Freewheel Maintenance Video

[slayrider]

We have a newer RadRunner, one with the power cable on the opposite side of the freewheel, that has started to stick. We sprayed a little WD40 on it, freed it up enough to get home.

Now we need to properly clean and lube or replace it.

Can someone point me to a good tutorial video?please?

[inoxa]

They make a toothbrush looking brush for cleaning the gears out.  I think I bought mine at walmart in the cleaning section.  If it is really bad I spray some degreaser in there and scrub it out.  Just be careful not to spray degreaser on aluminum parts.  If you do spray it with water.  Let it dry and then you can lube it with chain oil or WD40.  Eventually the WD40 will gunk it up again but it is much less expensive than chain oil. 

[John Rose]

I found this for chain cleaning - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlbTpSqzltY - but for the freewheel? I dunno.

Anything useful here? - https://support.radpowerbikes.com/Maintenance_and_troubleshooting (not to forget to click the "..." list expansion).

[slayrider]

Thank you inoxa and John for taking the time to provide me with the good links.

We got a little light oil to go inside the freewheel but when we try to coast it is still hanging up so we need to remove the ?freewheel? and replace it with a new one. Can someone tell me what the RadRunner?s replacement part number is and where to buy? And a video on how to replace a RadRunner?s freewheel.

Merry Christmas to all.

[John Rose]

... We got a little light oil to go inside the freewheel but when we try to coast it is still hanging up ...

I don't really understand what is going on when you say "hanging up".
Is it that when you try to coast it forces the pedal cranks to turn anyway (like a "fixie bike"), or is it that when you pedal it does not turn the wheel?

[slayrider]

Is it that when you try to coast it forces the pedal cranks to turn anyway Yes, that is what's happening.

Also when we google search the part number LY-BB16T8VNF the china manufacturer states that this part is not for ebikes.

[handlebar]

That happened to my Radrunner. Having no tool to take the freewheel off, I laid the wheel level on a work table  and noticed a crack between the center part, that screws on, and the sprocket wheel. I used a cotton swap to spread 5W motor oil on the crack. I'd spin it, make sure there was oil on the crack, walk away to give it time to wick in, and do it again.

I'd repeat the process any time I had the wheel off. I never had any more trouble with it. Automatic transmission fluid or 0W motor oil or 3-in-1 might have worked better, but 5W did the trick. Oil would wick in better at a warm ambient temperature.

A couple of years later I bought a wrench and replaced the freewheel because I noticed about 1mm of runout on the sprocket wheel if it was stationary and the wheel was spinning. The replacement also had runout. Then I read that it's common on single-speed freewheels. It's not the fault of the freewheel but the threaded pipe it screws onto. It's hard for a manufacturer to mount that pipe stub perfectly straight.

Here's my replacement:
https://amzn.to/3HoAdNd

I guess the two important measurements are the diameter and pitch it threads onto and the number of teeth. (I could have changed gearing.)

[slayrider]

Handlebar,

That's what I was looking for.

Thank you,
John