Had to choose between a full rebuild or just replacing the freehub body on a customer's 10-year-old Ultegra hub. Went with the rebuild and it was a mess.

The freehub was skipping, but the whole hub felt gritty. Customer wanted the cheaper option, just the freehub swap. I insisted on pulling it apart. Found the old grease had turned to glue and two bearings were completely seized. The extra $45 in parts and an hour of labor saved them from a total failure in a month. When do you guys decide to go deep versus just doing the obvious fix?

4 comments

4 Comments

victorh811mo ago

That's just like fixing the leak but ignoring the rotten floorboards underneath.

the_diana18d ago

Had a similar issue last season. Replaced the whole hub body after finding pitted bearings, just like @victorh81 said about the floorboards. Rides smooth as new now. Saved the wheel long term.

kai4451mo ago

Man, that's the worst feeling. You just know something's off when the whole thing feels gritty like that. Good call pushing for the full look. Seen it before where a freehub swap just papers over the real problem for a few weeks. Then it all comes apart on a ride. That extra hour and a few bucks is always better than an angry customer with a wrecked wheel later.

stone.brian1mo ago

Yeah, "papers over the real problem" is exactly it. I've totally been that guy who just wants the quick fix so I can ride now, only to eat it later. Learned that lesson the hard way more than once. You're spot on, @kai445, that gritty feeling never lies. Makes you wonder how many times we ignore the little warning signs just to save an hour.