There are loose ball bearings in the freewheel part of a mountain bike. Does anyone know how many go in there? I disassembled 2 mountain bikes to make an electric bike. Now i am putting one back together and i have 2 sets but i lost some from each set and it leaves me with no clue. These are the bearing underneath the shimano freewheel locking nut... the bearing are loose under there. Thank you!
Call a bike shop!!!!!!!!!
Oh JEEZ! You should have never removed that lockring. The entire freewheel body actually unscrews from the hub. A freewheel probably has in the neighborhood of 100 to 120 tiny bearings in it. I am making the assumption that you really didn't disassemble the freewheel, but rather removed the cogset from a cassette body. The easiest way to work out the number of bearings is to install bearings until there is no more space in the race, then remove one. If the bearings are from the outer edge of the cassette, there are either 8, 9 or 11. If they are from inside the hub it is the same count but the bearings are smaller in diameter. The exact number depends on the hub model. Regardless, make sure that you use either white lithium grease or a very light automotive grease...not one meant for disc brakes. Best yet is to get some grease made for bicycles. If you did indeed disassemble the freewheel, forget it and buy a new one... they can be had pretty cheap.
ok this is simple. ive taken apart a few shimano hubs and they have had either 9 or 11 ball bearings on each side. easy way to figure out how many: -have a tray of grease on hand -lay on some grease in the area were the bearings go -dip each ball into the grease and use tweezers to put them in place -only a certain amount will fit into the bearing race -put the axle back through when ur done and see if it rotates smoothly good luck
