[Closed] Cassette: lube?

I always grease the freehub body.

Can't hurt can it? Thanks.

Got a bit of wobble on. Is that normal? Like if you grab the 'big cog' you can wobble it about 0.5-1.0mm

Depends on the cassette/freehub combo. Some don't wobble at all, some have a bit of jiggle. My cassette gets a few drops of chain lube usually.

Liberal application of copper slip assembly compound here.

iainc - Member
Liberal application of copper slip assembly compound here.

Metal on metal that moves regularly, grease it. Metal on metal that doesn't, copaslip.

Can't do any harm.

I also coat hub axles and fork steerer with a thin smear of grease to stop corrosion.

Another for copper slip.

Grease here

Not once in all my years have I even thought about greasing a cassette.

It's extremely open to the elements and will attract grit and dirt and then most likely be gone on the first wash.

Why bother.

Doesn't need grease.

Metal on metal that doesn't, copaslip.

Only when it's really right. Cassettes are not tight enough to need it. You may struggle to remove a cassette but that's cos it's an alu freehub and the sprockets have dug into the splines.

Got a bit of wobble on. Is that normal? Like if you grab the 'big cog' you can wobble it about 0.5-1.0mm

It is likely to rattle. Do the lockring up to 40nm also known as 'pretty tight', then it won't budge.

Thanks all, I'll give it a bit of grease tomorrow.

It is likely to rattle. Do the lockring up to 40nm also known as 'pretty tight', then it won't budge.

After I tighten it up so much it kind of 'rasps' if that makes sense.

Well there are clicks on the lockring that do that even at low levels of torque.

IIRC it's 40nm, and also IIRC that amount of torque was basically as hard as I could comfortably do it up. The clicking/rasping is not a sign it's too tight so don't worry.

It's extremely open to the elements and will attract grit and dirt and then most likely be gone on the first wash.

Why bother.

Doesn't need grease.

Metal on metal that doesn't, copaslip.
Only when it's really right. Cassettes are not tight enough to need it. You may struggle to remove a cassette but that's cos it's an alu freehub and the sprockets have dug into the splines.

Not all cassettes can be thrown on from the other side of the room. The xD driver is a much tighter tolerance. Even on shimano pattern freehubs, I've never found the grease I've used to have collected grit or washed out. It does also, protect against corrosion.

I don’t think survivor read the thread, sounds like he’s talking about lubing the sprockets, not the splined interface.

I don’t think survivor read the thread, sounds like he’s talking about lubing the sprockets, not the splined interface.

Clearly this.

If it's an XD type cassette you can run into problems when your tightening it up if you don't give it a bit of lube.

Basically, even though your torque wrench is clicking, it doesn't pull the casstte on properly and you end up with play in the cassette / strip the threads on the freehub.

Check out this link:

https://www.pinkbike.com/u/Nate-at-BikeCo-com/blog/xx1-cassette-install--creak-check.html

survivor - Member
Not once in all my years have I even thought about greasing a cassette.

It's extremely open to the elements and will attract grit and dirt and then most likely be gone on the first wash.

Why bother.

Maybe bother to actually read the thread?

OP here. I didn't mean anywhere specific, as I don't know, hence asking you guys 🙂

I'll pop a bit on the freehub body as that's metal on metal.

Well there are clicks on the lockring that do that even at low levels of torque.

IIRC it's 40nm, and also IIRC that amount of torque was basically as hard as I could comfortably do it up. The clicking/rasping is not a sign it's too tight so don't worry.

This is good to know. As soon as it's started clicking/rasping in the past I've backed off thinking I'm going to break something. And probably had a loose cassette as a consequence. The whole reason I'm doing this is that I've replaced a knackered freehub. Maybe I've discovered how it got knackered in the first place...

For clarity, the clicking/rasping sound is made by the cassette lockring. I'm not using a torque wrench.

Nothing. Ever It's just something to clean off next time I take it apart.

Yep - the lockring will click a lot it's tightened. Grease or Copaslip - either will do. I usually find some in situ when I replace the cassette (the only time I remove a cassette unless for some reason I'm swapping wheels).

I always grease the freehub body.

This, for the same reason I add a thin layer of corrosion inhibitor between nearly all static metal connections. If it helps prevent problems down the line then it's well worth it.

I also coat hub axles and fork steerer with a thin smear of grease to stop corrosion.

And this. Same reason.

Got a bit of wobble on. Is that normal? Like if you grab the 'big cog' you can wobble it about 0.5-1.0mm

No. Assuming you've cranked the lockring up nice and tight, you may need a spacer. Certainly 8spd XTR on King did (back in the day) whereas XT didn't. If I recall correctly it was a known King issue and they had a spacer specifically for the job.

I've never had corrosion on a freehub body in 20 years of MTBing. I agree generally with regards anti-corrosion but not for cassettes.

Mavic's instruction doc - note, metions lubing screw-on freehub, but no lube suggested for cassette -

[img] [/img]

No. Assuming you've cranked the lockring up nice and tight, you may need a spacer.

I've definitely had a bit of wobble with an XTR cass on Mavic freehub. Spacer already installed. Wasn't desirable, but everything worked ok. The wobble got worse as the Ti spider on the cassette wore out, so I've never used a XTR cassette again. Also those old Mavic freehub bodies had a bit of movement in them.

Also those old Mavic freehub bodies had a bit of movement in them.

That's a good point - I'm assuming it's the cassette. The problem of an internet diagnosis. 😉

I agree generally with regards anti-corrosion but not for cassettes.

It was what I was shown as a trainee mechanic at a high-end road shop more years ago than I care to remember. It's never caused issues I know of, so I've carried on doing it. With the benefit of hindsight I suspect it may have come from steel being used in one party and alu in the other.

Not exactly scientific, but if it ain't broke...

Yeah, it's the freehub wobbling a bit, not the cassette on the hub.

I don’t think survivor read the thread, sounds like he’s talking about lubing the sprockets, not the splined interface.
Clearly this.

Clearly not!

You lot are suggesting greasing the freehub/cassette interface, yeah?

Waste of good grease as far as I'm concerned.

Park tool Blue Book recommends greasing the lockring threads. No mention of grease on freehub/cassette of Shimano or XD.

There is a small amount of movement in this interface so it should never sieze on due to corrosion.

Only time I've had trouble removing a cassette was because of this

Only when it's really right. Cassettes are not tight enough to need it. You may struggle to remove a cassette but that's cos it's an alu freehub and the sprockets have dug into the splines

I never have, and until reading this never heard of anyone greasing freehub/cassette interfaces either. I've also never had an issue getting one off.

They're generally a bit juicy down there when I come to replace them, I assume some lube runs down the sprockets anyway.

Edit - this is for 'normal' freehubs anyway, I can completely understand greasing anything threaded, and especially something expensive like an xD driver.

[url= https://www.paligap.cc/downloads/1443448884-SRAM_XD_driver_installation.pdf ]SRAM [/url]seem to think it's a good idea with XD but what would they know?

Apply a light film of grease to the threads and splines
on the freehub before installing the cassette. Follow
the SRAM torque spec for the cassette.

Yeah fair enough. I've never used XD yet but if it was mine I still probably wouldn't bother though.

[u]attract[/u] grit and dirt

really?

Yeah, it's the freehub wobbling a bit, not the cassette on the hub.

What hub is it?