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How come my derailleur is like this?

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How come my derailleur is like this?

Old 04-21-23, 04:29 PM
  #1  
juntjoo
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How come my derailleur is like this?


It's in the second to highest gear. Seems kinda high up there no? Haven't ridden it in a while. Was having problems with this derailleur.

Also, anyone know of a video that shows how the adjusting screws work with maybe like a transparent animation? So far I've not been able to figure it out by looking at it or hearing instructions on how to use them. I need something visual that could hopefully show me how the insides of it work.
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Old 04-21-23, 04:35 PM
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Is it on a chain ring up front? Other than the smallest?
Put it on BIG:BIG and see how much "slack" is in the chain.
You want 1 to 1-1/2" (2 to 3 "half" links). Anything more contributes to the condition shown in your picture.

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Old 04-21-23, 04:38 PM
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Your chain is too long.
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Old 04-21-23, 04:51 PM
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The chain could be too long but if that chain has been on there a while it may be that the tension spring in the barrel of the derailleur (inside the part where it attaches to the axle) may have broken. When you move the derailleur down (counter clock-wise), does is spring back on its own? You might also check the stop screw to see if it allows the derailleur to rotate too far to the back.

The skewer may need some attention also. Most folks have the lever on the non-drive side of the bike.
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Old 04-21-23, 05:40 PM
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Chain looks too long to me.
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Old 04-21-23, 05:44 PM
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Chain is either too long or it's not on a front chainring.
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Old 04-21-23, 05:48 PM
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sure looks there is like a crack in the derailer also
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Old 04-21-23, 06:22 PM
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That *might* be a weird shadow.
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Old 04-21-23, 10:59 PM
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Thanks guys. I'll be back after order some parts. Lots a mess going on here...
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Old 04-22-23, 12:26 AM
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Originally Posted by drlogik
The skewer may need some attention also. Most folks have the lever on the non-drive side of the bike.
It is more convenient to have the lever on the left side. However, when I was pulling trailers a lot, I put my levers to the right so they wouldn't interfere with the trailer (after breaking a lever 15 miles from home and the nearby sporting goods store said they could order a new one for me in a couple of weeks).
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Old 04-22-23, 10:08 AM
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I would put some oil on the chain and all derailleur pivots, it looks very dry. That's where I would start. It could be your bike had a longer caged rd before the one that's on there now. The chain may be have an extra link. If your chain is long you can also set via small to small and remove links until there is no drag at the rd cage.
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Old 04-22-23, 05:00 PM
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Looks like a badly bent and broken derailleur to me. The angle of the parallelogram looks way off.
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Old 04-23-23, 07:59 AM
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I suspect that the chain wasn’t sized when installed. It looks like it was just taken out of the box and installed, especially considering that the bike is in the second smallest gear. Here’s how to size the chain properly.
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Old 04-23-23, 11:31 AM
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Originally Posted by FBOATSB
Looks like a badly bent and broken derailleur to me. The angle of the parallelogram looks way off.
That's what a Shimano pantograph derailleur is supposed to do if there is no chain tension. The B spring is pulling the derailleur to the rear.
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Old 04-23-23, 01:51 PM
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FWIW: based on the photo, I think the OPs RD may be this one (or another STX/Alvivo RD from the same time frame):

https://velobase.com/ViewComponent.a...108&AbsPos=588

If it's the RD-MC32, here's the EV and SI (SI is common to several STX and Alvivo RDs):

EV: https://si.shimano.com/en/pdfs/ev/RD...MC32-1466B.pdf

SI: https://si.shimano.com/en/pdfs/si/00...001-00-ENG.pdf

Hope these help.
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