Norman wrote:
On Aug 2, 4:03 pm, "Mark J." wrote:
Keiron wrote:
Can anyone direct me to an outlet/operator that might sell this tool?
Preferably UK based.
Home made equivalents anyone?
I'm not sure what you're describing.

If you mean a tool to disassemble a Shimano freehub body to access the
smaller bearings and pawls (not to merely remove the body intact),
here's Sheldon on the issue:http://www.sheldonbrown.com/k7.html#aluminum
(scroll down just a tad). He says the tool is discontinued.

See also the photo athttp://www.sheldonbrown.com/k7.html#transplant.
I'm assuming you want a tool to mate to what Sheldon labels as "Notch
for disassembling."

I made my own out of a piece of flat steel bar stock. Cut to length so
it's long enough to reach the notches on both sides. Then file the
bar's thickness to fit into the notches. Then mount newly created tool
in a vise, fit wheel to tool, and turn (left-hand thread IIRC, so the
cup unscrews rather than the freehub).

ps - Sheldon's right, it's not worth the trouble beyond curiosity. Once
the body is damaged enough to need repair, it's usually damaged /beyond/
repair and body replacement is called for.


Needlenose pliers can usually be used to span the
notches, & the bearing preload shouldn't be terrific
so the torque required shouldn't be so high as to
bend your pliers.

You can hack a couple of short (5 or 6mm) sexions
off of a 4mm allen key and stick them where the pawls
were meant to be to turn it into a fixed gear hub with
a bit much backlash.

You can fill it with a soft Molybdenum grease for that
silent hub effect (bi-directional freewheeling in the
Winter provided at no additional cost!).

You can spend the next 4 or 5 hours chasing tiny
ball bearings around the garage.

The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

I took one of mine apart after it started skipping. My goal wasn't to
repair it but to immobilize it to make a fixed gear. I filled it with
epoxy, but never tried it out since I got weak enough to stop breaking
track hub axles and lost interest. I tried the "spanning plier" trick
without luck and wound up with the ground down flat stock and vise
approach.

I found it was cheaper to buy rear hubs on sale & cannibalize the
freehubs than buying ale carte, especially because I can use some of the
other stuff (QR, cones, axle, spacers).