Freewheel quality and silent freewheels?

[John in CR]

Down here all I can get is no name stuff, that I'm sure is made in China, and I often don't have the patience to wait a couple of weeks for an online order, which after shipping costs more anyway. My favorite cheap bike shop (eg $5 for a new tire and tube incl installation and brake adjustment), just gave me a freewheel that doesn't click. It feels kinda tight, much harder to freewheel than the normal click type freewheels. He told me it loosens up with use. My question is, are these types of freewheels any good? I'm looking at a higher than typical application using a powerpack motor that will do 4.5hp and want to use the best freewheel I can get my hands on locally and cheap.

John

 

[Miles]

Is it a freewheel with a quieter than usual ratchet mechanism or a sprague clutch?

 

[John in CR]

Is it a freewheel with a quieter than usual ratchet mechanism or a sprague clutch?

I don't know. When I turn it I can't hear any ratcheting noise at all, but it doesn't spin nearly as freely as the usual ratchet type that I get.

 

[Miles]

Can you post a pic of it, John?

Does it have a name on it?

 

[The7]

This site http://www.users.bigpond.com/solarbbq/P3.htm says:
"This motor uses a freewheel mechanism as shown below. Its a very robust design. The motor drives the planetary gears which in turn drive the circular metal plate shown with a red arrow indicating motor spinning direction. The small rollers wedge themselves onto the hardened metal plate but when the motor is not spinning the plate can rotate freely hence the wheel can rotate freely. There is negligible resistance when freewheeling the same as a normal biycycle wheel".

Wonder if this design is quieter than a normal bicycle freewheel!?

 

[TylerDurden]

Freewheels with pawls like in the pic are quiet and strong. Also easy to mod for four (or more) pawls.

 

[John in CR]

Upon closer inspection, ie holding it up to my ear, it is ratcheted with barely perceptible clicks. It's a brass colored metal and stamped on one side is "Kangdico China 07 ATA 08". Hopefully it's of decent quality, but I'm concerned because it doesn't spin nearly as freely as other freewheels I've had. It seems that an abundance of grease is what's muffling the clicks.

 

[TylerDurden]

I'd open the sucker up to see if you have an odd or even number of catches... if it's odd, only one dog will be taking all yer power.