Author Topic: How to.... Remove a very stubborn rear cassette lockring..... Using heat...  (Read 7107 times)

mmmmartin

  • BPB 1/1: PBP 0/1
    • FNRttC
Apologies if everyone else knows this, and these posts are in the " what have you fettled today" thread, but I thought putting it all together here might help someone else later......

(The day before yesterday)
Took wheels off Thorn Audax and gave it a through clean because there was sand all over it after riding through Dunkirk. Cleaned chain thoroughly, washed bike, cleaned brake pads. Tried and failed to remove rear cassette lockring using IceToolz chainwhip and Large Spanner. Sprayed rear cassette lockring (hereafter to be known as RCLR) with GT85.

(Yesterday)
Used Black & Decker workmate with vice attached to hold the Shimano thingy for removing RCLR, and put chainwhip handle into four feet long old roofbar from an earlier car. Put foot on workmate, push end of long bar. Break chain end off the chainwhip. Repair chainwhip. Take wheel in car to nice chap at LBS. Hand it over, he confidently puts Shimano RCLR remover into Huge Vice and yanks very firmly on chainwhip tool. Chain breaks. I go to another LBS with Huge Workshop employing three people. Hand over wheel. Nice chap produces Hugest Spanner Ever Seen and Massive Professional Chainwhip Tool. Bends over wheel and grunts. Attaches Huge Metal Bar to handle of Hugest Spanner Ever Seen. Bends over wheel and grunts. Hands it back to me. I go home and fettle a small container full of GT85 and sit RCLR in a bath of GT85 overnight.

(Today)
Am about to go and see what we shall see. Am out of ideas, frankly. Will have another go then take it to LBS with Huge Tools. If this not worky, What Does The Team Think?

I think I must have done it up too tightly and not put any Copperslip on it when I did a through clean a year or so ago.
Aha - Plusgas, I hadn't thought of that, thanks for the tip. However, a chum who used to be an engineer in a huge factory with massive paper-making machinery told me yesterday that if they had metal that would not budge they gave it some heat, so everything expanded and that seemed to work. So after a night of soaking in GT85 and another unsuccessful trip to LBS, I brought it home and gave it full welly with a camping gas stove, to the point that the oil and grease particles in the cassette were in flames and I had to blow them out. Gave it five minutes. Bunged it in the vice to hold the removal tool, wrapped the chain whip round and gave a light tug. Came off a treat. Couldn't believe it. Am now waiting for it all to cool down, and the feeling of euphoria to pass. But Plusgas goes on the shopping list.
Is there anything wrong with what I have done? What does The Team think?
Besides, it wouldn't be audacious if success were guaranteed.

Definitely a cassette, not a freewheel? From your description, I'd be concerned about the state of the free hub after that treatment. These are generally replaceable, but difficult/impossible to service.

Still, if you hadn't got the cassette off then the whole wheel was scrap, so it counts as success even if you end up having to get a new free hub. :thumbsup:

Life is too important to be taken seriously.

mmmmartin

  • BPB 1/1: PBP 0/1
    • FNRttC
The lockring came off and the cassette slid off easily. i cleaned all the gunk off everything with degreaser and muscle power then it all fitted tgether beautifully. As long as there was no rubber inside all that, it should be all OK. If there was rubber then it may have been melted and I will need a new freehub.
Besides, it wouldn't be audacious if success were guaranteed.

mmmmartin

  • BPB 1/1: PBP 0/1
    • FNRttC
Thanks for the link, Trykit look interesting. I was astonished at how easy it was to remove once it had been heated. I just wish I had known this trick before.
Besides, it wouldn't be audacious if success were guaranteed.

Vince

  • Can't climb; won't climb
I think you need to ask yourself whether grease ash lubricates as well as the original grease.
216km from Marsh Gibbon

Trull

  • The settee will kill you
    • Aberdeen Astronomical Society
Yep heat always works in the end. To help things along a rapid heat/cool cycle can crack open many stuck fasteners - so use a blowlamp and then a blast of Halfords "Shock'n'Unlock". You get a tin for about a fiver. Its also excellent at removing grease without leaving a residue.

Its also highly flammable, so go easy, wear specs and gloves...

mmmmartin

  • BPB 1/1: PBP 0/1
    • FNRttC
Very helpful suggestion re the Shock nUnlock, thanks. I didn't know that. Your suggestion that heat usually works wonders is obviously a good one, given the posts about removing pedals. I will remember that.
Besides, it wouldn't be audacious if success were guaranteed.