grall1126

Campy Record 9 speed


I am about 2 miles from home and the chain starts to skip. I pull over and notice the bolt for the jockey wheel has become loose and luckily I didn't lose it. My question is this:

How do I prevent the bolt from doing this again? (locktite?)

If you tighten to much then the jockey wheel doesn't spin.

What a pain in the butt, I ended up riding home on big chainring and for some reason I was still having problems on the small chainring. On this bike, rarely can you spin the gears backwards, I believe the chain might have less than 2000 miles on it.

LesterOfPuppets

I'd go blue Loctite.

CliffordK

The bolt should be designed to allow it to be tightened down tight, and have the jockey wheel still spin.

Assuming a bushing type wheel, the inner bushing should be slightly longer than the outer bushing, so when you tighten the bolt down, the inner bushing stays fixed while the outer one spins.

Is it possible you have mismatched parts?

Andrew R Stewart 

Agree with Clifford. The pulley has a sleeve bushing that is wider then the plastic pulley and a thin dust cap on both sides. Unless the dust caps are deformed or the sleeve is wrong/missing the bolt can be tightened to a fairly high level and not effect the pulley's spin. BTW campy pulleys like to be lubed. Andy.

FBinNY 

Odds are that you have a ton of crud under the pulley end caps.

Remove the bolt then remove the pulley, take apart and clean the individual parts, pushing the inner bushing out and cleaning there too. Put it back together with oil on the bronze bushing, with clean end caps and bolt it back together.

You shouldn't need any Loctite, but if it makes you feel better you can grade T242, which can be taken apart easily later on.

grall1126

Thanks guys, I will take it apart and clean the darn thing. Luckily, I have a few other bikes I can ride. I'll see what I find out on this.

FBinNY 

It's a five minute job that a 5 year old could do. Probably take you less time, than dusting off one of your other bikes and pumping the tires.

As the folks at Nike might advise "just do it!"

grall1126

Hi guys, I cleaned it and that top jockey wheel when tightened will not turn and then I have to lessen the tightness. I know the Campy jockey wheels are different sizes and I don't have that part messed up. I could put new ones on and see if that's the actual problem

CliffordK

Can you figure out where/how it is binding?

How wide is the inner bushing part vs the outer bushing part (not the bolt)?

grall1126

Hi cliff,

The top jockey wheel doesn't want to turn if the bolt is totally tightened. If I turn around the jockey wheel will that make a difference? I have in the basement two new boxes of two sets of Campy jockey wheels, I just hate to use them if the ones I have on now are still good. Thanks for asking and helping out, maybe I'll try to get a picture.

FBinNY 

It's VERY simple and straightforward. The pulley uses a bronze bushing, and there's a sandwich consisting of the two outer covers with the pulley in the middle. The inner bushing is a bit longer than the outer, so when everything is tight, the pulley has a bit of float between the covers.

There are only a few things that could go wrong. First, it's possible that the inner bushing isn't longer than the outer, so the covers press on the outer bushing when tightened. Or, the outer bushing is displaced slightly in the pulley, so the pulley binds on one of the covers when tight. Or, one or both covers are bent slightly and rub when tight.

So, use your eyes. Start by assembling the bushing, and use something to square it up on one side, and confirm that it sticks out about 1mm on the other. Also eyeball the pulley and make sure the bushing is pressed in evenly. If not put the pulley down on the table and use a tack hammer (or whatever) to tap the bushing back to center. Lastly check that the covers are flat, if not lay them flat on the table, rim up, and use whatever you have to flatten them if necessary.

So, now you've addressed all three causes, and it should work fine. OTOH, if the inner bushing isn't longer than the outer, make a small washer to extend it so it can hold the plates off the inner bushing, leaving 1mm of float in the pulley when the sandwiched is squeezed together. You can use anything for the spacer, including a thick piece of paper, all that matters is that it's diameter is smaller than the outer bushing's ID.