Today I was trying to remove a freewheel from a hub to get some wheels ready for sale. It was a pretty standard Regina so I began by removal of the axle to be able to get my remover in place. You experienced folks know that I have to remove the two outer most rings to get enough clearance for the tool to fit. I took out my trusty chain whips and put my expensive Park whip on the smallest cog and the no name brand on the larger one to begin the process. This was one of those that will not give up without a fight. I finally exerted enough pressure to hear a pop. I thought I was done when all of a sudden I noticed the chain fell off the Park tool. The pin in the tool body broke and rendered the tool useless for now. There sat the cog still as stubborn as ever.
I summoned up another tool to help out. Still using my no name chain whip on the larger cog, I used one of the cog removers that looks like a large spanner wrench but allows the cogs to fit in between the C shaped opening to gain the necessary leverage. I used the small end of the tool as it was the small cog that was taunting me. Again I applied pressure and again I heard a pop and thought my job was finally done. To my surprise I looked at the cog and now it was missing one tooth. After the swearing subsided, I again applied the same procedure and again another tooth dislodged. Now I am thinking a hammer would definitely punish this ba$#@&d but got ahold of my senses and put my thinking cap on. I now reversed the process and put the cheepo chain whip on what was left of the smaller cog and the large end of the other Park tool on the larger cog. This time I applied the pressure and the little guy eased off of the freewheel. Its bigger brother did likewise. Now I have a nice Regina freewheel with a small ring that looks like your average 3 year old child. Anyone else ever experience this joy of defanging a cog. Did I do something wrong or just bad luck. You know the first thing I did was bring over a magnet to make sure the damn thing was not alloy. It was not, steel cog sheared like it was made of zinc.
Ray Homiski
Elizabeth, NJ