New Freehub Body for XC Rear Hub

After servicing the bike the other day here it was obviously time for a new freehub body for the Hope XC rear hub.  Surprisingly the new freehub shell/ body wasn't actually that expensive, £38 or so including the pawls and springs (and two 6016 bearings).  Got a decent price at ukbikestore - always found them to be very very good on the rare occasions that I've used them, should use them more really, very good place, highly recommended.

The new freehub arrived within a day of ordering it (excellent as always from ukbikestore):

The new hub came with the springs/pawls held in place with a zip tie.  They also came with a good blob of the famous Hope blue grease (forget the brand of it now, found out once by searching but forgotten long ago). 

Old vs New:

Anyway... fitted the hub initially just to see how it rode without any extra grease on, and it was super clicky / super smooth as expected. :)

The following day I decided to repack it with my usual grease - which is Silkolene Pro NG2, a racing / motobike grease which is very thick and viscous but very smooth and works really well at high temperatures.  The temperature 'thing' or the fact it's 'racing' grease didn't really play any part in my decision to use this grease, really the fact is I bought it once from a place called Jervis in Ripley near Derby just on a whim, and it's lasted me a good 10-15 years now (500g tub) and always been very good, very easy to apply, and smells good - always a bonus. :)  Actually I need some more of this now... I did think about trying some different general purpose grease, but this stuff has been so good I don't think I'll faff around looking for anything else, this stuff just does the job really well.

So ... I repacked the hub with a huge amount of grease - I tend to pack grease into every possible void - inside the freehub to pack out the bearings inside, a large dob of grease on each pawl 'socket' (which is great for holding the spring/pawls in place whilst you re-fit the freehub into the hub), a good smearing inside the ratchet 'race' (where the pawl's engage with the 'teeth' inside the hub) - and then finally refit the freehub into the hub body, pushing down all the grease so it oozes out.  Snap on the retaining 'flanges' and then once over with a rag to clear up the excess grease (actually for anything involving grease I use this super strong workshop paper roll, it's a bit like super thick kitchen roll and is perfect for anything where you're covered in grease!).

Gave it a test ride the other day and it's brillian, very very smooth and so silent it's untrue (which for Hope hubs is quite something, they are renowned for being some of the loudest hubs on the market).  Jobs a good un, should last another 10yrs hopefully. :)