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Are Shimano Micro Spline freehubs all crap or is it just mine?
I decided to strip down and service my rear hub after a massive deep icy puddle incident a few weeks back.... I've not done this before (stripped the hub not the icy puddle) so I was interested to find out how it all goes together anyway.
Anyhow, I stripped it all down and when I took the freehub off to give it the once over I noticed that on one side the bearings are smooth as silk and on the other side they are all graunchy (might have made that word up!). Shimano manual says don't take it apart and TBH I CBA to try and replace the bearings as it means buying yet another tool (bearing puller). Not that I mind another tool per se but I am wondering if they were like this from new as there really is very little wear elsewhere and the whole bike has only done 1000 miles. All seals etc are in good condition and it's possible water has got in but even so it's a bit rubbish if a single ingress destroys one of the bearings - they are sealed too.
So my questions are a) are Shimano freehubs all just a bit rubbish? and B) if so what can I get to replace it?
I don't want a whole new wheel just a new/better Micro Spline freehub. The wheels are MT501 and the cassette is a 12 speed M7100.
Any advice gratefully received.... 🙂
Thanks
It’s a budget wheel so bearings will be cheap. If they are getting used in usual Uk weather they aren’t going to last long.
Need to fit a decent quality bearing with good seals to keep out the weather we get!
Thanks.
So what are my options here then? Is there an upgrade to the standard freehub that will be a straight swap? I'm not inclined to even attempt to replace the bearings in case I damage the hub as I've looked online for a new one and they seem to be out of stock everywhere in the entire world!
Looks like the bearings aren’t sealed. You could strip it down, clean and regrease but ultimately the only way to solve it is buy a better wheel.
Service instructions are here :
Thanks - the bearings in the wheel itself are fine and I serviced them anyway but the grease was lovely and clean. Its the bearings inside the freehub itself (which aren't mentioned in that manual and Shimano say not to disassemble the freehub). I had the whole hub in bits and I cleaned and regreased the whole lot including the pawls, cones etc. There are 2 or 4 sealed bearings inside the freehub body and one or two of those is rough. I can only just get the tip of my finger inside to spin them but one end is fine and the other not. TBH it's not that noticable once the wheel is back together but I have already had to get it serviced once by LBS ( literally 6 weeks ago) as the pawls were sticking and I CBA with having to do quite so much maintenance on the wheel bearings.
Hey ho. Sooooo - You know what I'm going to ask next...
Can anyone recommend a suitable wheel to replace it? I have tried to see what might be an option but quite frankly I'm utterly perplexed by the choices and I don't even know what I should be looking for, how much I need to spend or what will fit... It's a 29" wheel.
TIA
Dt swiss 350 hubs. Fantastic quality at not too high a price. Highly recommended.