I noticed a noise from my drivetrain on todays ride. It was coming from the cassette/freehub. The cassette had developed slight play and was making a noise like a rubbing tyre occasionally whilst I freewheeled. I limped the bike home and am trying to remove the cassette but it just won’t budge! I’ve got a chainwhip and a lockring tool but even a fairly large amount of force is having no effect.
Any ideas?

Not being funny,but are you turning it the correct way.Turn the Lockring tool opposite way to the freehub engages.

Chainwhipis only needed to undo it.

No worries! I’ve never taken a cassette off before!
I’m trying to take it off to see if it’s done any damage. So I am assuming it has a regular thread type and unscrews in an anti-clockwise direction?

correct, anti clockwise to loosen.
it can take quite a bit of force though, especially if your a whippet.

Cheeky bugger! I’m proper flexing the ‘guns’ here!
I’ve got the lockring tool on a 2″ breaker bar so I must be putting about 150nm into it?
I’ll have a cup of tea and go back to it after. See if I can’t lose me some skin or break a spoke!
Thanks for the quick replies.

Okay, I had a brew, I rolled up my sleeves, I gave it full beans, I broke my chainwhip!
It seems so tight that something else must be going on? Any ideas?

It’s fecked.

hth……..

if its a pro2 you could try taking the wheel out then i think the freehub (plus cassette in this case) just pulls off, i think. Would enable another view to see if you can spot anything else.

Rare for them to be on too tight to be honest. It’s not like your pedalling tightens them up or anything.

There are notches on them though so they usually need impulse force to get them moving if you understand me. I usually get the chainwhip handle and spanner on the lockring horizontal with each other, lean over the wheel and then jerk downwards. Putting the QR back on to hold the lockring tool in place helps too.

If you are sure you are doing everything right and it really is stuck…

Use two bits of wood in a bench vice to hold the cassette really, really tight, then use a very spanner on the cassette tool (depending on your vice this may be a big socket with a long arm to reach it)

Spray some wd40 over the smaller rings and try and get the lockring too taking care not to spray the bearings if sealed. Give it another go tomorrow then. Only had this once on a shimano hub.

what sumari ssid one pointing at 3 one at 9 then apply downward force sort of bouncing on lock ring if brute force alone wont work – work out where you will face plant for when it goes and avoid this 😳