Solarbird 
hey, there’s a bike chain under all that rust!
(continued from: https://mastodon.murkworks.net/@moira/115069944638186131 )
i’ve put it in denatured alcohol for degreasing and actual cleaning. not sure how long tho’? it’s a lot cleaner already, rust aside.
WHAT’VE WE LEARNED TODAY SOLARBIRD?
don’t put your glass full of evaporust and metal into the ultrasonic
technically learned this yesterday BUT it’s important
LIKE THE XENOMORPH HAS A SECOND SET OF TEETH
THIS THING HAS A SECOND SET OF SPLINES
AND THESE ACT LIKE A FREEWHEEL
holy shit
i also figured out how to get the axle out after only incurring minor and inconsequential damage
however, that just kind of leaves you with a bunch of free bearings and some of them want to go on walkabout so i had to put it back
on the good side the bearings actually look okay? and once i disassembled it as much as i did it suddenly felt better so the bad bearings part is at least _partially_ external components i can try to fix
Oh btw what all this means is:
1) both bike store guy AND i were wrong
2) this CAN be removed from the wheel and replaced, albeit as a set rather than as individual sprockets
3) the lowest two gears are the only ones that show wear but they do show wear so in the unlikely event we get to that point I might actually be able to get a new set of gears _without_ having to replace the wheel
so that's good!
price of tool from eBay, with shipping AND tax: $7.93 because I found a return.
(my LBS don't stock this tool, they have them in shop but not on shelf so)
Trouble@moira that fits the most common "freewheel" as I've been taught. A "cassette" is a higher end product where ratcheting mechanism is separate from the sprockets, and designed to be replaced separately. I'm surprised your bike shop got it wrong. Be ready to use the largest wrench you've got, maybe with a breaker bar. This is the tightest thing on a bike you will ever find. I recommend putting the wheel on the ground when trying to loosen it. (No chain whip; that's for cassettes) Good luck!
@moira I can send pics tomorrow from our bike kitchen if you would like.
@trouble the inner ring of splines was literally not visible due to layers of outer stuff including another set of splines. it doesn’t look like any of the images on park tools’s guides either until you get more layers off. (also they were looking at a photo I’d taken with not enough parts removed yet.)
Ryan The Red 🖥️🚲🍺🏳️🌈@moira Wow, this thread was a journey. I have a vintage bike, but I don't really ride it. I appreciate your efforts.
Paul Southworth@moira Yes this uses a standard Shimano Uniglide freewheel tool. It's the most common type. Individual cog replacement is long out of style. Years ago shops would have cog boards with various size replacements, but it all became much more complicated when cogs with shifting ramps were introduced with the Hyperglide cog format. The price you found for the tool is good.
Marcus Baynes-Rock@moira Have you heard of fridge-suck? It's a universal law that compels ball bearings to roll directly underneath fridges
@hyenachow ah, no, i have not, but
it seems exactly the sort of law one might expect
@moira oh, if you've opened up the hub and bearings, you will need to find someone with come wrenches. You need to tighten the come but against the lock nut so vibration keeps the axle from walking itself loose. Do the drive side first, since it is inside the freewheel assembly. Be extra careful with the thin metal and or rubber dust covers, those are essentially unreplaceable, impossible to source, very fragile. Then clean, add white lithium grease, and reassemble.
@trouble I have wrenches _and_ a bench vise, I mean that’s how I got it apart in the first place
not doin’ that one with my teeth xD
it definitely does not look like white lithium grease in there right now tho - should it be? keep in mind this is a very cheap bicycle lol
@moira white lithium grease, black lithium grease, both are fine. There are other kinds, but white lithium grease is the easiest most commonly available grease you can get, which is why I mention it.
White lithium grease starts white, but as the bearings erode, the steel particles oxidize and turns it black.
The cone nut is very skinny, so it takes a special skinny wrench (cone wrench). The annoying part is needing a full set if you intend to work on multiple bikes. At least they're compact.
@moira @trouble Cone wrenches will be required to tighten the cone against the locknut and get it really tight so it doesn't come loose later. They are very thin metric open-ended wrenches. 13/14/15/16mm are the most common sizes. Proper adjustment has to be done with the freewheel removed.
Here's an example, though cheaper options are out there: https://www.parktool.com/en-us/product/double-ended-cone-wrench-dcw-2
I'm amazed any bike mechanic in a shop would not instantly recognize that freewheel. It's extremely common.
@pws @trouble As per other replies: the inner (actual) splines were not visible, they were covered by other shit, and they were working from a (high quality but that doesn't let you see through things) photograph. I didn't discover the inner splines until I took more parts off. All you could see in the photo were the 35mm splines which didn't make any sense to anyone.
@moira @trouble That is an extremely common freewheel design, easily identifiable without seeing the splines in the freewheel body. The larger diameter splines are a lockring holding the cogs on, but even if you only see that, it's still quite apparent what it is. There are millions upon millions of those out there, mostly on department store bikes these days. This is not elite-level knowledge, just the experience of day-to-day bike repair in shops that service lower-end bikes.
Martin, Regulus Tithonium@moira you are aware of the concept of a memetic infection, whereby one may become programmed to react to certain trigger phrases with pre-programmed behavior? Well, I hope you reticulated them.