AUGTRON

Hiya,

I am getting tired of my crummy old friction shifters on my 5 speed. I bought a new chain and took the slack out of it, then screwed in the stops on my RD in an effort to convert it into a single speed. I can pedal the crank in the stand fine however not so on the road. As soon as I put any pressure on the pedals with my feet the chain begins to jump about once every revolution. It sounds as if the derailleur is trying to shift gears but it is in perfect alignment with the cog I want it to be on. The chainline also looks good and straight, I'm wondering what's causing the noise. I don't know if I didn't screw the stops in evenly or if the cogs are worn down, could these be causing the problem?

dabac

Changing a chain, but leaving the sprockets, is asking for trouble on a worn bike. But check for a single stiff link first.
If you end up replacing the freewheel you might consider using a BMX one to make an SS out of it. Depending on frame you might have to leave the RD in place as a chain tensioner. There might be better ways that using the end stops to lock the RD in place. If it has a barrel adjuster at the RD, you can thread in a short piece of wire, with the button resting at the barrel adjuster. Clam other end as usual, in roughly the right position, then use Barrel adjuster to fine-tune.

fietsbob

Buy a new single speed freewheel to go with your new chain, then it is possible to re dish , actually De dishthe wheel.

Wheel truing job: loosen right and tighten left side spokes and you pull the rim over the center of the hub flanges..
job is also including a shift of the axle spacers to equalize the length on either side .

then you will have a stronger single speed wheel..

AUGTRON

I didn't want to get into the messy realm of dishing the wheel but it looks like I may have to. I'm not even 100% the rear wheel has a freewheel. There could be a cassette on there. If this is the case, should I try and stick with the RD method? If I do have a freewheel and end up replacing it with a 15-17 tooth BMX freewheel do I need to keep the derailleur at all? My frame has horizontal dropouts...

I don't want this project to start costing too much money, but maybe a nice SS wheel would be the best solution?

canopus 

EDIT: I see where you finally included the spacing but still...
He can't do that by just changing the freewheel. He would have to respace the hub/axle so that the distance between the flanges to the center line of the hub are even or more even, then depending on the respacing job he might have replace the spoke since the drive side is usually shorter than the non-drive side.

OP slacken up on the RD screws to see if you fine tune the RD position with the shift lever, if you can, then adjust the screws again without moving the RD position. Then take the slack out of the shifter cable.