Removing Freehub from unbranded hub

I’ve got a horribly grindy freehub on one of my son’s wheels but I can’t see any obvious way of removing it to get in and service the bearings. It’s a cheap wheelset (Rodi Airline) and, TBH, might have reached the end of its life, but I hate to chuck something away for want of a bit of effort. It doesn’t appear to be an allen-key removable one. I’ve also had a go at pulling it off with the axle removed, but no luck so far. I’ve not started with the vice yet though…

Can anyone suggest how I might get it off?

I think I’ve worked it out myself – it looks like an 11mm allen key and I can see some teeth for it to bite on in the guts of the hub. Typcially, I only have 10mm and 12mm in the garage. I’ve ordered one from The Bay, so will defer until it arrives.

I had s formula branded hub which needed an 11mm so you could be right.

I had an unbranded rear which needed an 11mm Allen Key to remove the freehub from the drive side – but from memory there was a bolt accessed from the other side too?

RM.

Thanks all. This hub is a little rubbish anyway (1/4″ ball bearings too) so I’ll soak it in spray and put it back together which should get the boy through his races on Saturday. I can then strip and rebuild afterwards, once the 11mm key turns up.

I’ll just tell him to treat it as a fixie and keep pedalling 🙂

Right, thanks all – 11mm allen key was the trick and it came off no bother.

Now, it’s clearly as stiff as hell. I’ve got two choices here – strip it and rebuild, or buy a new freehub. How interchangable are freehub bodies? It looks very much like this one although clearly it doesn’t have to be very different to not fit. Stripping it down looks a messy, fiddly job so I’d rather replace if at all possible.

Any suggestions or experience here?

Non branded stuff: I put these freehubs over night in a can of old engine oil.

I gave it up looking for spares…

Above engine oil procedure: strangely worked out quite well. With one wheel I did that: got 2 years additional life out of it…

But danger so: had a freehub seizing up once… going very fast, not pedalling. Nearly killed me…