Here’s a step by step disassembly guide for the now very popular Freecoaster hub(Freemix style). Time to crack out the spanners and grease and let Mr Hankey show you how!
Generally these hubs do not need a lot of maintenance, however opening it up every couple of months for a clean, inspection and rebuild is a good idea. Use plenty of grease, keep it tight and it will serve you well for a very long time.
Tools Needed for the job:
.1 Grease
.2 Rag/ Cloth
.3 6mm Allen Key
.4 Plastic, rubber or wooden Mallet
.5 Adjustable wrench or a 24mm Spanner to be exact
.6 Bench vice. Not totally necessary, makes the job a helluva lot easier
Top Tips yo!
.1 Do not use a steel hammer
.2 Do not wash bearings, hub part or headset parts with soap or chemicals (i.e Turps, spirits, Moms wash-up liquid…) Reason being that a slight residue is left behind, this breaks the grease down in your bearings….turns your grease to liquid, that is bad news.
.3 Don’t over tighten stuff
.4 Vaseline is NOT a grease
.5 Dial 911. Not really, but you can call me if you get stuck. I also drink lots of Coffee #hint
Begin by locking the allen key in the bench vice and perching the Non-drive side end of the axle on it.
Loosen and then remove the lock nut and tapered washer. Unscrew the driver and pull it out slowly.
Have your mallet handy, knock the drive side end of the axle gently but firmly. It shouldn’t need alot of force. Be sure to have the other end of the axle secured so that it doesn’t go flying. Notice how I hold it in the above photo.
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This is where it gets tricky. Keep all the small parts safe after you have cleaned them. *Read the Tips on the top of this post about cleaning with chemicals.
Take note of the order of the spacers and washers.
Check the bearings in the driver, they are the smallest and will likely need to be replaced at some stage. We have a handy post here that describes the sizes and types of bearings that your bike uses. Check it out.
After you have cleaned and polished all the bits; apply a liberal amount of grease. Automotive wheel bearing grease works fine for us. It’s usually a yellowish tan, sometimes white-ish color. It’s advisable not to mix different types of grease used on your bike. Some grease’s are soap based and others mineral. These types don’t always mix well…may cause damage to your sealed bearings. Clean as you go.
Lock shit down. But don’t over tighten.
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Slide the clutch back onto the axle perching it onto the spring-loaded nipples.
Slide him back into the hub shell, but do not knock the axle/bearing into place yet! What works best is; firstly slide the Driver into the big bearing, you should be able to screw the driver into the clutch. This then holds the axle into place as you knock the non-drive side through. Make sense?
At this point, as mentioned above, push the driver into the big bearing, screw it into the clutch (the clutch is already inside the hub on the axle, then knock the axle back into place.
Your’e about good to go now. Add pegs, hub guard, mistletoe…
Related Posts:
— Female Axle Conversion
— Basic Freecoaster stuntery with AT
— SKABANGA x LOOT mixtape!
Updated August 2019
40 responses to “BMX Freecoaster Maintenance!”
My freeocaster wobbles a little on the Axel when I’m not riding it like I can wiggle it left and right how do I fix that?
Hey there, it seems to be a ‘normal’ thing with these hubs. We have experienced the same issue on our bikes. It comes and goes with time. As long as you keep your lock-nuts tight you should be ok.
We determined it to be the bearings that ‘play’ from side to side once the hub has worn in..a ‘normal’ thing.
My Freemix has started to engage at random points, instead of having a consistent engagement. How do I determine if there is a part that needs to be replaced?
Sound like you need a new Clutch/driver or new springs and balls for it.
Can i use just regular washers from tha hardware store to fix tha slack in my freecoaster? right now theres a 1/4 turn on tha pedals before catching and i dont like it at all!
I dont think the hardware store will have the exact size, but yes you can use pretty much any washer in there to adjust the slack. Good luck!
My freemix is starting to slip . How do i determine what part to replace ?
Sounds like your Clutch might be worn. Either that or its the spring and balls that need to be cleaned/ replaced.
I have a united freecoaster female axles and if I pedal fast it won’t engage in what seems forever but when I go slowly it ever so slowly finally engages, Imy not afraid to admit it if I take it apart I don’t want to mess it about because I could probably break it have you hot any help on my problems or any tutorials I can use for precisely a united or atleast the precise same internal mechanism ?
Heya, its a common problem. You need to replace the clutch and/ or ball and springs. The problem cant really be fixed, you gonna need to replace the parts.
My clutch won’t engage for like 3 cranks and I think it’s because it’s grinding on the ball bearings. Should I replace the ball bearings?
Heya, its a common problem. You need to replace the clutch and/ or ball and springs.
Hello, My freecoaster is making a loud clank sound whenever I finish pedaling. It has good slack and very reliable just makes a loud sound and feels a little loose but im not able to tighten it any more? Could you please let me know what the problem is?
Is it a new freecoaster?
Not really, I got it for Christmas and I ride almost every day. My friend told me the bearings are loose but idk if hes right or how to fix it… Any suggestions?
If it is a brand new coaster, ITS NORMAL. Don’t tighten it anymore. The noise will eventually go away. It probably also makes a slight “whirring” noise? This is normal too.
The click is from the springs/balls sticking to the new surface of the inside of the clutch. It will go away after a few sessions. Ignore it 🙂
Ride on!
Thanks so much man!!! really appreciate it!
Also. Would you consider a month new? what time should it stop and if it doesn’t should I get a new one or what?
Depends on how much you ride and how hard you ride, give it another week or 2. Don’t stress over it, it will go away eventually.
Will the spring and ball kit for the federal coasters work on any khe style coaster
Should do yeah.
Hi, my son has a Federal V2 and when he complained it was playing up I had it to pieces and found that the tiny balls which support the inside of the clutch were not actually touching the clutch (there was play in a radial direction). So I adjusted the radial position with a spanner until the clutch was supported properly by the balls. Just mentioning it incase others have the same problem.
Thank you for your useful information!
My son has a fairly new Federal V2 and wants more slack than that obtained without any extra washers. He also says that the freecoaster engages sometimes when he is coasting backwards. Ant ideas?
Best is try remove a few washers first, not add.
If it engages when he’s rolling backwards, he; a) either needs more practice with it b) Needs to remove a washer or 2 c) it could be setup too tight- tight chain, lock nuts over tightened…
hey ive been riding freemix for 3 years and recently i started to have problems with it. Sometimes when i pedal and stop and then try to do it again (without moving cranks back) i have a slack. Its not happening always and thats problematic because sometimes i need crank pressure for tricks (only forward moving tricks) i dont want to hit my knee or fall to the face even when im sure i got pressure on the pedals. It gains slack without moving cranks backwards and its happening like 1 out of 10 tries. What should i do?
Heya, its a common problem. You need to replace the clutch and/ or ball and springs. Open it up and check for signs of wear on the balls/ springs and on the inside of the clutch part.
I got a kink east coaster the slack was perfect then i greased it now theres more slack
Could be that you added too much grease. If the engagement is inconsistent then its likely you put too much. You saying that the slack is more this time round could be you took one of the spacers out?
I have broke the spacer that is like a little bearing how do i find out what it is or where to buy it
If you cant find a replacement one i think you will be ok using a washer/spacer that is the same width as the broken one.
I cant get the axle out of the hub on my éclat cortex. I’ve used a rubber mallet with gradually excessive force on the drive side with the locknut off but it will not budge. Don’t know if I’m missing something. Any help would be appreciated.
How do I replace a drive side bearing in a federal v3/4? The one that’s around the driver not inside.
Strip all the parts of the hub apart. You will have to (gently) knock the old bearing out of the shell and then replace it.
the slight horizontal play in my new freecoaster was driving me crazy but if this is normal all is now good- thanks
I just bought a used primo free mix I wanted to do regular maintenance on it before I rode it the first time because it was sitting in storage for 2 years and I could not find any videos on disassembling . I assumed it would be the same as my fit conway 2 coaster but after attempting so I only made it to the driver removal step successfully could not get it to pop out & I didn’t wanna ruin it so I cleaned and re greased JUST the driver with phillwood and reassembled with there still being the old greas on the clutch and everything els . Now after I stop pedaling it gains slack or something and I have to pedal two or three ful rotations before it re engages OR if I stomp on one one pedal extra hard it will engage immediately ALSO i noticed if I backpedal a quarter crank then pedal it will engage. I still don’t exactly know what the difference between a freecoaster and a free mix (if any) is this supposed to happen or is it possible that I over greased ?? ALSO IF ANYONE COULD SEND A LINK TO A PRIMO FREEMIX MAINTENANCE Tutorial that’d be greatly appreciated . I need to know where I went wrong
Hey, this IS a Primo Freemix tutorial.
By the sounds of it, the balls and springs are worn, this is the usual issue for f/c hubs that have slippage. Its either that or the clutch is worn(depending on the age of the hub).
My shadow freecoaster weggling is it OK??
Newbie
Hi there! I’ve read all the comments but haven’t found what I needed. Federal Freecoaster. In case I need more slack, can I remove ALL the spacers including 3 big ones (1 of them seems like having some kind of bearings on it) that you have in the picture? Thanks in advance!
Hey hey, yeah you can remove those spacers and flat bearing cluster for a hug gap/ slack. Just experiment with the amount of spacers to adjust the amount you want.