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XT 12 speed cassette wobble

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Bit of a head scratcher - have a 12 speed cassette on a DT swiss 350 microspline hub but it has quite a serious amount of wobble when torqued up in the frame.

All spacers are in, end caps are ok, bearings are fine.

Just wondering if anyone else has come across this or has any thoughts? Could it be a worn microspline freehub or knackered cassette?


 
Posted : 24/01/2025 10:12 am
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Wobble which way? As in the cassette will move relative to the freehub body or the freehub body + cassette moves relative to the hub axle.


 
Posted : 24/01/2025 10:32 am
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Has the plastic spacer on the back of the cassette become dislodged ?


 
Posted : 24/01/2025 10:36 am
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Does it wobble when you spin it out of the frame or only when torqued up?


 
Posted : 24/01/2025 10:41 am
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Don't think either of the two I just fitted had a spacer.


 
Posted : 24/01/2025 10:42 am
davros and davros reacted
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I had this with a used XT cassette when installing on a different wheel though I hadn't torqued it up as always check it sits 'stabley' first.

The problem was some of the cassette gunk had ended up on/in 1 or 2 of the recesses inside the cassette and between some of the loose sprockets and I hadn't quite installed the 12T sprocket correctly (note the small alignment marks on the 10T, 12T and 14T sprocket


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Once sorted it remained flat.

Noticeable that SRAMs cassettes aren't so fiddly.


 
Posted : 24/01/2025 11:14 am
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I had similar, it was the really thin flexible plastic 'washer' that goes on the back of the cassette. It had shifted and got trapped, preventing the cassette seating properly.


 
Posted : 24/01/2025 11:18 am
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The smallest two cogs can be installed wrong and you can still tighten up the locknut and then the other cogs wobble.  Ask me how I know!


 
Posted : 24/01/2025 11:25 am
susepic, sillyoldman, sillyoldman and 1 people reacted
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Also had this issue (with DT Swiss hub). No matter what I did it wouldn't tighten up enough to remove the "wobble". Had a Hope cassette spacer that I put on to the freehub body before refitting the cassette and that sorted it out.


 
Posted : 24/01/2025 12:27 pm
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I'm with @gkeefe. I reckon you've ham fisted the installation. The 12 speed XT cassettes need very careful assembly before tightening. It is super easy to not have everything bang on and get a wobbly set up of cogs. Disassemble and try again carefully. Not that I've done this ever. Honest.


 
Posted : 24/01/2025 5:29 pm
davros and davros reacted
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+1 for the slightly misaligned 10 and 12 cogs.

Fiddly yes, but at least you can replace the small ones rather then the whole cassette when they wear out.


 
Posted : 24/01/2025 5:40 pm
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but at least you can replace the small ones rather then the whole cassette when they wear out

Can you, never seen them on sale.


 
Posted : 24/01/2025 5:56 pm
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Two areas can bugger you about here

1 the last 2 sprockets are out of clock.
2 the 2 circular spacers are different thicknesses

have a good look at the spacing of the sprockets if you have a uneven gap then swap the spacers around.


 
Posted : 24/01/2025 9:04 pm
geeh and geeh reacted
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There are alignment dimples marked on the outside of the bottom 3 sprockets

@nixie only XTR, Shimano XTR 10-12T 12 Speed CS-M9100 Sprocket


 
Posted : 24/01/2025 10:57 pm
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Has the plastic spacer on the back of the cassette become dislodged ?

That paper thin “spacer “ on the back is just to stop it creaking. It’s supposed to be stuck on but all the sticky comes off and then it falls off un-noticed sometimes. If it’s missing it won’t make the cassette wobble though.


 
Posted : 26/01/2025 7:47 am
davros and davros reacted
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Thank you @gkeeffe I've spent the last few days surfing for cassette and chain deals until I saw this post. I double checked my 12sp Sram cassette installation (I'd removed it to replace a couple of broken spokes), and saw that I'd misaligned the two smallest sprockets. All fixed now and my credit card can stand down for another couple of months. Might need to start wearing my reading glasses while doing bike maintenance now though. 🙁


 
Posted : 30/01/2025 9:43 am
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That paper thin “spacer “ on the back is just to stop it creaking. It’s supposed to be stuck on but all the sticky comes off and then it falls off un-noticed sometimes. If it’s missing it won’t make the cassette wobble though.

I've had them so that half is trapped between the cassette and freehub, then half in thin air. Caused a wobble. Hence checking if its dislodged.


 
Posted : 30/01/2025 1:22 pm
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Hope spacer on the freehub before cassette goes on


 
Posted : 31/01/2025 10:54 am
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Why? Should not be needed on 12s microspline.


 
Posted : 31/01/2025 11:01 am