Does the hub still function correctly? Some people pack grease in there so the pawls don't click. (I personally find too much click annoying.)

 

thats a good question tbh!

Feels a tad slower in all honesty but I could probably do with removing some grease

 

I would use a free hub specific grease likely Demonde tech or whatever the manufacturer specifies.

 

shimano suggest using their own stuff - shimano premium grease, looks exactly like motorex tho 🤔

Can’t seem to find anything specific for shimano pawls

 

I've seen their freehub grease, it's not tacky.. not like motrex..

 

Just found some shimano freehub grease 🤔 taking a punt on it or would you recommend the dumonde?


thankyou

 

I use motrex for the bearings, and dumonde (either grease, or the oil depending) for the pawls.

btw, your example hub looks more like hub grease.. whiteish.. it's probably not sticky, is it?

 

not sticky at all, came straight out the box with that stuff one it. Absolutely caked in it

 

I never use freehub specific grease other than for an onyx. I like to shut hubs up with something heavier. I'll bet after just a ride or two the noise will come back. In my experience you can't shut hubs up for long with lubrication. As long as the grease isn't so heavy the springs gunk up you're good. It doesn't look like the grease is too heavy to me. T

The bike industry loves to market specific greases but few parts actually need specialty grease. I'm running the blue grease that came with a Santa Cruz bike in a dt 240 54t. Runs quieter and just as efficiently as the factory dt Swiss free hub grease it came with. I also ran slick honey but it was louder. I've even run marine grease with no issues. I was conservative with the marine grease. You could probably gunk up the pawl springs if you packed it on too heavy.

 

That's not the grease he used dude.

 

I use Mobil XHP 222 for most of the year. It's really thick and tacky but it lasts. It's what Hope spec in their hubs (I have a Pro4) and those are plenty loud. You only need a small amount on the pawls and then just enough to form a barrier around any seals. You won't break anything by using too much but it will mute the hub a bit for a few rides.

Mobil Polyrex EM is thinner and less tacky. I use that in my Halo Supadrive. Neither grease comes in a fancy package and they don't smell like raspberry tart or peppermint, but you get a big grease gun tube of them for less than a tenner and they last for ages.

I sometimes use Slickoleum in the summer. I don't know that I can feel less drag but it makes the hub louder - useful for letting walkers and wildlife know you're coming.

 

use Mobil XHP 222

This stuff is good and not crazy expensive if you watch amazn for a price drop...which it just did to a little over $10 recently (usually hovers around $14 so not too terrible). Don't grab the "special" version. It's not the same, though I've used it and it works ok.

 

I reckon POE and precision are the deciding factors in how tacky of a grease your free hub will tolerate.

 

I use either standard bike grease (eg Park Tools polylube) or if I'm feeling lucky a mix of 75w gear oil and slickoleum

 

slick honey/Slickoleum work well here. Dont need much

 

WRT riding in a wet area. Dumond or not if water gets into pawls then the grease will emulsify into a grey froth of water and oil, and it will stop acting like grease, and the innards will rust.

You’ve got lots too much grease in there, and it looks a bit thick.

 

WRT riding in a wet area. Dumond or not if water gets into pawls then the grease will emulsify into a grey froth of water and oil, and it will stop acting like grease, and the innards will rust.

Yes, that is the grease doing its job; it just got overwhelmed and needs to be replaced. imo, a properly designed seal should not let any water in.

 

I just use some normal multipurpose grease and put a very light coat on the pawls and a light coat on the teeth in the hub. Still looks brand new and it’s years old. They don’t need much

 

I use whatever grease I find first. The greases I have in my garage are a Valvoline branded wheel bearing grease, Lucas Red and Tacky, Quicksilver 2-4-C (for the outboard engine), and SRAM Butter. You don't need special greases for a bicycle, its just a bicycle.

 

Slickoleum for bearings and hubs and Lucas red and tacky for general assembly.

Hubs are always much more quiet after greasing the pawls for a ride or two.

New bearings have more friction than used bearings and can take a lot of miles to break in.

 

So there you go OP, you have before you a range of answers from very thin grease to very thick. That should answer your questions.

 

Another mystery solved, gang 😌

 

Wow, this thread is all over the place! Some good advice. Some great suggestions. And some ill-advised.

Back in the day, Phil Wood sold its "freewheel grease injection" tool so you could simply PACK a freewheel full of grease after flushing out the old lube & grit. It was really cool, your freewheel ran SILENT!

But then freewheels started showing a propensity for blowing up. The pawls cannot properly seat when packed with grease. Under high loads or sudden immediate engagement on a steep climb and "BAM!" Shimano wouldn't warranty any freewheel that was greased. Let that freewheel and grease pick up some grit & grime and you're really set up for problems. Shimano specifically advised against using the Phil Wood tool. Light oil is what most pawl freewheels and freehubs require. Anyone using grease needs to understand that they may be reducing the freehub's life and durability. When a pawl isn't fully engaged, it may slip. Slipping causes chipped teeth & engagement ramps and damaged pawl seats as well.

Since pawl springs are as variable as tire choice, it's best to simply follow the manufacturer's recommendation on what lube to use with your pawls, springs and engagement ring. Using grease of high viscosity when light oil is called for is simply playing with fire.

DT specifies their grease for their star ratchets. Given their history of sudden failure, and some QA/QC problems with surface hardening/heat treating,* I think it's worth the extra cost of one of their little containers of pink grease. Should last the average consumer 5-10 years.

King specifies their RingDrive lubrication for their hubs' killer ratcheting system. $600 rear hub alone and you're gonna "pick what you think is best?" Not the brightest idea if you ask me.

But in general, if you cannot determine the ideal lubrication for a freehub's engagement system, light oil is almost always the best bet. Yes, it will be louder than if greased. So try something else if you want more silent freewheeling. Feel free to experiment! Have fun! But don't you DARE mention the word "warranty" if things go south. No complaining on the internet about "XYZ's shitty hub blew up while I was 20 miles from the trailhead!" if you're gonna stray from what the manufacturer suggests.

*https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S135063071300109X?via=ihub

 

Wow, this thread is all over the place! Some good advice. Some great suggestions. And some ill-advised.

Back in the day, Phil Wood sold its "freewheel grease injection" tool so you could simply PACK a freewheel full of grease after flushing out the old lube & grit. It was really cool, your freewheel ran SILENT!

But then freewheels started showing a propensity for blowing up. The pawls cannot properly seat when packed with grease. Under high loads or sudden immediate engagement on a steep climb and "BAM!" Shimano wouldn't warranty any freewheel that was greased. Let that freewheel and grease pick up some grit & grime and you're really set up for problems. Shimano specifically advised against using the Phil Wood tool. Light oil is what most pawl freewheels and freehubs require. Anyone using grease needs to understand that they may be reducing the freehub's life and durability. When a pawl isn't fully engaged, it may slip. Slipping causes chipped teeth & engagement ramps and damaged pawl seats as well.

Since pawl springs are as variable as tire choice, it's best to simply follow the manufacturer's recommendation on what lube to use with your pawls, springs and engagement ring. Using grease of high viscosity when light oil is called for is simply playing with fire.

DT specifies their grease for their star ratchets. Given their history of sudden failure, and some QA/QC problems with surface hardening/heat treating,* I think it's worth the extra cost of one of their little containers of pink grease. Should last the average consumer 5-10 years.

King specifies their RingDrive lubrication for their hubs' killer ratcheting system. $600 rear hub alone and you're gonna "pick what you think is best?" Not the brightest idea if you ask me.

But in general, if you cannot determine the ideal lubrication for a freehub's engagement system, light oil is almost always the best bet. Yes, it will be louder than if greased. So try something else if you want more silent freewheeling. Feel free to experiment! Have fun! But don't you DARE mention the word "warranty" if things go south. No complaining on the internet about "XYZ's shitty hub blew up while I was 20 miles from the trailhead!" if you're gonna stray from what the manufacturer suggests.

*https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S135063071300109X?via=ihub

+1 on this.

 

I'll leave this here....

NSMB.com - The Best Of Lubes VS The Rest Of Lubes

Choosing the right lubes for the right jobs can have a big impact on the life of your parts - here are a few that are either proven or promising...

nsmb.com

 

I've ridden through rivers with water above my bb with zero water ingress to any hub or bearing.

 

That's what you think 😉

 

I use whatever lubricant the manufacturer recommends for servicing hubs and apply a thin layer where and as directed unless otherwise specified. Don't particularly care how loud or quiet they end up though they are generally quieter for some period of time.

Rarely if ever have I dunked front or rear hubs in water crossings and haven't observed any water inundation in them.

Definitely submerge BB's occasionally (especially with the newer lower ones on many frame designs these days).

 

Bacon grease

 

So what gives? You guys immerse bearings in water and no problem!?!

I never immerse bearings in water but I do ride all winter in the pnw. Sometimes the trail is a creek of running water 3” deep. It’s very very wet and muddy.

I have had a lot of trouble with rusted bearings. A hope and a legacy i9 freehub we’re the worst, they’d have water inside after a single ride and if not cleaned out the grease would fail and hub would lock up. The seals were just not good.

Older cup and cone shimano stuff lasted pretty well for me, and I’d drizzle oil into the freehub after wet rides. the fix for my modern gear was Chris king. I service the hub when it gets noisy, usually that’s every spring, it needs it but not a catastrophe like I would get with that i9.

 

Hope weather sealing is awful. I run pro 4s and basically have to rebuild it fresh every season. I've gotten pretty good at it at this point lol. I keep a bearing surplus on hand too, as I've had bearings grenade on me out of nowhere.

 

View attachment 2041679
this is the spare hub I checked.



Hello!

Stripped down my rear hub and freehub today on my bike, replaced all the bearings so happy days!

Unfortunately after putting everything back together the hub no longer clicks, I’m sure this is down to either using far much motorex 2000 or motorex being far to sticky to use on the pawls area.



I purchased another hub to mess around with and checked it out tonight, its almost like vaseline… any idea what it is?


Any thoughts on where I’m going wrong?


What grease would you recommend.


Thanks in advance

I use a very thin coat of sram butter. I don't like packing grease in to the pawls. It can cause it to stick in extreme cases plus I like loud hubs. I service frequently too, so it's never dirty or dry in there.