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  • Fun with draggy Mavic freehub
  • bob_summers
    Full Member

    It’s the old(ish) 2 pawl design, Campagnolo.  It sometimes freewheels ok, sometimes not, causing chain drops when I coast, especially in the smaller cogs.  I’ve stripped it, lubed with 10w suspension oil several times and finally fitted a new freehub I had in the spare box, and it’s no different.  Runs fine for a while then starts binding – the cranks spin with the wheel like a fixie, and doesn’t free up when I drop the wheel out of the frame so I guess it’s not an overtightened QR.

    I’ve rebuilt it minus the rubber seal (number 995.. below) just to see, and it runs a lot better.  Won’t know til I ride it tomorrow.  Ordered some new pawls and the rubber seal, but I’m stuck beyond that.  Any ideas?  Bent axle maybe?

    christof
    Free Member

    Bit of a common problem I believe!

    i would put wet chain lube on to the pawls and into the hub every couple of months or so. It was on my commuter, 1000miles a month or so.

    sorry, not really much help, but I feel your pain!

    eddie11
    Free Member

    I found incredibly regular cleaning and lubing just about worked but the chunks out of my frame and cranks are testament that it never really fixed it.  I now have different wheels.

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    bob_summers
    Full Member

    That bad huh?  I had some Ksyriums with the same freehub and they never did this.  I’m wondering if a Hubdoctor will help.  The wheels don’t owe me anything but they’re awesome when they’re working properly so I’d rather not bin them.

    onandon
    Free Member

    I had thousands of miles out of my old SLRs.

    They were pretty maintenance free and a quick lean out took ten minutes.

    i can only guess that the rubber seal is gripping the hub or the free hub. Either that or you didn’t fit the washer.

    no reason they shouldn’t work after a new rubber seal is fitted but keep the thread updated.

    bob_summers
    Full Member

    keep the thread updated.

    Will do, interested to see how it goes with no seal tomorrow.  I fitted the washer in there, it came with the new freehub, and I’ve read you can stack two washers to ease the friction on the seal.  But there’s very little clearance between the cassette lockring and the dropout as it is; another washer might jam up the wheel entirely.

    eddie11
    Free Member

    they were kysiriums!  don’t know what was up, i had askiums and they never did it and I’m sure they make millions of other wheels that don’t but it has put me off mavic.  The aero spokes annoyed me as well so i just moved on to the many novatec rebrands and they have all been faultless.

    bob_summers
    Full Member

    Well leaving the rubber seal out makes all the difference. Spins perfectly, or it did for 15km when I had to cut the ride short after flatting a one-ride old tubular.

    Obviously can’t leave it without a seal, I’ll put a new one in, but I’d imagine a new seal is just as likely to cause the dragging as an old one. Same thickness etc.

    Picto
    Free Member

    Had a similar problem on an old pair of crossmax. Every time I went over certain speed the freehub started dragging and making a horrible noise.

    Googling suggested the problem was down to a nylon bushing in the hub wearing. I got a hub doctor bearing kit to replace the bushing. Managed to swap out the nylon bushing for a ceramic bearing. Problem solved.

    dickie
    Free Member

    Had this with old Crossmax. Manual said to lube the seal with mineral oil.

    bob_summers
    Full Member

    Think it’s something more serious than lube, as mentioned it was spinning nicely without the rubber seal but then it seized almost totally as I was arriving home yesterday.  Dropped the wheel out, I could turn the cassette by hand (it was stiff though), no way the chain would turn it.  Took the freehub off, found nothing untoward, back together and it’s ok again.  So dunno – worn pawls or bent axle?  Can’t think what else.

    EDIT: Googled ‘seized mavic freehub’ and turned up this thread which are my symptoms exactly.  Could’ve written it myself, right down to riding with two 5mm allen keys!  It mentions a top hat reducing washer – my wheels were on long-term loan and the loanee was using a shimano cassette, so I think maybe something’s been lost along the way.

    kcr
    Free Member

    It sounds like a problem with the hard nylon bush at the back of the freewheel, as described by picto above. I had this a couple of times with a Crossmax rear wheel I had for years. There’s a US guy on eBay who sells replacements for a few quid. Just pop the new one in and it stops the freewheel from dragging and seizing up.

    andytherocketeer
    Full Member

    Ah the Mavic wail. Well known issue, and affects several models, both road and MTB, since they’re all identical design.

    Think the top hat is something on newer hubs? Older ones (like mine) had just a bog standard washer.

    Mine was absolutely pristine inside, so the seal and PTFE/nylon bush obviously do a pretty good job in that respect. Bit of mineral oil gave it another 100km of life. Didn’t do the bushing replacement, since the axle was ever so slightly bent too.

    Having to permanently pedal every jump and berm for the entire descent of Laggan from top to bottom was fun, else the chain would get all tangled up.

    Certainly a neat easy to maintain design though.

    BadlyWiredDog
    Full Member

    Had this with old Crossmax. Manual said to lube the seal with mineral oil.

    This. When I was running a Crossmax wheelset, I used to use Shimano mineral oil, the pink stuff they sell for brakes. I also replaced the plasticky bushing with an eBay one when the hub did start making noises. Personally I’d clean out the suspension oil – why use that? – and go from there. At least then you’ve eliminated the oil issue as a cause.

    bob_summers
    Full Member

    Certainly a neat easy to maintain design though.

    I quite like the design, I’ve had two wheelsets with the FTS two pawl freehub and not had issues ’til now.  Not denying people don’t though.

     I’d clean out the suspension oil – why use that?

    Good question.  I read years ago the US Mavic rep recommended it, despite Mavic making their own freehub oil.

    So.  After routing through the last week’s recycling, I found the top hat spacer which came with the new freehub.   Newer axles are 9mm, this spacer reduces the freehub bearing down to 8mm for the pre 2013 axles (pic 2 in the PDF).  Indeed, my axle is 8mm.  So now for a spin to see if that’s the cure.

    The wheels have a slightly complicated history – they sat unused in my LBS for about 2 years and then a mate of a mate borrowed them, then they went off for a rim repair – I guess at some point the original Campag freehub has been lost, then replaced with a new one sans spacer.

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