In a message dated 12/4/02 1:27:34 PM Eastern Standard Time, tomwitkop@juno.com writes:
<< More recently, I have been dumping my freewheel's into a pot of kerosene to clean them out. I remove them, let them dry and then toss them into a pot of motor oil, usually 10 W.-40. Let them sit in the motor oil overnight, remove and let the excess oil drip out on newspaper, reinstall on the bicycle and serve with a nice chablis and it seems I have a sometimes very quiet and usually smooth freewheel. >>
Tom and all, I'm more lazy than that. Throw a couple of dirty freewheels on an old newspaper (or just don't let your neighbor catch you stealing his) and spray with WD-40 (cogs and into bearing gap). Brush/shake off whatever you can, then pour a little chainsaw bar oil into the bearings until it starts coming out the backside. (The no-name bar oil I'm using even has a handy little pour spout for accuracy.) Smoothes out even those old maillards after a snowy ride like I had on Monday's commute and doesn't seem to drip oil on spokes, rims, etc., like lighter oils. (And is cheaper than that famous tenacious oil)! 3 degrees this morning...I wimped out and drove.
Not trying to restart the "to grease or not to grease" a freewheel thread,
Ed Kasper
Detroit