Campag freehub issues

Dear friends,

I recently tried to service a campag freehub, doing the whole floss around the pauls and then insert back into the hub technique, but I found it impossible to get the freehub casing to screw back into the hub (it has threads right on the bottom which I am assuming are meant to screw into the metal part of the hub).

I don't think it is because the pauls are moving about in the hub, they seem to be in the correct position, making the right kind of noise, but still I can't seem to be able to fully insert it.

Apologies to bother you, or if the answer to this is blindingly obvious, I've tried to search online but have had no success.

I've attached a photograph, the bit just below the protruding bottom part of the freehub is the part which suggests it is meant to screw into the metal hub...

Thanks in advance, help greatly appreciated,

Laurence

1 Attachment

The pawls are not fully engaged in the hub - you need to retract them either with a pointy thing or by wrapping thin wire around them temporarily, removing it as the freehub drops fully home/flush. It does not 'screw into' the hub, it drops in (save for the obstruction of expanded pawls) and is then retained by the axle/nuts.

Jiggling the freehub a bit (as in turning it anti-clockwise a little bit by bit) as you try to slot it in also helps.

recently serviced a veloce rear hub so feel your frustration!

if you can find the hub or similar from the campagnolo website this can give you a clearer idea of what's required in order to re-insert the freehub and pawls, link > http://www.campagnolo.com/jsp/en/doc/doccatid_3.jsp

mine was an early 90's unit where the three pawls sat in machined half-slots, each with a small spring acting to force them out.

as per retro_di_corsa i used a retaining ring (thin rubber band) to force the three well greased pawls and their springs to sit flush into their slots.

this enabled partial insertion back into the main hub body and the edges of the pawls cleared the machined tooth-ring.

a snip of the rubber band and the three pawls sprang out against the teeh; some delicate proddling with an engineers scribe and in very gently closed the gap ensured (a) the pawls stayed straight, and (b) the springs didn't pop an end out. [this took about 5 goes of squinting, swearing, a fag break and 2 rubber bands before i perfected it..]

once correctly in you'll know as the newly greased axle will spin soft as butter!

nice cords by the way ;)

Thanks so much for all of your help, I'll have another crack at it now, and yes, hah I'm keen on the cords.

Does anyone have an idea of how many ball bearings there should be in a campag Xenon (I think) rear hub. One side seems to take eleven, but then the freehub side seems to only take ten. Is this normal?

Thank you kindly,

Laurence

As many balls as you can fit in there is best i think, but i doubt it would be made with uneven numbers on each side

10

it seems like both sides happily take 11? It doesn't spin smoothly though and keeps catching, so that might be it...

Non drive side 11, inside the freehub 10, look at some of those campag spare parts diagrams..

Thanks a lot man, that's what I had suspected, but it seemed odd the numbers would be different. Cheers for your help, I'll scan the diagrams now.

The freehub goes in fine now, thanks so much for all of your help.

The odd thing is, it spins round very smoothly, but will occasionally kind of catch, the axle will start to want to move with the hub, as if the bearings lock up inside. It spins for a long time fine, but occasionally just gets very rough briefly.

I was wondering if anyone could offer some insight into this?

It seems odd to me as the axle has no play, and is definitely not too tight, the ball bearings I'm positive are sitting smoothly inside the hub, the bearings are also new with plenty of grease.

Thank you kindly for your help everyone.

Laurence

ref the catching:

are you sure all of the pawl spring ends were properly seated?

did you also service the non-drive side?

did you adjust the non-drive side cones?

did you notice if any of the ball bearings (drive and non-dive) were brinelled, or races scored?

recently got hold of one of these to squeeze the pawls in as the sprocket carrier slides back in >

i'm sure one could be fashioned from a piece of wire

Or an elastic band.

see post #4 above