JimiJams

Hey all, I'm putting together a titus motolite and it's complete except for one snag. The fd won't operate correctly. It's had a few problems so far in the process of me trying to fix it. First I adjust the low setting so the plate is .5 - 1 mm from the chain, then connect the cable. I then try to shift up and on some occasions it has shifted thru all three chainrings but at the top chainring I can't adjust it enough so that it's not hitting the chain. Or sometimes if I was able to adjust so it didn't hit the chain then I'd shift back down and the plate would be hitting the chain on the small ring.

Here are my thoughts (aside from taking it to the lbs if I can't fix it myself): The L and H screws need to be at a particular height before beginning the whole adjustment/installation process. Maybe I'm starting them too high or too low, or maybe the H is higher than the L or vice versa. Not sure if that would make a difference.

Another thing is this crankset/fd setup was on my previous bike and maybe it had a 47.5 chainline, whereas the one right now is like 51.7 (there's a spacer between the bb shell and the bb).

Finally if there's no way of fixing this should I just buy a new fd, and will it work with my particular crankset and shifter?

Thanks for any help, I've been messing with this thing for days and I just wanna ride it already!

Pilky

This video helped me a lot when i was learning to adjust my derailleurs. I'm not sure how experienced you are but maybe it will point you in the right direction to solving your problem.

JimiJams

thanks for the video. I'm already familiar with all those procedures. The only one I didn't mess with is the barrel adjuster. But like he mentioned in the video, adjustment of the h screw will affect the l screw adjustment. This is what I was noticing for the most part.

If I was ever able to get the chain to shift thru all three positions then it would need to be adjusted on the large chain ring. Most times I couldn't adjust the screw enough to get it to stop touching the chain, and also when I'd shift back down to the small ring the low setting would be off (because the h and l screws are some how dependent on each other).

The derailleur I have is a shimano fd-m952, does anyone know if this is only meant for a 47.5mm chainline or can it work with a 50 as well? If not I may have to take the spacer out and use a smaller one to get it to 47.5

JimiJams

Dude Pilky, thanks a lot man!!! I should've toyed with the barrel adjuster all along. Just went down in a last attempt to see if maybe the problem was due to me not adjusting the barrel adjuster and sure enough that was it. It's in perfect working order now. Thanks again man!

JiveTurkey

Edit: Posted too late....

You're not trying to mismatch the shifter and FD between road and MTB components are you?

The limits and indexing are not actually dependent on each other. For example, after everything has been set up to work right, the L-screw adjustment won't have any bearing on shifting to the outer chainring, and vice-versa.

You do need to set things up in the correct order, which it sounds like you are. I'd suggest not adjusting "the low setting so the plate is .5 - 1 mm from the chain" and rather adjust it so that it just barely doesn't rub. Screw in the L screw until it rubs on the chain, then back it off just enough to where it doesn't rub any further.

You are adjusting the L-screw while in the inner chainring and largest cog, and adjusting the H-screw while in outer/smallest, right?

Is the FD cage parallel to the chainrings?

JimiJams

Well now I have another problem. This fd is about 8-10 years old I'd say so there may have been some advancements...but now when I have the chain on the smallest chainring and the smallest cog the chain rubs against the bottom of the fd. Is this common or will a new fd solve this problem. BTW I lowered the height of the fd as well and it still happens. Maybe I'll just get the same fd they put on the complete motolites as I'm sure they don't have this problem.

JiveTurkey

You shouldn't ever use this combo. By the time you get that far down the cassette, it's time to shift to the middle chainring.

That said, the FD should pretty much be as low as it can go without any part of the FD hitting any teeth.

JimiJams

so it's no cause to buy a new fd then jive?

JiveTurkey

Definitely not a reason to buy a new one.

JimiJams

cool! thanks a lot man for all your help, now I can finally get it out there and ride it...once the trails dry up...