How the ‘heck’ do you remove a DT Swiss hub ratchet ring?

I’m stuck! Trying to change the wheel bearings on a Specialized Roval rear wheel (with DT Swiss internals), but cannot get the ratchet ring undone, it’s soooo tightly in! Using the tool in a vice and the tool is moving in the vice- two of us trying to rotate the wheel but it won’t budge. Any magic tips or ideas? How do the experts do it? The bearings are shagged, but at the moment I can’t get to them!

Leverage is your friend.

eg

Some tips here

Impact Driver for DT Swiss Hub Service

Go for a ride, take your rear wheel out when you are furthest from home and it will dismantle itself. Works especially well if you remove your wheel in heather or any other vegetation

Strap a big lever across the wheel (inflate the tyre, and strap around the tyre/rim). Get a big lever on the tool, then you can use them against each other.

Wow that vid @martinhutch makes it look so easy!!!

I don’t even bother trying to get it off without heating it up a lot first then turning the wheel on the tool

Old disc attached to something big. I fitted the screws so they hold the disc tight but you can slip the disc into place without unscrewing them. Long bar on eBay tool. No heat or plusgas needed.

Thanks everyone, some options to try tonight!

Impact wrench (and some ear defenders)

https://elevationwheelcompany.com/product/dt-exp-drive-ring-removal-tool/amp/

They do a tool that will fit in an impact driver socket.

+1 oceanskipper,the official DT tool isn’t ideal. I have a cheap chinese one with a half inch drive, it’s thinner which makes it easier to apply force without worrying about angles, and there’s none of this “put it in a vice” stuff. An impact makes it much easier but even a big breaker bar is better than the vice approach. (*)

Whereabouts are you? Maybe someone with an impact can have a go at it for you?

Another trick is that the seal puts a surprising amount of resistance in, when it’s really stuck. So just extracting that first- which unfortunately means destroying it- can help, if you’re really struggling. Hammer and small screwdriver under it will mangle it out 9 times out of 10. It also lets you get gear directly onto the ring, or penetrating oil, which is useful on a really stuck one.

Knocking out the axle helps too with access (you can knock it through from the ring side, it’ll take the bearings out of the other side as it goes and leave just the ring and the centre bearing in the hub. And actually at that point, you might just find that you don’t need to change it at all, the centre bearing lasts way better than any of the others so I only change it if it needs it.

(* this is understandable; the Hugi design is incredibly old and largely unchanged since the early 90s so the tool reflects that, pretty much nobody had an impact gun then. And DT have been awesome at maintaining compatibility over that time. But it’s definitely of the past)

Is it just a standard ratchet hub as opposed to a to star ring?

If so are you sure that you need to remove the ring to get the bearing out?

Boiling water on the hub shell

Bearings frozen

If so are you sure that you need to remove the ring to get the bearing out?

That ring definitely needs to come out to access the bearing underneath it.

Boiling water on the hub shell

Bearings frozen

Bearings being frozen are completely irrelevant to removing that lock ring. Boiling water will not make enough thermal difference to have any meaningful effect.

Yes definitely needs to come out to access the bearing. Guess what feature DT are promoting for the all new ratchet version just released for 240 hubs.

There was a Mapdec video on YouTube that shows them using an impact driver to do the job, looked easy.

I looked quickly on my phone and assumed it was a 3 pawl ratchet 🫢

Ring has to come out in the 3 pawl DT hubs as well (it’s the same size).

Heat is the best for this. I just use a hair dryer up close to the hub. Ring comes straight out every time with the tool/wheel in a vice. No staining or use of massive breaker bars needed…

Got one of these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/235444358261

Tied wheel to 5 bar gate with some sturdy rope.

25 inch wrench with 2 hands and every bit of strength I could muster it and it came off.

Well I’ve still failed! Got a very large adjustable spanner with a scaffold pole and tried the ‘under the bench, roll the wheel’ technique in the video up there, but nothing moved except the tool eventually rotating in the spanner with a big bang. Hmmm. To source an impact driver then…

I made it sound easy in my post above.  It wasn’t.  It took me weeks with various methods and the last one worked.  It will eventually come off.  Perhaps try a blowtorch for 30 seconds and then give it a go.

It’s an absolute bastard!!! Put everything I had into it and nothing moved!

Specialized warrantied my Roval wheels for this issue last year, it’s a known problem. You’ll break everything trying to get it undone.

Two bike shops (one a Specialized dealer) couldn’t get it undone.

Yeah, I couldn’t get the roll the wheel method to work either. nixie’s method looks good, the problem with either of those though is that you need a sufficiently strong and well anchored thing to act as a counter lever.

I’ll see if I can dig out a picture of my method.

If you’re anywhere near West London, I have an impact wrench that I use for changing car wheels… I think it puts out about 750 nm of torque undoing… That doesn’t shift it. Nothing will

Actually, thinking about it if you just pop down to your local independent garage. I bet you they will either let you use the air impact wrench or one of their mechanics can do it in a few minutes…

Be worth a try just to pop along?

After a few failed attempts it took me holding the wheel and another bloke with a long scaffold pole. I thought the tool would strip first but eventually it let go. And that was a fairly new hub.

From memory these tighten in the direction of pedalling? So maybe the more miles and torque have gone through it the harder it’ll be to undo.

In the past where heating something up has failed I’ve has some luck with the walk-in freezer at work instead.

Yeah they tighten to the pedalling direction, obviously. So the bigger and stronger the rider, the tighter it will be.

I have serviced lots of those – specifically the Roval branded hubs, always heat the hub body from the outside too and the ring with a gas torch first (about until some smoke is seen but don’t melt the seal – preferably remove freewheel seal first), then rotate the wheel with the tire on with the tool in a solid vice – not one that can be rotated, they will not stay put. Might possibly still need two guys to rotate the wheel unless you go to the gym a lot.

Sometimes had to spray something like this http://www.crceurope.com/crc/CRCproductdetail.csp?division=automotive&product=ROST%20FLASH%20PRO after heating, it often helps. Penetrates the threads and assists removal. Then re-heat if not succesful right away.

Have never failed to get it loosened yet.

And when you reinstall, remember to put anti-seize on the threads.

I’ve used the tool in a vice method too. I strap a length of 2×4 to the wheel, tied on in multiple places, tyre in place, pumped up. My thinking is to try not to concentrate the force onto a limited number of spokes where the straps inevitably contact.

It takes a LOT of force so I use a length of threaded bar to make sure that there’s no possibility whatsoever that the wheel can slip off the tool. In the past I have managed to snap a Record 3″ vice, make sure you have a bench/vice combination that’s resilient enough.

Great idea above about using a gate!

I’ve just bought a set of DT Swiss fatbike wheels as I do like the design. I believe some of the hubs have a smaller inner bearing now so that the  ratchet ring can be left in situ when replacing. However, does anyone think that it’s worth me removing the ring and applying anti-seize before I use the wheel or will I be wasting my time?

Just managed to do it, using the tool in the vice and two people turning the wheel……………

@wheelsonfire1 – from what I’ve heard the main problem is with Roval hubs with DTSwiss internals.

@kramer thank you for that, in my experience it affects the DT branded hubs too. I’ve serviced many of them in my previous life and it’s frightening the amount of force required to move the ring! I was wondering if anyone had experience of dismantling them new, whether they are tightened extremely tight during production or if it was just the pedalling action, and if anti-seize makes a difference- I’m all for preventative maintenance if it works!

I think that they’re hard on the DT branded ones, it’s the Roval branded ones where they’re seized solid, or that’s what my LBS told me anyway?

I think that they’re the same hubs with different paint!

Gave it one last try (I’m doing the traws eryri ride on Thursday so need a working wheel, but failed again. With a mate managed to change the brake side bearings and wheel seems good so for now I’m gonna leave it be. We’ve managed to round off the tool from the force applied – madness! Thanks for all the advice though, as ever this place has great collective knowledge!

wheelsonfire1 – yeah it will be easier to take the ring off new, and anti-seize will help with second removal.

The Roval hubs are just re-branded ones, there is no difference in the hub itself. Just the stickers differ.

Their latest version of the hub has a larger ring and ratchet, and the bearing will come out without taking the ring off. But these are not backwards compatible at all – the whole hub body is much wider on the freewheel side. So a new design.

https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/90-tooth-dt-swiss-hub-all-new-240-ratchet-deg-revealed-and-tested

@mrauer thank you for the information, that’s exactly what I thought so I shall do it before I use the wheels. Why did it take them so long to bring out a version that was more easily serviced??? @kramer have a word with your local bike shop!!

Why did it take them so long to bring out a version that was more easily serviced???

It’s not like that bearing needs replacing all that often. I think I replaced one after about 20 years, and after it had been through 4 bikes.