pissing about.

Slight hijack, but I've got a Bulb rear with an intermittent problem.

Generally works fine but sometimes the freehub sticks and chain goes slack. I've fitted all new bearings (inner freehub bearing had collapsed), and cleaned and re-greased everything but the problem persists.

Any ideas?
Pawls look OK, would it be worth changing them anyway?

It won't be the pawls.
That would cause it to slip not stick.

I'd make sure the bearings are seated right and the spacers are the right way round.

coatsy, i will endeavour to remember that little nugget of info..!!!

saves swearing and dropping the springs then spending infinate amounts of time on my knees around the garage looking for said springs…

maybe if i'd employed that method my hub would not be running on biro springs!!!

Simon – Member
Generally works fine but sometimes the freehub sticks and chain goes slack. I've fitted all new bearings (inner freehub bearing had collapsed), and cleaned and re-greased everything but the problem persists.

Too much grease on the pawls stops the freehub from spinning freely, you only need a really small amount on them.

Simon

I would suggest its either the wrong grease (to thick)or theres too much grease in there.

I would recommend any bike specific grease (Shimmano?)and not an automotive one. hth

Cheers, everyone. I'll pull the freehub off and clean and very lightly regrease the pawls and ring.

Too much/too thick greaes stops the pawls picking up on the drive ring. ie it misses drive/slips.

Bearing/spacer problems cause the freehub to stick/chain to go slack. Specialy in the smaller cogs on the gear block.

I'll check the bearings are seated properly and the spacers are in the right places too, I'm sure they are but I'll check.

I've spent 10 years swearing at Hope pawls and never thought of that wee gem, thanks coatsey 🙂

Simon, had same on our Big Un. Ratchet ring was worn and losing teeth & the swarf was jamming the freehub. Hope can replace the toothed ring.

Rob

The surface that the pawl is in contact with[on the freehub].
That is the only place you should put some grease and even then only on that surface and the tiniest amount.

It worked all right, tonight I'll see how it goes.