how freely should a rear wheel turn on a shaftie?

[Clone]

You could use a fish scale to pull up on a spoke to see how much effort it takes to turn the wheel.

[Skateguy50]

I have a fish scale but to lazy to go check it

will tell you this though, just replaced my tires and brake pads.Before I started the wheel took a LOT of effort to move and didnt go anywhere when i let go.

Now with the new tire and new brakes it moves pretty easy and then stops a bit after you pull it. Think it was part the brakes and also cleaning out the connection on the shaft and greasing it up again.

[Schweisshund]

Are you using 80/90 Lucas Gear oil?

[psyguy]

it seems the brake was dragging after all..

ok, so i removed the brake pads and the wheel turns more freely
when i give the wheel a spin i can get it to rotate 1/2 turn or so before it stops

caliper rebuild, right?

.

[salty_monk]

If the caliper isn't leaking then you may be ok with cleaning all the crud out (remove the rubbers at the top of the piston etc) push the pistons forward using the brake lever (careful not to pop them out all the way) & give the piston you can see a good clean, apply some light oil then make sure they are seated all the way back with a C clamp before you re-fit.

If you pull the rubbers & see a bunch of rust then re-build them. This treatment only really helps with "sticky" calipers not rusty ones...

Dan

[psyguy]

If the caliper isn't leaking then you may be ok with cleaning all the crud out

thanks dan
no leaks so i'll try just cleaning the pistons first

[salty_monk]

Just make sure you take it easy & test them... brakes generally don't just go "pop" & not work, there are lots of signs that they are on their way out in general.

[AirCooledHeaven]

i may not be as strong as you guys... but i wasnt able to give the wheel any "spin" at all, and i wouldnt describe its movement as "turning freely", and certainly not a "finger and thumb push" only

is there any more scientific way to test this (so we take all this subjectivity and guess work out of it)?

No way will you 'spin' a shaftie rear wheel, there's too much drag in the rear wheel and intermediate gearbox bevel gears. However, I can move mine freely with one finger so I would imagine your rear pads are binding. Remove them and try again.