I'm trying to find a tool to remove this gear but can't seem to find one. Is it some weird proprietary tool? For more context the wheel belongs to a Harper Critical. Any help is appreciated!
by Fit_Abbreviations238
I'm trying to find a tool to remove this gear but can't seem to find one. Is it some weird proprietary tool? For more context the wheel belongs to a Harper Critical. Any help is appreciated!
by Fit_Abbreviations238
11 Comments
Idk anything about single speeds, but have you tried taking the bolt off the axle?
not designed to be removed. you basically have to disassemble it: use a face spanner to take off the front cover, remove all the other components, then use channel locks or something to grip the inner race & take it off the hub
This’n looks like it’s removal by destruction.. some of the cheaper ones don’t have splines or anything for removal. If you’re not trying to save it (I wouldn’t recommend) then you’d need a pin-spanner to get the lock ring off, the cog and a bunch of ball bearings will come tumbling out, then slap what’s left in a bench-vice (or big vice grips if you’re strong) and turn the schoolbus to the left.
There’s a tool designed to do that. Its not cheap. Driving the pin holes rarely works. You can do a destructive removal with a grinder cut it half on opposite sides.
This is one of those dumb designs where you really just throw the whole wheel away once it’s worn because you’d rather die than get it off. I’ve seen videos on basically cutting them open removing bearings, and pulling the chassis apart. Then you can apply some sort of very destructive tool to grip it and remove. I have refused to buy any like this having some foresight after doing a little research. I have a collection of sizes with the 4 notch bmx style which is very easy to get off.
Take a concrete nail and a hammer to those holes lefty loosey in my are we still have bikes that use them.
At all of the shops I worked at, we referred to this as a “crush-off” freewheel. We would typically put the freewheel in a vice and crush until the bearings and internals created enough friction to unthread the freewheel. Worked most of the time. Sometimes it would crush the outer cog ring where it would break off. Vise again on any part of the body you can. Worst case would be angle grinder/punch and hammer. Might benefit from some penetrating oil onto the threaded interface with the hub.
When we get ones like this in the shop that don’t have a tool slot for removal we let the customer know that there basically isn’t way to remove this style of free wheel without disassembly or breaking it. We clamp the freewheel in our vice hard enough that the mechanism in the freewheel doesn’t spin and we spin the wheel off the free wheel still clamped in the vice.
check this [vid](https://youtu.be/C91M20zZ3sE?si=uX4HM6z32qOyuRIX) out: not necessarily destructive. You still can build the removed cog after but you’d be better off to get a better cog that can be removed by a tool.
There was someone who was taking it off. Put a punch or screwdriver into the hole in the lid, hit it with a hammer to turn the clockwise, remove it, fix the remaining part with a vise, and turn it counterclockwise.
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B8u0Y1s2VQ0](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B8u0Y1s2VQ0)
https://preview.redd.it/2owjsl6itk6h1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=03bfe8a01943ff2eefc58a94f601fd81bdd9582b
You buy a whole new wheel.