Vintage Fuji Teardown

This is going to be a long post. I did a complete restoration of a nice old Fuji Sports 12, and I can show you a bolt by bolt teardown to its bare frame. I prefer to completely disassemble a very old bike before putting it to serious use. This way I can inspect every part and know everything was properly assembled when I go for a long ride. Here's the bike:

It has dry rotted tires, misadjusted brakes, and possibly several hidden problems so let's get started. First I removed the seatpost:

After this I like to remove the handlebars and stem, so first I disconnected the brake cables:

Next I loosened the clamp that holds the shifters to the handlebars. This is just a large philips screw (a #2 if I remember correctly):

Now I can loosen the stem bolt and remove the bars:

I had to smack the bolt down with a hammer before the stem would move freely. After that I just had to remove the 3 little chrome clamps that hold the rear brake cable to the frame, and then the handlebars came right off:

Next I wanted to remove the cranks and bottom bracket. First I removed the pedals:

Then I unscrewed the dustcaps covering the crank bolts (one of the rare times a penny can be useful for anything...):

Now I can remove the crank bolts:

These came out pretty easily, but sometimes they can be really stuck in there. Anyway it's time to use the crank puller. I showed the Park Tool version in an earlier post, so this time I wanted to show the generic one. First you need to unscrew the part the pushes into the bottom bracket spindle, then thread the puller into the crank. Make sure it's fully engaged:

Now you can tighten the piece you originally unscrewed until the crank pops off:

With the cranks off you can remove the bottom bracket. First unscrew the lockring on the left side:

Now you can remove the adjustable cup. There are lots of different styles of these. This particular one has 2 large slots for a big flat bladed screwdriver to fit. I used a hammer and punch to get it started:

Once the left side cup is out you can slide out the spindle. The last step is to remove the right side cup. Remember this one is reverse threaded on most frames:

This one came out extremely easily, and it might even have loosened up on its own had I not bothered to remove it. With the cranks and bottom bracket gone I decided to remove the fork next. First I had to disassemble the headset:

 

 If your bike has one of these brackets for the brake cable it's a good idea to hold it while unscrewing the top locknut to prevent damage to the threads on the fork. With the locknut off there was an additional lockring underneath the bracket:

I guess this is an extra measure to keep the headset from coming loose. With the lockring unscrewed the bearing race can be unscrewed by hand, and the fork will then slide right out:

Next I removed the front wheel and the brake from the fork:

After that I decided to remove the rear derailleur to clean and oil the moving parts. First I had to remove the rear wheel:

Next I unbolted the shift cable (8mm hex bolt):

Then the mounting bolt:

On most derailleurs you would have to break the chain, but this one has a split pulley cage so I could just unhook it from the tension pulley. Here is the frame as it currently sits:

Next I removed the parcel rack and the chain for a thorough cleaning:

 

Finally I removed the tires from the wheels. I also unscrewed the freewheel in order to repack the bearings:

I caught a few potential problems by completely disassembling the bike. The pedals were rather loose, the right side bottom bracket cup was way too loose, and the rear wheel bearings were way too tight. Also, by removing the fork and bottom bracket I can clean and regrease the bearings to greatly extend their service life. In my next post I will show you how I put this bike back together.

Destructive Freewheel Removal

There is a way to remove most freewheels without a special tool. By removing the ratcheting gear cluster you can access the inner piece that is screwed tightly onto the hub. This freewheel is an old Suntour "Perfect" unit, and I don't have a 2 prong removal tool:

Notice the two small holes on the face of the freewheel? You can use a hammer and centerpunch on these holes to unscrew the front cover plate (this piece is actually a bearing race, and it's the only thing holding your freewheel together). The cover plate is reverse threaded, so angle your punch in a clockwise motion to unscrew it:

Now be very careful as you remove the cover plate if you intend to reuse the freewheel. Put a big towel under the wheel to catch the little ball bearings because they will spill out all over the place once you remove the gear mechanism. Here is the cover removed:

Now you can lift off the gear cluster (prepare for an avalanche of ball bearings):

That core piece is the part you need to unscrew from the hub. Remove the washers, pawls, and springs (if possible. The pawls weren't easy to remove on this particular freewheel so I just left them in place). Now clamp the flat parts securely in a bench vise and use the entire wheel as leverage to unscrew the core piece:

Here is the bare wheel hub:

Now comes the tedious part. You need to add a little grease around the races that the ball bearings used to spin on, and stick each ball bearing back into place. This might take a while:

Once the bearings are all back in place you can reassemble the freewheel. Contrary to many popular sources, this is usually possible without any tools whatsoever. You just need to slide the core piece into the gear cluster with a turning motion. It's easiest if you angle the core piece so that you engage one pawl first, then twist the gear cluster while pressing the halves together until the second pawl slips into place (you might need to persuade it with a small flat screwdriver):

Once the two pieces are back together you just need to screw the cover piece back on. Use your hammer and punch again to make it nice and tight, since you don't want it to come loose while you ride. I also like to drip lots of oil onto the ball bearings just before replacing the cover piece in order to thin out the grease. This way the bearings will still spin freely in very cold weather. Here is the completed freewheel:

This is quite a bit of work if you don't have the correct removal tool, but at least your freewheel will be in better working order due to the fresh grease inside.

Vintage Suntour Rear Derailleur

I finally came across a bike with a Suntour rear derailleur. These are a bit strange looking, but they really do shift nice. I took this one apart to clean and lubricate the moving parts, and I'll show you how to do the same. This particular derailleur is a Suntour 7 GT.

You can remove the tension pulley for cleaning with a 9mm wrench:

In order to remove the guide pulley you first have to unscrew the cage stop. It's a little cylinder that keeps the cage from springing too far back:

Next there is a large philips head screw holding the plastic cover over the tension spring. It might be on tight, so make sure you use a big philips screwdriver to avoid stripping it (#3 size):

With the cover off you can see the spring that puts tension on the chain. There are several grooves that the spring can attach to, so you have lots of choices for setting the spring tension. There is also a washer inside that you don't want to lose:

 

  

With the stop unscrewed you can let the cage unwind until there is no more tension on the spring. The spring should now slide right off. You'll want to keep track of where the spring originally clipped onto the pivot so that you can get the correct tension later. The next step is to unscrew this piece:

 

You'll want to use your biggest flat bladed screwdriver for it. This one was really tight though, so I ended up using a small vise grip. The last step is to remove the guide pulley bolt with an 8mm wrench:

That one is pretty tight as well, so make sure your wrench is a good fit on the 2 flat sides. Here is the derailleur disassembled:

Now you can clean everything, oil the pulley bushings, and grease anything else that rotates or slides. Reassembly is the opposite of removal, so keep track of where all the little pieces go. The trickiest part is screwing in the cage stop barrel with the cage under tension from the spring. Rotate the cage back far enough to reinstall the cage stop. You need to hold the cage back with one hand while screwing the stop in with your other.

There's no spring around the mounting bolt to worry about (just like a modern Sram derailleur). Another nice feature is the split pulley cage design because you don't need to break the chain to install the derailleur on your bike.

Destroyed Hub Bearings

I found a bike with a wheel bearing so loose that the tire would rub the frame. I took the bearings apart to see if anything was wrong and found something pretty surprising. Every ball bearing on the drivetrain side was chipped and the grease inside the hub was filled with fine metal shavings (it actually resembled Arctic Silver thermal paste). After I cleaned everything out I found that a deep groove had worn into the right side bearing cup inside the hub. Here are some pics of the damage:

Here is what the left side of the hub looked like (this is a normal wear pattern):

 

Here's the super worn out right side (notice the shiny grooves):

 

Unfortunately all the little scratches and jagged edges along the bearing surfaces didn't show up well, but here's another view:

Finally I tried to reassemble the hub but found out the groove was deep enough to do this:

That's ten ball bearings where only nine should fit. Unfortunately the bearing cone no longer fits inside the ball bearings due to the increased diameter of the bearing cup, so this hub is now trash (I did rebuild it with seven 5/16" ball bearings instead of the usual 1/4" size just to see if it would work, it didn't). Moral of the story is if your wheels are wobbly, fix them sooner rather than later. If you catch the problem early you might just have to replace one ball bearing. If you wait, you might have to replace the entire hub. Here's a link for repacking hub bearings in case you have a similar problem.

Patching Inner Tubes

This is going to be a simple tutorial today. If you have a flat tire you can usually just patch the inner tube without having to replace it (that would get pretty expensive). First you need to remove the wheel from the bike, then remove the tire from the rim:

You will need a pair of tire levers to remove a snug fitting tire, and many patch kits already come with a set of levers so get those. Just try to remove one side at a time. I usually slip 2 tire levers in like shown, then slide one lever around the rim underneath the tire bead to remove the first side. If the tire lever won't slide easily, try using some baby powder or soapy water on the sidewall. The second side of the tire should come off by hand. Once you've pried the tire off the rim you can remove the inner tube and track down the leak. I like to inflate the tube a bit and run my hand around it to feel for air escaping. If that doesn't work then just dunk it in some water and look for bubbles. This hole was pretty easy to find however:

You'll notice I marked where the hole is. Even though it's visible now, it will be hard to find once it's covered in glue so the lines help me center the patch later. The next step is to scuff the surface around the hole:

The more you scratch it up, the better. Now you can apply a thin layer of glue and wait for it to dry (about 2 minutes):

Once the glue is tacky you can peel off the backing layer on the patch and press it on very hard (don't touch the bottom of the patch). I like to hold it for about 30 seconds just to be sure it's strong:

Before reinstalling the tube check the tire for debris. In this case it was pretty obvious what happened:

I like to inflate the tube slightly and stuff it into the tire before mounting it onto the rim. Putting baby powder on the tube can help you to avoid pinching it as you mount the tire.

Next I stick the valve through the valve hole and lift one side of the tire onto the rim:

Finally I deflate the tube completely and lift the second side of the tire onto the rim. I try to do this completely by hand, but some tires can be super tight. In those cases it's ok to use your tire levers to lift the last part of the tire onto the rim. Just be careful not to pinch the inner tube or else you get to start all over.

A properly patched tube should be just as good as a new one. You'll have the best results if you wait several hours before inflating the tire to its full pressure.

Singlespeed Chain Tensioning

The chain on a singlespeed bike needs to be tensioned manually since there's no spring loaded derailleur to automatically add tension. If you find your chain too loose after installing your rear wheel, here's a quick way to tension it. First loosen both axle nuts. Now angle the wheel in the dropouts so that it's closer to the non-drive side:

 

Now tighten the non-drive side axle nut only. Next you should pull the wheel toward the center of the frame and tighten the other axle nut:

This will increase the tension on the chain. Check that the chain doesn't bind as you turn the pedals. If you feel any extra resistance then loosen the non-drive side locknut and retighten it again to relieve some of the tension. A binding chain will likely snap if you ride it like that. Generally you want a little bit of slack, but not so much that the chain can actually fall off by itself. Here's a decent setup:

 

Also keep in mind that chainrings usually aren't perfectly round so a chain that appears loose in one spot can still bind as you turn the pedals. If you're lucky you can get the perfect chain tension in your first try, if not then you just have to play around with the locknuts a bit until it's right.