How To Remove/Clean/Degrease/Lube/Install A Freehub Body On A Bike Wheel
Why Bicycles Stack Exchange recommends it
Bicycles Stack Exchange answerers point people to it when a rear wheel or cassette spins roughly, sticks or won't engage and the freehub may just need cleaning and lubrication.
Recommended by 2 people across 2 different months, 2015 to 2025.
What it is
A 13-minute bike repair tutorial from RJ The Bike Guy showing how to remove a freehub body from a rear wheel, flush it with solvent, lubricate it and reinstall it. It also covers a hub overhaul and lists the tools needed, such as a chain whip, cassette lockring remover and cone wrench.
What people said
Recommends paparazzo · 2015-07 · Bicycles Stack Exchange · on “my bike pedals but the back tire will not move”
Does the cassette just spin? Does it still click when you spin the wheel? If it is spinning and a freewheel then not a lot you can do. If you have a freehub it might just be gunked up. This is a good video on how to service a freehub. [this video] It that seems like too much then just take it to a bike shop.
Recommends Lucas Myers · 2025-04 · Bicycles Stack Exchange · on “The chain hangs loosely after the pedals are turned backwards”
I would venture a guess that your freehub or freewheel, the mechanism by which the bike is able to keep moving without you pedaling, is somehow malfunctioning. One test of this would be to remove the rear wheel and see whether the cassette or freewheel (the thing that your chain attaches to) is able to rotate freely in one direction. If it feels like it spins with a lot of resistance, you can try to clean and lubricate it ( here for freewheel [LINK] , here for freehub [this video] ) or just replace it (refer to above videos for removal). It's also possible that your rear derailleur jockey wheels are dirty/otherwise experiencing a lot of friction. Here is a video [LINK] in case you want to service
Cites Grigory Rechistov · 2018-01 · Bicycles Stack Exchange · on “Freewheel not working properly”
While freehubs on modern high-end hubs tend to be easily serviced and can be detached for inspection with regular tools, I found that at least lower end Shimano parts are more troublesome in that regard. For example, to remove a freehub from my Shimano Deore XT hub required a specialized Shimano tool which turned out to be an allen key of either 12 mm or 12.7 mm size, do not remember exactly. This is not something everyone has at home. Different hubs may need other exotic tools. Once you manage to remove the hub body, you will need to make sure that all ratcheting pawls and their springs are not blocked by dirt. Be careful as these little springs can jump and fly away in an unknown direction