Is there any way to do a home-made sealing on my freewheel?
Is there any material recommended to do it?
Anyone can find some previous try documented?
Will I fail miserably if I try to source a sealed component with the same diameter and reuse the seal? What exactly is the seal?
Just a little of background: After fixing my freewheel, it does not spin with grease. So I used chain lube. It works, but for a little more than 2 weeks only.
UPDATE 1: more info.
The focus of the question is: wheel hubs and other parts with MUCH more stress are sealed alright. Why freewheels can't?
It's a 5 speed Shimano freewheel. I was considering replacing it with a 6 speed since my shifter and RD works fine with it. but looking at the options, i refuse to give money to freewheel manufacturers! It's all crappy. even the high end models. Also, the gears are like new yet. bearings has no imperfections. it's just a matter of lubing.
So, I did open and serviced that freewheel (didn't take pics as I did it overnight alone and was aiming for speed so i could get some sleep).
At first I greased the hell out of it and closed. It spinned as bad as when it was dry and dirty (it has 12yr)
Then I reopened, cleaned it all again with 90% oil. Applied just enough grease to barely hold the bearings in place for assembly (an invisible film) and right after closing it up again dropped a bunch of 20w-50 engine oil and a bunch of chain-L oil (the snake oil of bike chain lube.)
It's spinning like new. but after 2-3 weeks, i often get one or another small chain drag when backspinning the pedal very slowly. No issue at all, but a sign that it's not perfectly lubed again. and will only get worse.
Tip
If the gears are not worn but the freewheel does not spin:
- remove wheel
- let if lay down with the freewheel cogs on top
- use a spanner tool to remove the cap on the freewheel
- drop oil in there
- close it
As you can see, it's pretty easy to oil the freewheel. and all bike shops I ask about sealed freewheel and freewheel maintenance say that, 1. there's no sealed model. 2. you HAVE to do this oiling twice a year. 3. There are no consensus to which kind of oil.