Mountain Biking - I messed my XTR

Ok well my XTR rear derailleur was working fine today on the way to the shop. I haven't bashed it since i bought it 6 months ago.. Today i took it off to clean it out. I used degreaser than i regreased it. I put it back on and now it skips 1 gear. I didn't touch the cable tension at all. Its perfect. So I tried readjusting it anyways. If i tighten the cable slightly i can get it to shift all the way up to the largest sprocket perfectly but the second smallest sprocket then gets skipped when I shift down towards it. And vice versa.. If i loosen the cable slightly the second largest cog skippes but i can shift to the second smalles perefectly.. its either one or the other. The limiter screws are fine as well as I can reach the highest and lowest gears. Any tips.

There is no bash damage at all.

My boss whos been doing it for 60 years (since he was born), won't help me because hes an arrogant old fool and because I didn't buy the part from him he won't help me. For those of you that know of or met Jim (Enzo) Miele (owner of Miele Bicycles's son and 2nd owner) would all know what I'm talking about when I say arrogance.

Well, I'm not arrogant, just an old fool. 9 times out of 10, when a D'rer shifts weird i.e. skips gears, won't a make the top and then not the bottom cog, seemingly won't hold adjustment... it's the noodle. Either the cable housing is worn, kinked, dirty or has to tight a radius. It's cheap and easy to replace and may end your frustration.

it worked this morning before i removed the derailleur lol its not like it happened over time. it worked great 8 hours ago.. then i removed and put back on and now .. it doesnt miss the top or bottom it misses the second highest and second bottom depending on the cable adjustment

I had the same problem tuesday, all shifted fine, till I went for a ride. I removed the tire, and flexed the deraialer by hand, in and out... or was that out and in.
put it back, and there it was working.
I think something, grit, dirt, schmeng, something got in there, though i couldnt really see it.

Did you replace the pulley wheels in their correct locations, or swap them over?

Make sure your limit screws are adjusted properly. You want the chain so it will drop on to the smallest cog freely and quietly. You want the chain to move up to the largest cog quietly.

If the limit screws are adjusted properly your shifting problem is, most likely, cable tension.

Put the chain on the smallest cog out back and in the middle ring.

Loosen the cable bolt on the derailleur and screw the barrel adjuster on the der all the way in. Tighten the cable back up and turn the pedals. The chain should be quiet. Try shifting up to the next largest cog.

If it won't go, shift back to the smallest cog and open the barrel adjuster 1/4 to 1/2 turn. This will lengthen the cable. Try it again. Repeat until it shifts reliably up. Then go through the gears. If it won't go to the largest cog either the cable is too tight or the limit screw needs adjusting.

If you find that you're turning the barrel adjuster way out, then you didn't tighten the cable enough.

ive tried all that but i said when i tighten the upper or lower gears work and when i loosen the opposite happens.. theres no getting both. the b-screw is correct, and the limiter screw is right. and i never took the pulleys out. i just ook it off. cleaned the hanger, and put the derailleur back on


bah w/e it works "ok".. still like crap but somewhat rideable. Im riding my roadbike for now.. its a wonder how all the 15 yr old parts never broke.

OK if you are sure all the limits, b screw cable tension, and housing lemght are all right, then I can only think of two other things. Check to make sure the der. is threaded in square, not at an angle, or the der. hanger may be tweaked.

good call.. ill check tomorrow at the shop..

i screwed the **** out of my deore derailer cuz there was this small tree bent down and it was about and inch in diameter and it got cought up in my **** and i kept goin but the tree dint so i tore the **** outa it and now the threads on my hole where the derailer goes into is all striped out and bent so now its at a bike shop gettin fixed and i cant ride this weekend because of a meesly little stick

:mad:

I'm with Hunter, most likely it's the derailleur-hanger alignment. Stand the bike against a wall, get behind it and see if the derailleur looks like it's in plane with the bike. A couple other possibilities:
Maybe the upper-pulley bolt happens to be working loose. This adds extra float to the upper pulley. I've had the problem you describe and it remained a mystery until the pulley bolt fell right out. :eek:
Perhaps while the shift cable was slack, it got out of your bottom-bracket cable guide, or got hooked on a ziptie on your downtube or something?
Just thought of one more... is the derailleur's pivot bolt bent, the one that threads into the frame? If the derailleur "orbits" when you're tightening it into the frame, it has a bent bolt. This would usually be from crash damage, so I doubt it's the case.

Good luck, you'll get it. :)

I had almost the same problem a few years back - I ended up changing the chain, cassette, cable, housing etc., only to find that when I had reattached the cable to the derailleur I had put the cable on the wrong side pinch bolt - it changed the throw just enough to make it miss shift 1 time across all eight gears - be sure to check that -

ya i fixed it last week.. hanger was bent. i dunno how i did it but its fine now