Grease/Oil for freehub pawls

[SilverBadge]

Did look for a specific earlier thread, but to no avail.
Is there a consensus on what is the right stuff to put on freewheel pawls, to lubricate the metal-on-metal sliding, neither too sticky to gum up the pawl operation nor too runny to stay put? I am converting an Easton hub to Campag and the new freehub is supplied dry.
Various specific thin greases or thick oils are touted, not too big an outlay as you need very little, but I wouldn't want to shell out on something that's regular lube decanted into a small posh container. A few of the potential options seem to be US only.
Any thoughts/experience on e.g
Phil Wood Tenacious Oil
Shimano Special Grease for Freehub Bodies
Easton Cassette Body Grease (maybe the favourite in the circumstances, but distinctly unavailable)
Dumonde Tech Freehub Oil - “Flow Point” is -40 degrees
DT Swiss Star Ratchet Grease (Molykote TP 42 with 5% mineral oil admixture)

[Brucey]

It is important to distinguish between shimano style freehub bodies and the others, where the freewheel body rotates on the axle using its own set of bearings, which is what I presume you have.

Pretty much anything will keep the parts inside well enough lubricated that they won't wear out too fast whilst freewheeling, but what will work best in any given hub will vary with the details of the particular hub that you have. You can use an oil provided the seals are good enough; if they are not good enough it will just come out and make a mess.

Going the other way if the stuff you use is too thick it won't keep the seal lips wetted (and they will then wear) and it may cause the pawls to be so sticky that they wont always engage simultaneously, which is very bad; it causes breakages to occur.

As well as lubricating the parts inside, the lube has to cope with any water that makes it past the seal into the pawl cavity. It can just sit in there and cause corrosion or worse yet make it into the bearings and wreck those.

My preferred setup for hubs like these is to remove the half the seals ( the ones that face the other bearing in each pair) from both the freewheel body and hub body bearings, then to use a generous fill of a suitable SFG in the space between the freewheel body bearings and another fill between the hub body bearings. A smaller quality of SFG is then used in the pawl cavity. This kind of setup usually weeps slightly but it considerably more weather-resistant than the usual arrangement, provided the SFG has the right kind of corrosion inhibitors in it. After a few thousand miles it may be prudent to add a little more SFG to the pawl cavity, but sometimes it isn't necessary, because SFG has worked its way in there from either the freewheel body or the hubshell.

cheers

[Username]

It is important to distinguish between shimano style freehub bodies and the others, where the freewheel body rotates on the axle using its own set of bearings, which is what I presume you have.

Pretty much anything will keep the parts inside well enough lubricated that they won't wear out too fast whilst freewheeling, but what will work best in any given hub will vary with the details of the particular hub that you have. You can use an oil provided the seals are good enough; if they are not good enough it will just come out and make a mess.

Going the other way if the stuff you use is too thick it won't keep the seal lips wetted (and they will then wear) and it may cause the pawls to be so sticky that they wont always engage simultaneously, which is very bad; it causes breakages to occur.

As well as lubricating the parts inside, the lube has to cope with any water that makes it past the seal into the pawl cavity. It can just sit in there and cause corrosion or worse yet make it into the bearings and wreck those.

My preferred setup for hubs like these is to remove the half the seals ( the ones that face the other bearing in each pair) from both the freewheel body and hub body bearings, then to use a generous fill of a suitable SFG in the space between the freewheel body bearings and another fill between the hub body bearings. A smaller quality of SFG is then used in the pawl cavity. This kind of setup usually weeps slightly but it considerably more weather-resistant than the usual arrangement, provided the SFG has the right kind of corrosion inhibitors in it. After a few thousand miles it may be prudent to add a little more SFG to the pawl cavity, but sometimes it isn't necessary, because SFG has worked its way in there from either the freewheel body or the hubshell.

cheers

What is SFG?

[boblo]

Ah ha! Time to use my new found knowledge. I asked this self same question a few weeks ago.

Apparently it isn't '!!' as I thought but is in fact, 'Semi Fluid Grease'.

Edited to remove inappropriate content, John1054.

[Gattonero]

Did look for a specific earlier thread, but to no avail.
Is there a consensus on what is the right stuff to put on freewheel pawls, to lubricate the metal-on-metal sliding, neither too sticky to gum up the pawl operation nor too runny to stay put? I am converting an Easton hub to Campag and the new freehub is supplied dry....

I've done many of those hubs with the common Finish Line teflon grease on the ratchet rings, and the same brand Wet lube under the pawls.
You could use the Wet oil in the ratchet ring too, makes it a bit more noisy and doesn't last as long. Never seen them fouling the mechanism or drying up sticky. No need to complicate your life by searching for NASA approved lubricants or blending oils, more time for riding
Obviously, no need to exceed an average small quantity, i.e. a 3mm line in the ratchet ring and 50% fill under the pawls; that's enough.

Also, a couple of drops of Wet oil under the seal.

[SilverBadge]

Cheers, found someone on ebay with various flavours of SFG at under a tenner for 500g, tech specs are a foreign language to me though.

[Gattonero]

Cheers, found someone on ebay with various flavours of SFG at under a tenner for 500g, tech specs are a foreign language to me though.

Just make sure you use a real "grade 00" or "grade 0", it cannot be a thick grease. Also make sure is not Lithium grease, most of them are not safe with some types of rubber (Teflon or Silicone grease are much better in those areas)

[alexnharvey]

Teflon is an additive not a soap base like lithium etc, I am not sure therefore that you can determine rubber compatibility on the basis there is Teflon in a grease.

[Brucey]

I don't think the soap is the primary determinant of rubber compatibility either. I can think of other things that I know are important in that respect....

cheers

[Gattonero]

Teflon is an additive not a soap base like lithium etc, I am not sure therefore that you can determine rubber compatibility on the basis there is Teflon in a grease.

Yes but for the average lubricants used in bicycles, is unlikely that a "teflon" grease will also have lithium as thickener

[alexnharvey]

I don't think the soap is the primary determinant of rubber compatibility either. I can think of other things that I know are important in that respect....

cheers

The oil and some of the chemically active additives?