Mountain Biking - rear derailers

can a LX rear derailer work on a 8 speed, even though my alivio works well i just need to know what i could use for when that goes dismal because its all scratched. It got scratched when i was trying to do a wheelie and my crappy shimano chain snaped and that got all caught up in the derailer and that ripped the removable drop out off and the derailer got all scratched. I apologise for the newby question and if you dont understand what im saying.

I think you would need a new 9 speed casette (LX is nice), on top of the LX rear derailleur, not to mention mega-9 compatible deore (at least) shifters. And oh, a new chain -- deore does a 9speed chain as well.

but dont take my word for it

If I recall correctly, an LX derailleur will work fine with your 8 speed setup. The difference is in the amount of cable pulled by the shifter for 7 vs 8 vs 9 speed. Bear in mind that derailleurs take a lot of beating so you will end up with a scratched up LX soon enough. Have you tried sachs chains with the powerlink - I've had really good results.

Laters.

LX will work w/ 8spd fine. I wouldn't worry about it being scratched... the only things that kill derailleurs are rust, wear, and bending really.

Current LX Mega 9 derailleurs work fine with 8 speed cassettes and chains.