AAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH HOW DO I GET THIS THING OFF. I bought a new wheel and it came with a cog and lockring already installed. I want to put a different size cog on, but this lockring isn’t budging a hair (maybe it’s loctite’d on there?). I’ve got a spanner wrench, and although it’s a cheap one I’ve used it on BB lockrings without much fuss. I’m turning right handed (clockwise) since I understand that’s the way lockrings are threaded on a fixie, but no dice. If I wasn’t so concerned about damaging the hub I’d dremel this PITA off and just buy a new ring. I might just have to, since my tooling has started to smooth down 2 of the 6 notches. Any suggestions?
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HOZAN C-203 pliers is what I use.
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Try fastening the lockring on a vise and turning the wheel. That way you will have more leverage.
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Big flat screw driver and a heavy hammer.
Sergio
yeah, that’s how they are on track hubs. However, if it’s a suicide hub, which it probably isn’t… but if it IS, you’ve been tightening it.
Try rotafixing your cog, and maybe that will put enough space between the lock ring and the cog that it won’t bind any longer.
Define: rotafixing.
Sergio, thanks for the tips. I don’t have a vice, unfortunately, and while those Hozan pliers look nice, at $50 I think I’ll exhaust all other options before them.
see:http://204.73.203.34/fisso/eng/schpignone.htm
read the note at the top of the page that says invert the directions to loosen the lock ring
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Get a good single hook lockring tool like: http://www.excelsports.com/new.asp?page=8&description=HCW-5+Bottom+Bracket+Lockring+Wrench&vendorCode=PARK&major=6&minor=6
Most lockrings are threaded the reverse of your cog - so think of it like this: when you pedal, the torque that you apply would be tightening the cog on. To loosen the lockring, you much apply torque the opposite way. For most lockrings that I’ve ever put on or taken off, removal requires counter-clockwise torque to loosen. Make sure you have good engagement with the tool…and using a longer tool allows you to apply more torque (insert silly comments here). Good luck! Neal
don’t let fredly see this one.
why can’t you take it to a bike shop that has the $50 tool and have them remove it?
-SD
In Reply To Get a good single hook lockring tool like: http://www.excelsports.com/…;major=6&minor=6
Neal… Nice to hear from you. If the lockring is extremely tight and already damaged (by his description), I doubt that the HCW-5 from Park Tool will work at this point. I suggested more drastic measures because apparently he already damaged the lockring.
I really dislike it when things like this happen. I remember once when John Cobb used a 6’ pipe as a “longer tool” as Neal suggests, to remove a new BB from a new P2 frame in his garage. I was expecting something to break when he leaned on that pipe with all his weight. He finally got that stuck brand new BB out. It seemed like they put cianoacrylate glue in those threads. I still want to find out who installed that one on the frame.
Dave’s suggestion is a good one but then only if you trust the shop. I frankly would prefer to do it myself than to take it to a shop that is also going to experiment. But then I have a lot of tools at my house and a maintenance chief at my orders. If you have never done this type of work, it will be better for you to take it to the best shop in town as Dave said.
Best wishes,
Sergio
If you get to option 3 I wouldn’t use a scew driver, I’d use a nail punch and tap it off carefully, they don’t chew up your lock ring quite as much.
I just going to say the lock ring is reversed…
If you get to option 3 I wouldn’t use a scew driver, I’d use a nail punch and tap it off carefully, they don’t chew up your lock ring quite as much.
I agree. I mentioned a (large) flat screwdriver because it was more probable for him to have it at hand. It also seems that the lockring is already damaged and he would need to buy a new one anyways. I doubt that lockring is aluminum but still the nail punch is a better choice.
Sergio
My 2 cents Sergio…always take a few minutes to carefully review that things are being turned or rotated in the proper direction. I have been doing my own wrenching on bikes for years, but sometimes I get overconfident and make the mistake of tightening a fixed cog, pedal or lockring whilst trying to get one off. I have gotten a couple of good gashes in the process ! If you are certain about the correct method or direction, perhaps you could try a product like Liquid Wrench on the balky device overnight to loosen up any corrosion or galvanic process going on…Good Luck !
Fwiw, the lock ring on my track hub has a left hand thread.
Something in the back of my mind keeps thinking that a campy threaded hub is the opposite of a shimano threaded hub. If that’s the case, just figure out which one is which and measure the lock ring. Have you tried to identify and look up the hub in parts catalog?
I do second liquid wrench or pb blaster. A good spray down and a few hours to soak will loosen up nearly anything. I’ve used it on suspension bolts that have been in place for 7 years, and they spun off like they were almost new
There is like 1 exposed thread at the end of the hub, and I can see it’s left hand threaded, so clockwise turning should loosen it. Rotafixing didn’t seem to do much…
I like the idea of rolling it into a bike shop and asking them to remove it, hopefully they won’t mind.
Fwiw, the lock ring on my track hub has a left hand thread.
Something in the back of my mind keeps thinking that a campy threaded hub is the opposite of a shimano threaded hub.
No, all correct and proper track hubs have a right hand threaded cog and then a left hand threaded lock ring.
The correct procedure is to thread the cog on pretty tight and then jam the lock ring against it. It should NOT have loc-tite. That’s the whole point of the left hand threading.
With a good quality hub, cog and lock ring, you are not going to have a problem. The problems come occur when the tolerance on some threads (usually the hub) are too loose. Then the thread are not engaged deep enough and the steel lock ring can rip the threads off the aluminum hub.
Other possibility is a suicide hub which is made by threading a track cog onto an older freewheel hub and then chasing it with BB lock ring and jamming them against each other. Kind of works since it is a jam nut situation like hub cones and such, but those aren’t really intended to bear the force of somebody trying to skid a rear wheel on a fixie. Hence the name.