I've rebuilt freewheels from Maillard, Shimano, Suntour, Sachs, DNP and likely others, but I can't recall ever actually needing string to hold the pawls inward. When I put the outer body down over the inner body, I turn the outer body CCW as it hits the pawls, which always seems to serve to move the pawls inward. It may be necessary to grease the balls into the race of the inner body of the freewheel so they can't get dislodged by the pawls. Some of (most of) my freewheel rebuilds were done in the '80's, but I really don't recall ever using a different method than this one. I especially appreciate the retainer-seals that Sachs used at both ends of their freewheels, since the grease-retainer method is a bit monotonous, not to mention messy. I've found broken balls and pawls as the source of problems, and have often had problems with the threaded bearing race/lockring later coming loose (LocTite to the rescue). I've also rebuilt freewheels in order to correct excess freeplay and tick-tock rocking, which I found annoying. Another problem arose when a hammer-nailpunch actually distorted/bent the threaded race on a too-soft Taiwan/China specimen. This made proper adjustment nearly impossible.
David Snyder
Auburn, CA
> Harvey: Here are my instructions, for Regina, Suntour, and other common
> units with pawls mounted on the main body, for those who dare....
> ...REASSEMBLY:
> --> reassemble the pawl and spring assemblies on the iner part of the
> body. Now, for the first of 10 times or so, wrap a loop of thread around
> the pawls to keep them in place, finishing with a twist, and pull the
> tails out to the back. You MUST keep tension on this thread. I prefer
> nylon to cotton, because it is stronger, but a case could be made that
> when the cotton breaks it might be easier for the FW to chew it up instead
> of jamming.
> --> Now, holding the thread ends tightly, carefully slip the inner body
> into the outer body all the way. If it doesn't go all the way, a pawl
> slipped, and you can start over at the previous step. Iterate till
> frustrated, then rest with a cold beer.
> --> when it finally sits right, carefully lift the whole assembly and turn
> it over, keeping the parts together. Put the remaining balls in the outer
> race. Making sure that you hve the original number of incredibly thin
> shim washers (remember those, from disassembly?) put the lock ring back
> on.
> --> Add Sturmey or equivalent oil, and try the ugly thing.