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So I cleaned my bike the other day and decided to give the free hub a once over as its never been touched in the 2 years i have had the bike. Bog standard dt swiss jobbie that came on the bike. Removed the free hub, cleaned the bearing and put a wee bit of grease on the bearing and pawls. Trouble is the lovely clicky sound is gone and the rear runs silent now. Should you not grease the pawls? Runs fine otherwise.
Probably too much grease.
Tell everyone you've got the new expensive shim freehub?😉
It should thin out if you ride it enough 😉
On a similar note, steel Pro 2 Evo hubs are considerably quieter than the aluminium ones
DT Swiss hubs don't have pawls, at least none of the ones I've seen do.
You shouldn't normally grease pawls; they like a nice thin lube. DT ratchets do use grease, but a thinner grease than most. At least as far as I can tell.
DT Swiss hubs don’t have pawls, at least none of the ones I’ve seen do.
The cheaper ones do.
I dont know of its pawls or ratchet tbh. I greased the 3 sticky out bits on the back of free hub that engage/drive the wheel, if that makes sense. Guess i will just leave it rather than strip it and wipe it all off, if its not going to do any harm. Might clean it up and oil it next time i take it apart.
Yeah that's pawls, a ratchet will have 2 rings.
My Novatec hub has also gone almost silent, I stripped and cleaned it a few months ago as it was creaking, pretty sure I just lubed it with some chain lube though.
The cheaper ones do.
Ah, I did wonder.
Right then. Pawls, I'd probably clean them up and pop some light lube in there, but I may be paranoid having once gone over the bars when a freewheel failed to engage at an inopportune moment.
Grease is fine. It's a question of how much and how thick. Back pedal the bike and see if the top of the chain goes slack, if it does, there's probably a bit too much in there. This would be more noticeable in the colder months but will most likely be fine this time of year. You'll find the noise will most likely be back in a few rides.