Bontrager Freehub Body Removal

[Sharding]

Can anyone help me? I have managed to get my lbs to remove my Bontrager (Shimano config) free hub body from a Bontrager SSR wheel. The lbs very helpfully removed it for me as I could not locate the tool required to do the job. They have ordered a new part, but I would like to fit it myself. To do this, I need to know the tool / size needed. A 10mm allen key is not big enough. Looking down the freehub, I can see, within the body of the freehub body, a bolt that looks like a torx fitting, but I cannot establish its size, or indeed confirm it's a torx fitting. It has been suggested that a 12mm allen key will do the job. Is this correct?

[Bill]

Get yourself a SAE/Metric compliment size of allen key set. 12mm should do it, but if you have a set and need bigger or smaller you will have them. Cheaper to buy a set then just one.

[RobAR]

Over the years, Bontrager has used a few designs of hubs. SSR is relatively new so, one of the two here http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/freehub-service are probably what you need. If not, with more info I'm sure we can find it.

[Sharding]

I have tweeted Bontrager themselves, who came back and told me I needed a 12mm wrench. I went out and purchased the wrench, and lo and behold, it doesn't fit!! Bontrager cannot even tell me their own fitting size!! The 12mm is too big, and the 10mm is too small. Logically (I know what you're thinking), an 11mm should fix it? Is this right? I am concerned that if Bontrager cannot tell me the right answer, who can?!

[RobAR]

That narrows it down to an 11 mm, then. Any possibility that it's not the OEM hub body? And, you can't really blame Bontrager as they only 'spec' what quality requirements the hub must meet at the SSR level and don't actually manufacture it. The fixing-bolt hex size is up to the mfr and may even change during a production run, according to what they have available to keep the line running.

[Bill]

Not trying to make things confusing but if the 11mm don't do the fix then try SAE size Allen/hex wrench.

[Sharding]

Thanks Gents. You're right in that I can't blame Bontrager. They have been very helpful in the past. I have sent back the 12mm and ordered a Park Tool 11mm. I have also found out that an 11mm is the equivalent of a 7/16" so I hopefully this will cover the imperial / metric issue. Does anyone know what the Torx size equivalent of an 11mm fitting would..........just in case??

[RobAR]

I can assure you that it's not a Torx fitting.

[Bdude83]

It's definitely an 11mm allen. I had the same issue with my Bontrager Select. The link below is from Bontragers manual.

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/19080/Bontrager-231793.html

[Gixxer]

(01-29-2013, 02:21 PM)Bdude83 Wrote:  It's definitely an 11mm allen. I had the same issue with my Bontrager Select. The link below is from Bontragers manual.

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/19080/Bontrager-231793.html

Problem solved! In fact you probably have the right size in your toolbox.

I had the same problem with my Bontrager AT650 wheel which needed an 11mm allen key to take off the Freehub body. We all know 11mm is about 7/16". Guess what size a 3/8" drive socket extension is on the male side? 7/16! So I connected the socket extension to my 3/8 drive socket wrench, inserted the male side (without any socket on it of course) into the drive side of the freewheel body and turned CCW. The freewheel body came off easily!

A few caveats. The socket extension only will grab at 4 points so be carefull you don't strip it. If your freehub does not come off easily you're gonna need to buy an 11mm allen key.

Hope this helps.