How To Take Apart a Duncan Wheel
My Wheel Mod
For my wheel mod, you will need a wheel, drill press, torch, and TBB guts. Using your drill press and a 3/8 bit, drill a hole for the guts. Then, since the 3/8 hole is just barely too small, take your torch and heat up the bee spacer. Set it into your hole and push to the depth you want. When you reach that depth, pull out the spacer. Heat it up again and do the same thing to the other side. Then heat up the axel and melt it into one cap. You will need to melt it deep enough so the nut will fit in. Take the bolt out and put in the nut. (you didn't melt the nut since it has a plastic ring inside that would melt). Do the same for the other side, but leave in the bolt. Put everything together, and enjoy!
NOTES: This is a very hard mod. If you dont melt the spacer in far enough, the string will fall off the bearing. I also cut off the raised plastic that forms from the melting. The pre drilled hole is made as a guide for the spacer you are melting.
Since the Freehand is starburstless, viper mods will work well with the FH. Steve did SAGE's viper mod to a FH and now it's great. You can also give it a SF Starburst with a drill. The caps are also easy to dye since they are white.
How to Pop off FH caps
To pop off the caps, unscrew the yoyo. Then, press onto the floor the yoyo half with the axel. Enough force will pop it off. For the other half, screw the bolt to the other half and push.
Steve Brown's Freehand Tips
I prefer them with only one Friction Sticker. They are shipped out with 2, one on each side.
If you want them to play like Stan's Polycarb Bearing Wheels, ditch the o-rings (no adjustable gap), add Turbo Discs, and shim out the gap to your liking. Plays pretty much identical, once you wear in the TDs a bit.
You can add rubber o-rings under the sidecaps(like Team Losi ones) for more weight, (NOTE: Renegade rings should also work) but I don't recommend it unless you are He-Man or are really attached to Mega SpinFaktors.
I don't like the lube that comes on the bearings, so I clean mine out with lighter fluid, and then add 1 drop of 3 in 1 oil. A very light oil makes these things return quite well.
Glasseye's Pre-Pro Tips
First thing I wanted to get rid of was the adjustable gap. Call me lazy but I just don't like fiddling with gaps since it's just another factor I don't want to deal with. I took out the Duncan brass spacers and O-rings and replaced them with Bee spacers (no O-rings). This change alone seemed to increase sleep time but the Freehand still wasn't as smooth as I like my yo-yos. I removed one of the return discs and replaced it with a Turbo Disc. It made a world of difference. It went through backspin tricks nicely, iron whips were no problem, and it opened up real big for suicides. In this modified state the Freehand is comparible to one of Stan's wheels. (NOTE: Since this was pre production, this may not work for normal Freehands. I have tried some of the tips, and have had no problems. The pre pro's had a wobble, setting them apart from productions.)
Friction Sticker Tips
If you got one of the first FH's you will notice that the stickers are thin white plastic rings. Since these cost more to make and would raise FH prices up 2 bucks, Duncan has new friction stickers. They are a little thicker with a tacky surface. When they wear in, the tacky wears off and reveals a black fabric sticker just like a turbo disk. Some people break these new stickers in by rubbing and scratching the surface to wear them down quicker. This makes the FH play better, but shortens the sticker life. The new stickers are much better than the first runs.
