Ratchet EXP: Tutorial on conversion and servicing. | DT Swiss

I rarely leave comments, but this time I do for anyone struggling to loosen the ratchet nut on an already used and thus pedalled wheel. If you come to think about it all the pedal strokes you have ever put into the bike are trying to make this nut tighter thus you may need an extreme force to loosen it. In my case I started with the recommended approach using the vice and despite having the leverage of the whole wheel I got nowhere. Then I tried to losen it with my longest torque wrench while struggling to hold the wheel between my legs and then later pushing it against the wall to avoid wheel rotation and still nothing. Out of desperation I took out my pneumatic impact wrench capable of 300+ Nm and guess what, the nut still didn't loosen! I am a fairly calculated and precise person, but at this point I stopped caring about damaging the damn thing and the only thing I focused on was to either loosen that nut or break something in the process... what I did was to push the wheel against the leg of my work bench and tie the wheel against the leg with a strap in order to balance the wheel. This way the tire was pushing against that vertical leg of the bench and the ground at the same time so it would be super stable and also wouldn't want to rotate. I put my torque wrench on the nut, stood (!) on the wrench with both legs and all my body weight (still nothing)... only when I started to jump up and down on the long lever of the wrench did the damn thing finally give! If you think it was an isolated incident I'll tell you that I have 2 wheels with Ratchet EXP and did the 54T conversion in both of them and I had to go through the exact same process with both wheels.

good video!!

Good video, I had to use the step by step manual when I upgraded to the 54T, this video would have made things much easier. Beware that threaded ratchet removal tool is like £60!

After almost breaking my vice to remove the ring, I went to Harbor Freight and bought a 36" old school pipe wrench for $25. Put the tire on the rim and slowly put my full body weight on the handle. Just when I thought I was going to get a hernia and the wheel was going to explode it came loose.

i bought the 54 teeth upgrade and installed it. was really easy and straight forward. used the grease that came with it and after around 50km it reached its final loudness (which i really really love). but my worry is that the grease has worn out because it's so loud (have a 350 ratchet hub on rr481 rims - both brandnew)

I believe I could follow every step, except the ones hitting with the hammer left-handed.

Relating to the common problem here of ratchet removal requiring Herculean force: Would a few drops of penetrating oil into the ratchet threads possibly help? Would want to keep that stuff away from bearings, but if the bearings are being replaced anyway, it seems safe.

Can this upgrade be done to a 370 Hub?

Hi and thank you for your message. An upgrade to the EXP system is not possible neither for our pawl nor for our classic ratchet hubs. The threads in the hubshell are not compatible. Stay healthy, Friso „DT Swiss“.

Do i have to remove the axle if i want to upgrade to 54T, or i can just replace the threaded ratchet without removing the axle and the bearing from the non-driveside of the hub ? I want to buy 240 hubs and upgrade them to 54T. Also could we get the full list of tools used in this video ? Thanks

Hi DT Swiss team, I have the DT Swiss 1400 ARC wheelset and would like to (re)grease the ratchets. I understand that the newer EXP is with only one spring and only one removable ratchet. Is there a right or a wrong way to assemble the red spacer, the red washer and the spring when putting everything back together ? Kind regards, Marc

I have all the necessary DT SWISS tools to disassemble the 240 EXP hub for the 54T upgrade however when I follow the same procedure in this video to loosen the ratchet nut in a vice, it seems nearly impossible to break loose by hand (video 2:20). Any solutions to getting more leverage on hub to twist it loose from ratchet nut?

Seriously, please make a detailed review on how to swap the 36t to 54t ratchet exp as easily as possible. I bought all the tools, first the thing to unscrew the ratchet, then the 180 and 240 bearing set, only to learn that i need another tool to hammer out the bearing. I bought a vise, to unscrew the ratchet. i had to scew the vise so hard to the table that the entire metal vise cracked, before i could unscrew the ratchet. And i could not manage to unscrew it. it is a brand new hub with only a few hundred km on it. I am pretty pissed, not going to lie. i spent so much money on the hub, the tools, and it really makes no sense, it should be very simple. what would i give for the old 180 hub... Please, please make a tutorial, focusing on only swapping the ratchet, with as little steps as crucially necessary, on a already driven wheel.

Is it necessary to take the bearing out on the other side before unscrewing the fixed ratchet? I have the ratchet tool but I can't get the thing to budge even with a long torque wrench. I don't have the tool to remove the brake rotor to push the bearing out of the other end yet but I don't think that should be necessary.

Can you use the special grease in lieu of the soft grease for the bearings?

I bought the upgrade kit to 54t today, and the tool to unscrew the 36t ratchet. It seems that it is required to have all the tools in this video, and disassemble the whole hub and take the bearings. out. Whats the easiest way to change to 54t? I dont have a vise, it should be possible to remove it with a wrench when the wheel is built? I put at least 70NM of force through, trying to unscrew the ratchet as is. And the wheel is less than a month old, i built it myself.

So this also means the 180 can also be upgraded as well I assume?

So no grease when putting in the bearing to the new 54 T fixed ratchet, correct? What are examples of Soft Grease? Can ratchet grease be used instead of Soft Grease?

can you use exp freehub bodies on regular style DT 350 and 240s hubs?

I do not know if I am looking at the right thing or not. My aim is convert one, very lightly used DT Swiss 350 Classic Rear Hub (Centerlock - 12x142mm - Shimano HG) to a 12x148mm. Am I even in the right place? Help.