Best tool for installation/removal of Campagnolo 10-speed cassette lockrings?

[Oxford_Guy]

I may be opening a can of worms here (sorry Brucey), but what is the best-fitting tool for installation/removal of Campagnolo 10-speed cassette lockrings? Is it the official Campagnolo UT-BB080 tool or something else? In the first link I provided, there seemed to be some controversy about this, at least for Campagnolo 8-speed lockrings (I don't know if the 10-speed ones are any different)...

[Wobbly John]

I'm pretty sure 10 and 8 speed Campag lockrings are different.

I get my LBS to do it for me.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

The lockrings may differ but the same tool works on all of them.

[Somnolent]

The lockrings may differ but the same tool works on all of them.

And same tool on their square taper BBs, which is convenient, except the BBs are twice the price and half the longevity of the Shimano offerings.

I got a nice PBK own-brand tool with a proper handle a few years ago but they don't seem to offer them any more.

Or you can go completely bodgetastic and take a dremel to your campag lockring, deepening the grooves very slightly so that a Shimano lockring tool will fit !

[Brucey]

the genuine campag tool works OK and it isn't ludicrously expensive either, so that is what I'd use. Only thing is that you need a spanner or socket to work it with.

There lots of other tools that almost fit or fit well enough provided the thing isn't too tight, but some of these (such as a shimano freewheel remover) offer only a small engagement with the campag splines.

BTW unlike a lot of pattern tools the genuine campag tool also fits many campag bottom brackets, so it is useful for that, too.

cheers

[Karla]

Any of them.  Why is this even a question?

[Oxford_Guy]

Any of them.  Why is this even a question?

Because I'd read elsewhere that not all cassette removal tools are actually a good fit for Campagnolo lockrings, even if advertised as such

[Little Jim]

I borrowed an Abbey Tools one last year do fit a Campag 10 speed cassette.  It was dead easy to use as it has a handle welded on and fitted very snuggly into the lock ring.  I was impressed with it, certainly a lot easier than a Park Tools type one that needs a separate spanner on it.

[Oxford_Guy]

I borrowed an Abbey Tools one last year do fit a Campag 10 speed cassette.  It was dead easy to use as it has a handle welded on and fitted very snuggly into the lock ring.  I was impressed with it, certainly a lot easier than a Park Tools type one that needs a separate spanner on it.

Can you still stick a skewer through the axle when using that?

[Little Jim]

Well, technically, yes as it is hollow but I not sure that the "nut" (or whatever you call the threaded end of the skewer) would fit inside it, but it might do as it is not a thick walled piece of tube that the tool is made from.  The one I used was double-sided with a Shimano tool on the other end so the tool is about 40mm wide.

What is the advantage of keeping the skewer in the hub when you loosen the lock ring?  Apart from not losing the springs - been there, done that...

[vorsprung]

I remember when I switched to campag 10 speed I did buy a new cassette lockring remover tool

Might even still have it in a box somewhere.  If I find it and if it does not actually fit the Shimano 10/11 I now use you can have it.  Lots of ifs there

[Oxford_Guy]

I remember when I switched to campag 10 speed I did buy a new cassette lockring remover tool

Might even still have it in a box somewhere.  If I find it and if it does not actually fit the Shimano 10/11 I now use you can have it.  Lots of ifs there

Thanks! Do let me know how those "ifs" work out

[Brucey]

Well, technically, yes as it is hollow but I not sure that the "nut" (or whatever you call the threaded end of the skewer) would fit inside it, but it might do as it is not a thick walled piece of tube that the tool is made from.  The one I used was double-sided with a Shimano tool on the other end so the tool is about 40mm wide.

What is the advantage of keeping the skewer in the hub when you loosen the lock ring?  Apart from not losing the springs - been there, done that...

in some cassette hubs the RH bearing seal is just behind the lockring. This means that the tool may only protrude about 1mm (or less) through the lockring. In this case simply stopping the tool from slipping out as you swing on it is a good thing. Installing the skewer (san springs) is a good way of achieving this.

Some tools have a centre pin (~5mm dia) that goes into a standard 10mm hollow axle. This helps the tool to keep located, but doesn't prevent slippage as well as a QR skewer.

Tools with the pin also won't work with solid axles, and are of little value with through-axles. However they are not even much cop with some QR hubs; a few have push-on adaptors and these don't always support the tool properly. The outcome is often that the pin gates slightly bent and can then get stuck inside the next hub they are used in.

FWIW the current campag tool requires that you use a big washer between it and the QR skewer, if you want to hold it against the hub, because the hole in the middle of the tool is big enough to let a BB spindle through too.

If you want to use any tool with a hexagonal base, a deep pattern 1/2" drive socket is the thing; this will accommodate the QR skewer nut too.

You can clamp the hexagon in a bench vice, and with cassette lockrings this is usually OK, but it is a bad habit to get into; with freewheels they are often so well stuck that the bench vice itself make break; the forces on the jaws can easily get to well over one tonne if the freewheel is tight and the flats on the tool are small.  It is a much better idea to mount a 1/2" square drive tool of some kind in the vice , such that it occupies the full width of the jaws. This will impose much lower stresses on the bench vice.

Obviously if you are using a bench vice or a double-handled tool of some kind, the tool isn't trying to cam out in the same way as it is when you have a single handle. 

cheers



cheers

[alexb]

I've got a Park tools one which works fine.
Cassette lock rings should not be on all that tight anyway.
Removing mine uses a large spanner, the afore-mentioned tool and some gentle application of pressure.
It's not a very tight fit on the threads

[Oxford_Guy]

I've got a Park tools one which works fine.
Cassette lock rings should not be on all that tight anyway.
Removing mine uses a large spanner, the afore-mentioned tool and some gentle application of pressure.
It's not a very tight fit on the threads

This is why I was looking for a solution that would allow me to use my torque driver, to avoid over-tightening

[Samuel D]

Cassette lock rings should not be on all that tight anyway.

Shimano specifies a torque of 30–50 Nm for most cassette lockrings. Most would agree that’s pretty tight, especially at the high end.

The Campagnolo specifications I have seen said 50 Nm. Pretty tight, too.

Otherwise cassettes will fret against their splines and the spacers, if plastic, may compress to eventually reduce the clamping force to a damaging degree. Noise is a hint of movement (although many cyclists appear to be deaf so wouldn’t notice that).

[Brucey]

.... Noise is a hint of movement (although many cyclists appear to be deaf so wouldn’t notice that).

...come again...?....

FWIW I worry about lockrings when they are tightened onto aluminium freehub bodies.  I also worry about aluminium lockrings.

SRAM specify 35-37Nm for their cassette lockrings.

cheers

[Oxford_Guy]

.... Noise is a hint of movement (although many cyclists appear to be deaf so wouldn’t notice that).

...come again...?....

FWIW I worry about lockrings when they are tightened onto aluminium freehub bodies.  I also worry about aluminium lockrings.

SRAM specify 35-37Nm for their cassette lockrings.

The official Campagnolo lockrings are steel, except titanium Record ones, I think.

I'm not a fan of aluminium Shimano-type freehub bodies, they seem to get severely notched easily. I now use steel ones on my Shimano-equipped tourer. I think this is less of an issue with Campagnolo, as the splines are a different design and deeper.