Author Topic: Generic Ares freecoaster  (Read 4222 times)

Offline rpl3000

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Generic Ares freecoaster
« on: February 22, 2021, 01:14:14 PM »
My rear wheel did not spin real well and felt crunchy. I took the rear hub apart and I was shocked by the amount of grease inside. Does the amount of grease have a function other than to displace dirt/water? Does there need to be a layer of grease on the ID of the hub shell to drag on the OD of the clutch?


I'll be putting this back together soon, but I suspect that the bearing cones were too tight. I didn't find any dirt or otherwise to indicate the poor spinning.

Offline rpl3000

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Re: Generic Ares freecoaster
« Reply #1 on: February 22, 2021, 01:18:27 PM »
Axle and clutch

Offline rpl3000

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Re: Generic Ares freecoaster
« Reply #2 on: March 08, 2021, 03:00:00 AM »
I've tried four times to get this back together. The first time it wound up tight and became like a fixed gear bike. The last few times it was the same. Massive slack and totally un ridable.


Here are some pictures.
The spring is bent a bit and it has dug into a piece that it mates to. Its a stepped piece. I also tried to show the non-drive side stack. I do not see any way to move the step piece closer to the driver for two reasons. 1 - there is no locknut once I move it away from the bearing race and 2 - the throw out bearing (not sure if that's the right term) will not be supported. It rides on the stepped piece.


An interesting thing about that stepped piece is that it has two flats to tighten it up, but there is no way to put a cone wrench on it because the ID of the bearing covers them up.


I'm guessing at this point. Any guesses from the board are welcome too.




Offline rpl3000

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Re: Generic Ares freecoaster
« Reply #3 on: March 08, 2021, 03:03:15 AM »
In this picture I threaded the stepped piece closer to the drive side to show that the bearing rides over the flats of the stepped piece.




Offline metalbmxer

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Re: Generic Ares freecoaster
« Reply #4 on: March 08, 2021, 07:19:06 PM »
I'll be honest with you, while it is possible to rebuild and repair those, they have a finite life and do not take well to amateur rebuilds. I'd buy a new freecoaster if I were you. The steel FEC if money is tight and the titanium if you can swing it
Dax (now in LAS VEGAS as of July 2022)

Offline Mambocowboy

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Re: Generic Ares freecoaster
« Reply #5 on: March 08, 2021, 09:11:39 PM »
I'll be honest with you, while it is possible to rebuild and repair those, they have a finite life and do not take well to amateur rebuilds. I'd buy a new freecoaster if I were you. The steel FEC if money is tight and the titanium if you can swing it
the FEC fc is great.

Offline DaddyCool

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Re: Generic Ares freecoaster
« Reply #6 on: March 08, 2021, 09:33:33 PM »
Hello rpl3000, sorry to hear of your problems. I never used this hub and so I can has hardly advice here. It is different from the KHE hubs which I am using.
In general there can/should be a lot of grease in a freecoaster. This should not cause any problem. If you have massive slack after putting it together, it seems that the clutch does not stay in place when the driver is turned but it is also turned. That can be caused by the spring pressing against the clutch being to weak. Maybe the "stepped piece" is not in the correct position and so the spring is not pressed together enough? Can you shift the stepped piece from left to right? Do you see any hint where the correct position could be? Could you eventually pull the spring carefully a little bit to increase its tension?

Offline rpl3000

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Re: Generic Ares freecoaster
« Reply #7 on: March 10, 2021, 05:03:55 AM »
Ares send me an exploded view and said separate 7 and 9. Then tighten 2-7.


I did that and then experimented with various amounts of grease (and no grease) all over different parts to try and figure it out. I'm back to where I started with quick engagement, but no freecoaster. There must be some balance of the drag on everything that takes the 'just right' amount of grease. Also possible I messed something up. Either way this thing it too janky and I think the advice to upgrade is the right path.
« Last Edit: March 10, 2021, 05:09:04 AM by rpl3000 »

Offline metalbmxer

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Re: Generic Ares freecoaster
« Reply #8 on: March 10, 2021, 02:31:11 PM »
Ares send me an exploded view and said separate 7 and 9. Then tighten 2-7.


I did that and then experimented with various amounts of grease (and no grease) all over different parts to try and figure it out. I'm back to where I started with quick engagement, but no freecoaster. There must be some balance of the drag on everything that takes the 'just right' amount of grease. Also possible I messed something up. Either way this thing it too janky and I think the advice to upgrade is the right path.

Yep good call, you can spend a week off your bike trying to fix it and it still not be fixed or you can order a new wheel and be done with it. the FEC is god tier man
Dax (now in LAS VEGAS as of July 2022)

Offline DaddyCool

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Re: Generic Ares freecoaster
« Reply #9 on: March 10, 2021, 11:06:03 PM »
Yeah maybe a new hub is a good option. But these situations make me ambitious. I mean it should be possible to make it work again unless some part is broken! I personally don't believe that it only works with the correct amount of grease, but who knows... I did not regrease my KHE hub for years and it works 100 % perfect.
From the drawing it seems like that you can adjust the gap by placing the stepped piece more on the left or the right side. But in general I can see a reason why a freecoaster is not engaging, but I cannot imagine how it could work not work as a freecoaster. I am not sure if I understood it correctly. Do you mean that it does not disengage when you turn the driver backwards?

Offline rpl3000

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Re: Generic Ares freecoaster
« Reply #10 on: March 11, 2021, 03:56:13 AM »

Here is what I think happened. The spring dug into #9 and loosened #7 (drove it to the center of the axle. The stack from 2-7 was no longer tight. The huge amount of slack problem stemmed from when the driver grabbed the clutch, it would spin #7 back tight against 6-2 (which was tight).


I filed down the divot on #9 (see earlier picture) so that the spring wouldn't dig in and I also chamfered the corner of the wire on the spring. Now when I back pedal, the clutch spring doesn't really compress. It just slips and spins on #9. This results in basically no slack (ridable), but lots of ghost pedaling and no free coasting.


Something needs to create enough friction between the clutch and the axle, otherwise it will just spin, (which I think is what's happening now). So maybe filing down the mark on #9 was a mistake, but if the spring grabs it will back the #7 nut off (when pedaling backwards).


I have an FEC in the mail. I'm hoping that the flange diameters will be close enough just to swap everything over.

Offline rpl3000

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Re: Generic Ares freecoaster
« Reply #11 on: April 25, 2021, 03:16:28 PM »
Finally getting around to wrapping this thread up.


I swapped the FEC hub for the generic Ares one.  I was able to use the same spokes (3 cross lacing) despite the different flanges on the FEC. I think that the spoke length was only off by a few mm.


This is a huge upgrade. I honestly don't deserve a hub this nice based on my skill but it makes my infrequent sessions more enjoyable. I really like that I can hear the click (or not) to know if it's clutched. I also like that I can set it tight or not and it stays there. Zero ghost wheeling.


I am still learning how to set it beforehand.




Offline aliasdck

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Re: Generic Ares freecoaster
« Reply #12 on: April 25, 2021, 06:21:03 PM »

I am glad to hear you've got your freecoaster situation ironed out. By no means do you not deserve such a nice setup. A well working freecoaster is such a nice thing.

Quote from: rpl3000
I am still learning how to set it beforehand


Yea it's taking me awhile too. My FEC requires more of back pedal then my old freecoaster did to disengage and it's taking my awhile to adapt. But it works soooo much better! A lot less accidental engagements then my nankai was giving me, plus it rolls so much smoother but this has more to do with the fact my nankai axle was ever so slightly bent. With a straight axle it probably would have worked very well. But my new wheel is also way lighter, so overall I am extremely pleased with the upgrade.


But the greater amount of slack has taken me some time to adjust to as well. I have almost completely eaten sh*t a couple times because I've jumped on the bike expecting there to be immediate resistance to pedaling but instead almost faceplant because of the slack lol! My old nankai had almost zero perceptible slack vs this FEC. I'm glad it's there, though, just taking some time to adjust to.

Offline rpl3000

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Re: Generic Ares freecoaster
« Reply #13 on: April 25, 2021, 06:41:20 PM »
Guess I'm lucky to not to have come from anything else. The original didn't really work at all and this is my first flat bike.


In retrospect I think I should have gone custom build from the beginning. Already replaced the rear hub and bars and the stem and cranks are an eyesore but I did get rolling day 1 for $550.






Offline aliasdck

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Re: Generic Ares freecoaster
« Reply #14 on: April 25, 2021, 07:02:48 PM »
If someone is serious about getting (back) into riding then yea custom is most likely the way to go. But if you were just testing the waters and not sure iii it was something that was gonna stick then the prebuilt was not a bad way to go.

Either way I wouldn't kick yourself too much. As flatlanders we tend to try out a whole bunch of different setups before we start to realize what it is exactly we want geometry wise, even then these preferences usually change over time anyways. So even if you had gone custom initially it's still likely you would be upgrading or trying different things anyways unless you already knew ahead of time precisely want you wanted. So maybe going prebuilt wasn't such a bad idea, it did get rolling (as you say) and now you can slowly switch stuff out as needed or as you see fit.