(Not so) Freewheels

[GrumpyOldMan]

I save all the little springs out of disposable lighters.

LOL. The pick up on one of my bass guitars is adjusted by springs from ball point pens!

 

[torqueless]

Now we are riffing way off topic... I'm gonna use those springs to earth the pole-pieces on my Precision..

 

[torqueless]

Here's a few photos of the innards of a SunTour Winner. Hopefully you can see that the (original) pawl springs are basically piano wire. In this freewheel they pivot on 2 pins driven into blind holes in the body, so to replace them I would have to get those pin out. Luckily for me they are still working OK. That is quite thin wire... about 0.015", which is probably smaller gauge than any piano string. Not sure if harpsichord strings go down to that gauge? A plain gauge string off an electric guitar, B or E, would probably get you in the ball-park. Bottom right are my home-made pawls, made from an old woodwork plane blade.

I guess there's a trade-off/balancing act with the springs...The weaker your spring, the freer your freewheel will be, but the pawls will stop working if they get gummed up with grease/dirt.. A strong spring, on the other hand, will give a good positive 'click', but will add friction to the freewheel in freewheeling mode, and wear out the pawls much quicker...

 

[BobToo]

I broke a freewheel identical to that (Suntour) yesterday. The ring shown on the right snapped.

If any of the remains of the freewheel are any use to anyone I'll post them FOC.

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

Ooh, good use of the castor cups there!

My freewheel is different to that in that the springs aren't held in with anything other than their own springiness, a bit like a pair of sugar tongs in miniature if you can see what I mean. A wire spring would have nothing to hold it in place in mine so wouldn't be workable. Hmm, maybe it would if it had a coily bit a bit like the spring on a clothes peg. I'll do a photo tomorrow.

@BobToo. Take up the challenge and mend it! Go on, you know you want to.

WARNING: next part completely off topic!!
@torqueless. Why would you want to earth the pole pieces on your Precision? The Precision is a great example of perfection in design so shouldn't need that doing to it unless someone has been messing with it. I have had my precision for 32 years and have never touched a single screw. However, I recently bought a 1981 Tokai Jazz bass and had to run an extra earth to the bridge to stop it humming. But somewhere in its past it had been rewired very badly and had to have the electronics completely redone. Kept the original pickups though.

 

[torqueless]

Yeah I think I can picture the kind of spring you would need to make if you were using wire... I guess the diameter of the coiled part would be fairly critical. You could wind it around somewhere along the length of a round needle-file, maybe. I suppose the built-in springiness at the pivot-point of the original spring keeps it located where it should be?

Bob Too.. Hope it wasn't the bad example set by this thread that caused the damage. When I said: 'bust open your freewheel', that's not quite what I meant! Anyhow that is a generous offer.. You know that thing weighs half a pound or more?

As for the Precision...yeah someone has been messing around with it.. :roll: Guess who? My default right-hand position is right over the PU, and I get electrical noise if my fingers touch a pole-piece.. nothing too intrusive, but PITA when recording.. I hear that grounding them may help...another crazy idea off the internet! Mine could be about the same vintage as yours.. I've had it 30 years...

Doesn't matter much about going off-topic.. It'll be an uphill struggle, but eventually we'll come back around to freewheels... I've been off-topic my whole life!

 

[BobToo]

Bob Too.. Hope it wasn't the bad example set by this thread that caused the damage. When I said: 'bust open your freewheel', that's not quite what I meant! Anyhow that is a generous offer.. You know that thing weighs half a pound or more?

I've successfully rebuilt freewheels before and was already planning to open this one, although reading this thread prompted me to get round to it. There was a broken spoke on the drive side and the bike shop broke their tool trying to remove the freewheel. I think there had been some damage/distortion to the threads because the ring went tight and then broke as I was unscrewing it. It was all a bit rusty in there so I don't feel too bad about it.


I was thinking that somebody might be able to use the pawls or springs, after I posted it occurred to me that somebody might ask for some or all of the heavy bits.

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

I think there had been some damage/distortion to the threads because the ring went tight and then broke as I was unscrewing it.

Are you sure you were screwing it the correct way? It was possibly a right handed thread.

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

Waaaaaay off topic!

As for the Precision...yeah someone has been messing around with it.. :roll: Guess who? My default right-hand position is right over the PU, and I get electrical noise if my fingers touch a pole-piece.. nothing too intrusive, but PITA when recording.. I hear that grounding them may help...another crazy idea off the internet! Mine could be about the same vintage as yours.. I've had it 30 years...

Some precisions had a shielding plate under the pickup. My Tokai has brass ones. Earthing each pole piece sounds a right palaver, there has to be an easier solution than that. Is your bridge earthed?
Bought mine in early 1981 but it's actually a 1979 model. Bright yellow! Rare colour now but I got it cheap because no-one else wanted it. Paid £199 for it. Cracking investment, wish I'd bought a few.

 

[torqueless]

The SunTour lockring is a right-hand thread.. tightening clockwise. The Shimano BMX 1-speed top of thread is a left hand thread, tightening anti-clockwise.

I'll be honest... the only part of my Precision that is genuine Fender is the neck/tuners, but I don't think any the less of it on that account... It's a bit like my best bike, which I could describe as: "full Campag. .... at twenty paces..." I bought the neck in late '82 for £75, and I reckon it's 1979 too. The PU is a DiMarzio of about the same age. As the Bass is a bit of a mongrel, I have no qualms with bodging about inside it...I don't doubt it could be better shielding/electronics-wise... not my strong suit... but I'm working on it! There is a wire to the bridge from the control cavity... I assume it is functioning as an 'earth'.. :?

The date-code on the SunTour lockring is '81, IIRC, FWIW..http://www.vintage-trek.com/component_dates.htmmaking my bit of Japanese manufacturing contemporaneous with yours.. (Tokai)