I found a pair of wheels the other day with old Normandy hubs I’d like to keep. Rims are junk. Anyways, the back has an old Maillard freewheel that I need to get rid of before I can cut the spokes. I’m wondering if an of you geniuses have any tricks to get this thing off without buying a tool I’ll only use once. If not, I guess I’ll just bring it into a shop.
It looks like this:
You need too much force to use anything other than the tool. Pretty sure Barnetts has instructions for removal that destroy the freewheel, but I think it’s more trouble than just doing it right.
i wanna say that CKD had some method, but i could be completely wrong
The destructive method is pretty straight forwards… sheldon has an article about it. I don’t see the lockring on that freewheel though.
sometimes the smallest(diameter) cog is the lockring on those older wheels, but i’m not sure that is the case with that wheel.
Save the headache and bring it to your lbs.
sometimes the smallest(diameter) cog is the lockring on those older wheels, but i’m not sure that is the case with that wheel.[/quote]
Freewheels don’t have lockrings. I think I’m gonna try and dremmel some kind of notch in it and take it off that way.
I’m a bike messenger so my time’s not worth a whole lot.
They actually can have lockrings. Kind of like hyperglide.
http://sheldonbrown.com/freewheels.html#disassemblyThe one I destructively removed had a lockring. It’s not like a cassette lockring. Maybe lockring is the wrong word… it’s a ring that holds the shit together though.
Ooops!
Wha happaned!?!
This doesn’t look like it has a locking outer cog like a lot of older freewheels have. As you suggest, and by the look of the splines on the inside, you’ll need a proprietary freewheel removal tool. The Maillard freewheel looks to be an odd size considering the 23 splines. I thought I had an old removal tool that would work, one I could have mailed you perhaps, but it doesn’t have enough splines. Sorry.
like a c*ckring?
That Maillard freewheel uses a helicomatic setup. You need a specific tool, and the hub is made for that freewheel. I had to deal with one when building a cruiser for Amanda. I just bought a new wheel.
^Total bummer.
i can’t do my work!
Helicomatics were a proprietary system. This is just a standard Maillard freewheel on a Normandy hub. You can tell cause it doesn’t have that weird ribbed lockring.
Ended up finding someone who had the proper tool. 
Word. Glad I was wrong.
