took the cassette off to check out sloppy hub and when i took it off teany weanie black washer dropped out – odd i thought – then when went to clean the cassette before putting back on i found a pin with a thread at one end that goes with it

– all news to me – is it (delete expletive) unsuitable for future use which means dragging kiddies to ooh and ah in LBS in morning and hope actually have a 9 speed cassette in stock or should it be obvious where the pin goes back in – presume its supposed to help keep the cogs in line ?

No. The splines on the freehub keep everything tight. That little screw is just to keep it in 1 piece when it’s off the wheel.

Put the cassette back, with or without the pin, do up the lockring and you’ll have a perfectly working (and possibly lighter) bike.

(and possibly lighter) bike.

thanks needed to laugh

all makes mechanical sense to me

just do away with the pin.

i “make” my own cassettes by breaking a few apart to get the ratio i want. i never replace the pins and never had a problem