Bicycle Mechanics - Front Derailleur recommendation

Hey all,

My commuter/touring/utility bike is currently set up with a triple crank up front with the granny removed 'cause I didn't have a front derailleur with a long enough cage to accept it.

I've been carrying bigger loads on it lately and I also intend to get a trailer soon so I'm wanting to put the granny back on.

Looking at the shimano site, it appears all the new ones only work for 22T range. I'm running 24-48 so I'm curious if anyone has tried this before and made it work. I've got a 7sp 11-23 on the back if that matters.
I'm looking for something around XT level but I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks!

I used a Shimano 105 with 48/36/24 for awhile, no problems at all. My front shifter on that bike is friction. Sounds like you may be looking at "mountain" derailleurs (does your cable routing require top pull?). I think the Shimano FD's in the LX or XT line, shaped for a 48t big ring, would work fine with a 24t difference. I'm talking about the LX or XT models that go along with the touring/trekking cranksets. For that matter, I would think one of the standard Shimano "mountain" derailleurs would work fine with a 24t difference, but the cage would just be shaped for a slightly smaller big ring-

My front shifter is friction as well (running old Deore thumbies)

Bottom pull, 28.6 clamp

What's the model number on the 105 you were using?
Do I need to worry that a new one designed for 9 or 10sp will be too narrow to accomodate my 7sp chain?

Edit- I was looking at mountain stuff but I'm currently running an old road FD and I don't really care as long as it works. It's biopace too if that makes a difference.

My front shifter is friction as well (running old Deore thumbies)

Bottom pull, 28.6 clamp

What's the model number on the 105 you were using?
Do I need to worry that a new one designed for 9 or 10sp will be too narrow to accomodate my 7sp chain?

Edit- I was looking at mountain stuff but I'm currently running an old road FD and I don't really care as long as it works. It's biopace too if that makes a difference.

The 105 I have on the bike is the standard triple model, with a clamp. Now that you mention it, though, it was probably from the 105 9-speed era, so it might have a little wider cage than a current 10 speed model. I'm running a 9 speed setup on the bike, so that's a non-issue on mine. If the cage is narrower on a 10 speed FD, with friction shifters it would work, you'd just have to trim the derailleur more often. You might try and find an older mountain bike FD with bottom pull, those were designed for 46/48t big ring, and a 24/26t granny. They would definitely have a wide enough cage to work well with your chain-

XTR FD-M950

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Shimano+FD-M950&btnG=Search&lr=lang_en