Intermittent rear freewheel slipping.

[jonah]

Like, whenever I stop and restart.
Multi-sprocket freewheel, from an 18 speed generic (Huffy I think)

It would work fine until I stopped, then on startup the sprockets would spin clockwise without engaging. A few times I managed to get it restarted by pedalisg backward about a half-turn then quickly forward.

I took the wheel off the bike and did as suggested in a similar thread, held the axle on the left and the sprockets on the right, spun the wheel clockwise and listen for a clicking sound, no clicking sound. but it did spin freely. And turning it counterclockwise, mimicking the dynamics of the sprockets going clockwise, they engaged. In my hand. Haven't been able to recreate the problem with the wheel off the bike.

Of course I can't generate nearly the same torque spinning it with my fingers as it would get from a chain powered by my legs.

[jonah]

I did what I consider a "kludge" on that, I swapped out a same-size wheel. Gonna leave this one as a project.

[DaveM]

Sounds like the ratchet inside the freewheel is wearing out. You might try lubing it some by running some oil into the freewheel. (Drip it in right at the border between the parts that spin and the parts that stay still when you turn in counter clockwise.) If that doesn't help, might need to replace. Note that if it is actually a cassette, then this applies to the freehub and not the gear cluster. But if it has 6 gears in the back, it should be a freewheel.