The free hub on my EX1501 wheels is notched to hell (11 speed old school shimano cassette). I had to hammer the last cassette off (the first that had been fitted to the hub) and the new one is creaking which I think is the loose sprockets moving where they’ve got no support.

I’ve never bothered using a torque wrench on a cassette lockring (assuming since they’d never come loose they were tight enough) but it seems doing them up bastard tight is meant to reduce/stop this happening. Does it actually or is this wear inevitable?

Has anyone ever fitted a steel free hub? HWRABX00S6530S seems to be the part but no UK stockists and the German Ebay stockists (where it’s only about 36 Euro) don’t ship to the UK.

UK part no is HBDT6530S – expected back with Madison mid-June.

I’ve got a few sets of wheels with 350/240 hubs – all have been fine. One has scoring, but not to a problematic level. I’m only about 63kg so don’t have the issues bigger guys have, but torqued to recommended level I’ve not had a problem.
No need to hammer the cassette off if it happens again, just use two chain whips to rotate each sprocket anti-clockwise in relation to the rest of the cassette to get the splines to line up, so that you can remove them.

Have been using the 350 steel freehub for almost three years. In my opinion it is one of the best upgrades you can make as you have found out the alu ones are made of cheese. No damage on mine so far and I weigh 100kg+. The only limitation is that it is avaliable for now obsolete hg freehub standard. Ordered mine from bike-components.de.

the alu ones are made of cheese

DTSwiss-cheese no less! I’m not the burliest rider by a very, very long way. I’ve had two alu freehubs wear down at the dropout end. Effectively turning it into a neutral gear! I’ve only got 370s do as far as I know, there’s no steel option.

I’ve had ’em from hollandbikeshop before – they were the cheapest at the time

No idea if they post to the UK these days

DT do make steel (they call them ‘Hybrid’ as they’re primarily for E-Bike use) freehubs for the 3-pawl 370 hubs

I’m also north of 100KG but I started installing my cassettes with a torque wrench after a mild ticking off from my LBS about 10 years ago and have had no issues with cassette gouging alloy freehubs since.

I used to be able to mash a freehub in a few rides, now I can have cassette on there for years and it comes off easily by hand when needed, the 40nm etched on every SRAM and Shimano lockring is there for a reason.

the 40nm etched on every SRAM and Shimano lockring is there for a reason.

This may well be my problem….but too late for this free hub I think. Will go check my road wheels as well..

I install and tourque mine correctly and still get gouging. Can remove by hand but normally one cog at a time with some fiddling. I don’t often take them off though.

@scaredypants
can’t find any spares like that on their site? any suggestions

@b33k34 Madison have stock due in the week after next for the steel 3 pawl “conversion kit” (inc DS end cap for 142/148×12)

Part no HBDT5571S

it’s the ratchet that I need not the 3 pawl

Ordered from BikeInn for £50 +shipping – lets see what happens with customs . We’ve 3 DT hubs so can work out which bike it lives on later.

@b33k34 – apologies – got mixed up between above posts. Glad you got sorted, and if you want others, I’ve posted the ratchet version’s part no above too.

@malv173 – 3 pawl due in 2 wks in UK. Part no HBDT5571S.

sorry, bit late but
https://hollandbikeshop.com/en-gb/branded-bicycle-parts/dt-swiss-bicycle-parts/dt-swiss-hub-parts/dt-swiss-freehub-body/dt-swiss-cassette-body-ratchet-8-11s-sram-shimano-black/?country_id=222&currency=EUR

This was really useful.
I moved from a dt350 boost hub with a ratchet XD driver to a HG steel freehub in preparation for Shimano linkglide.
Still took loads of research particularly around the axle endcap.
Anyway the parts required for anyone else who finds this thread are:-
Steel HG freehub HWRABX00S6530S
Driveside hub spacer HWA00100S2192C

All from sjscycles

Just swapped out the alu HG for steel on my GF’s 240 hubs last night – looks like they use larger bearings in the steel freewheel – a nod to their intended eeb use I suspect.