I have an oldschool SunTour 6-speed freewheel, where the smallest sprocket screws on the freewheel body to lock the larger sprockets in place.
It's a normal right hand thread, so as you pedal in the highest gear, you are constantly tightening the locking sprocket. This means these can get ridiculously tight, as had happened with this unit. What would you recommend for the threads to keep the locking sprocket from seizing? Grease, anti-seize i.e copper paste, threadlock or something else?
My thoughts on the different compounds:
- Grease
We don't want any lubrication here, we just want to make sure that there is something between the freehub body and the sprocket to keep the weather out and keep them from permanently binding. Doesn't sound like a typical place for grease.
- Anti-seize
While it seemed like an obvious choice, I wasn't sure if there were some issues with using an anti-seize compound in this kind of scenario. Also, there are various different anti-seize compounds out there, and I haven't done too much research about the differences between the various types.
- Threadlock
Since the sprocket might experience significant torque during heavy pedaling, it could break a soft threadlock. I could use a stronger threadlock than the soft blue one I have, but then again, could it make the sprocket difficult to get loose in the future? A thread that experiences a changing torque doesn't sound like a typical place for threadlocker anyways.