So stupid me tried to teach myself how to tune my gears and totally messed everything up.

So I have a Shimano Tourney front derailleur and it's currently on the biggest of the 3 chainrings (3rd gear). The problem is, I accidentally released the wire that connects to the shifter on the derailleur. Now when I try to put it back on, putting it on first gear loosens the wire and the derailleur no longer shifts. What do I do? Is there a way to manually put it on 1st gear so that I can attach the wire back on? Please someone help!

Is the low-limit screw holding the derailleur in place over the third ring? If so, then back that screw out some.

Heck, while you have the thing disconnected anyway, why not take the time to play around with both limit screws and get a feel for how they operate?

And don't panic. It's doubtful you've done anything that can't be reversed.

If I'm reading this correctly your FD is sprung to move out (to the big chainring) when the cable is slackened. This is opposite of most bikes but the basic principles are the same.

Shift the lever to position which corresponds to the slack cable gear. Improvise a way to force the derailleur against the spring about halfway to the next gear, or whatever you need (trial and error for now) so you can connect the wire without pulling out all the slack. When I do Campagnolo fronts, I jam a Bic pen into the pantograph and it's exactly what I need for a perfect setting, but you might want to have a friend use a tire lever to gently move the cage over, levering against the outer ring.

With the FD moved against the spring, you can attach the wire, and when you let go of the cage, it should spring back pulling out the slack.

Thanks for the help guys. Actually, my engineer roommate came back and saw me going insane over the bike. It's crazy, he owns a motorcycle and likes to work on cars, but he somehow reverse engineered that dang derailleur and fixed the problem. It took hours for him to figure out how it worked from the ground up, but in the end, it ran better than it did before. I was pretty amazed with his ingenuity and so very relieved.

The front mech- the last hiding place of the bicycle mechanic.

For future reference, these guides are helpful for fitting and setting up a front mech
https://www.madegood.org/bikes/librar...ront-derailer/
https://www.madegood.org/bikes/librar...ront-derailer/

I got mad FD skillz, yo.

Align outer plate with rings, a couple mil above the big one, set limit screws.

Start scratching head if it don't work.