cassette question

[fonts]

Hi Guys

Need some help here. Maybe its basic .. maybe not
I've got a SRAM PG1070 10 speed cassette on my road bike.
This morning when I got to work i felt some play in the rear wheel.

I had a look , pulled the rear wheel off and the nut, in the middle of the cassette (not the lockring on the cassette) was pretty loose.
When it's on the bike - this nut seems to be flush with the cassette and the dropouts tighten it up.

so I undid the nut (reverse thread) and the cassette and the freewheel all came off as one piece.
Does this sound normal or is something possibly broken here ? Everything I've read doesn't show that axle nut ..
I ride pretty decent sized commutes each day so I need to know its safe.


I've attached a few pics
Would appreciate any info you guys could provide
Also - its a Velocity Fusion wheel and hub.


cheers

[rustychisel]

eeek, probably need expert help, I'm afraid. That's the freehub locking nut and when it all came off the pawls are likely to have been disturbed, if not the incy little springs lost. Get a bike shop to examine and reassemble.

[fonts]

oh crap really!

when I put it back on - it seems to just slot straight back in - no play or anything. Only goes back on one way

[A_P]

from memory it really is that simple (velocity sparticus wheelset).
normally you would remove your cassette first, but it's just a single nut that holds the freehub on.
freehub just slides on, pawls are retained by a single wire ring so no little springs.
Unlikely that you have done any damage.

[Reman]

In the second photo you can see the flats you use to tighten it up. They are quite narrow and you'll need to use cone spanners. You may need to take the cassette off to do it up tight enough. I would guess that the free hub screws on and this bolt undoing shouldn't cause it to loosen.

[BigPete]

My recommendation is to do it up hand tight. There is an aluminium collar on the axle that keeps the free hub in the correct position. Using a spanner places too much pressure on this collar and can cause the ends to become rounded and thus shorten it and will eventually result in the free hub rubbing against the wheel hub.

[fonts]

Hi All

thanks for all of the helpful information. I was a bit worried yesterday but managed to tighten it up by hand so i could ride home
I had the cassette off and the nut tightened up today (now I need to get myself some more tools . All seems good with nothing broken. I was amazed at how simple it all was behind the cassette.

Funny though I couldn't find much info on the net about this fix - maybe i was just searching for the wrong thing

cheers!

[Reman]

My recommendation is to do it up hand tight. There is an aluminium collar on the axle that keeps the free hub in the correct position. Using a spanner places too much pressure on this collar and can cause the ends to become rounded and thus shorten it and will eventually result in the free hub rubbing against the wheel hub.

I believe Velocity hubs are rebranded Formula hubs with cartridge bearings, in which case you can do them up quite tight.

Also the proper sized cone spanner will grip it fine and not round it off.

[BigPete]

My recommendation is to do it up hand tight. There is an aluminium collar on the axle that keeps the free hub in the correct position. Using a spanner places too much pressure on this collar and can cause the ends to become rounded and thus shorten it and will eventually result in the free hub rubbing against the wheel hub.

I believe Velocity hubs are rebranded Formula hubs with cartridge bearings, in which case you can do them up quite tight.

Also the proper sized cone spanner will grip it fine and not round it off.

I have these hubs and I have rounded the collar inside the hub by doing it up too tight, not the nut. It rounded/shortened so much that the free hub was grinding against the wheel hub and the chain and pedals would continue to rotate when coasting. I hammered out the rounded ends of the collar so as to increase the length of it and it is now working well with just hand tight pressure. What happens when it is done up tight is that the collar is squeezed between the free hub bearing and the wheel hub bearing. The bearings can take the pressure but not the cheap aluminium collar. The manufacture may recommend spanner tight but my experience suggests not.

[geoffs]

If it does have an aluminium collar then they do flare and distort really easily as BigPete said.
If this is a problem then contact Velocity for one of the steel ones they made to solve this problem