Difficult cassette removal

jon1981

Hi,

Any tips for a cassette removal. Swinging out of the spanner and chain whip here and the damn nut won't budge. Any ideas how to free it up?

J

dragratchet

ha, ill be watching this thread closely. took a good chunk off one of my knuckles off attempting this unsuccessfully. ive done it before on other bikes but like you, this one aint for moving. im going to give it a little spray of lube before my next (ski-gloved) attempt

jon1981

dragratchet wrote: »

ha, ill be watching this thread closely. took a good chunk off one of my knuckles off attempting this unsuccessfully. ive done it before on other bikes but like you, this one aint for moving. im going to give it a little spray of lube before my next (ski-gloved) attempt

Tried wd40 the other day, didn't work . I left it into the bike shop to get something else checked 2 weeks back, they said they tightened the cassette as they noticed it was loose. They possibly over torqued or cross threaded it. Time for new cassette I think.

Wishbone Ash

Edit

JBokeh

Dirty little trick is to put her on her side, get someone else to put downwards pressure on the tool, and hold the whip. Next you get a big huge bar, and absolutely swing off it, you'll break it loose no problem then

Have you a steel free hub body? You might have got a bit of corrosion from the dissimilar metals

cython

jon1981 wrote: »

Tried wd40 the other day, didn't work . I left it into the bike shop to get something else checked 2 weeks back, they said they tightened the cassette as they noticed it was loose. They possibly over torqued or cross threaded it. Time for new cassette I think.

I really hope they haven't done thread damage, as obviously the threads are on the locking and the freehub, not the cassette itself, so if they are damaged it'll not be a cheap/trivial fix.

Other suggestions around mechanical advantage already posted are good though, and in a similar vein make sure the chain whip is on one of the larger sprockets for the same reason.

jon1981

The cross threading was just a thought as I've removed the cassette loads of times and never had to put much effort into it! The wheel is going in bin anyway as its f**ked and the cassette is quite old but still has some life, perhaps I'll cut my losses and buy a new cassette and chain for the new wheels.

doozerie

Another variation is to clamp the lockring tool in a vice, and sit the wheel down onto it. Leaves both hands free to swing out of the chainwhip. You've got to make sure the wheel doesn't rise up though or the lockring tool will slip.

Personally I don't like wrapping the chainwhip around one of the larger cogs, I just find it makes it a little harder to keep the chainwhip and wrench on the lockring tool co-linear when they are now further apart, you can end up fighting yourself a little.

A snug fitting lockring tool is a help too, poor quality tools tend to fall short there. Another help is a spanner that attaches firmly to the lockring tool, or better still, a lockring tool with a permanent handle - the less risk of movement here the better. And Pedros do a vice-grip alternative to a chainwhip, and because it locks in place you get the option of hitting it with a hammer when you get really fed up (not recommended of course, but...).

As an immediate option though, I'd try different angles between the chainwhip and whatever is holding the lockring tool. A small change there can make a huge difference, as can trying different hand positions, and adjusting how you lean over the wheel so that all of the pressure is going straight downwards. Swearing lots helps too.