Campy Triomphe derailleur pulley question
 

I just got done cleaning and regreasing the pulleys on the Campy Triomphe derailleur I got not too long ago and when i put them back one only one of them spins freely when tightened down. The only way I can get the other one to spin freely is to leave the nut a little loose: is this how Campy intended the pulleys to be installed with the nuts not tightened down fully? The only way to get this to work withouot risking the nut falling off would be to carefully clean the threads of the little pivot bolts and put some Locktite on the threads and hope that holds the nut on permanently. The pulleys seemed to spin fine when I got the derailleur, but since I got it used on eBay I decided it would be a good idea to service it anyway.

I tried swapping out the various parts of the two pulleys as well as the pulleys themselves and still I get the same result. It's as if one of the pulley's metal bushing is too short and it's not making contact with the outer plates when its nut is tightened down. In that case i would say the pulley is bad. Still I wonder why it seemed fine to me before I messed with it.

If I do need to change the pulley can I replace it with a Shimano or other brand of pulley? Just looking at replacement Campy pulleys they all seem to be nine or ten speed pulleys (but still ten tooth) instead of six or seven speed like I need, not that that makes a difference. These are fairly pricey for what they are in my opinion, but I guess that's Campy for you.

Both pulleys should turn freely when securely mounted in the cage. If it won't turn freely, it should be replaced. A Shimano pulley ought to work fine.

That's what I thought, too. Thanks for taking time to answer my questions.

Why do pulleys sets nowadays have a different upper and lower pulley whereas on older derailleurs like this used the same pulleys for upper and lower? I've read posts on this and apparently the upper pulley is supposed to be a "guide pulley". I'm thinking Shimano might have started this trend possibly when they introduced SIS: I have an older Shimano 600 pre-SIS derailleur and it has matching pulleys, and then I have a 600 "tri-color" derailleur that has the two different pulleys on it. Can the older derailleurs like my Campy one use the newer style pulley sets that have the dedicated guide pulley, and if so is there a benefit in using them?

When replacing pullies, it's important that the overall width of each assembled pulley be very close to the same, since the mounting plates are effectively flat.

Someone put the wrong bushing in one of the OP's pulleys, but a suitably-thin washer (of slightly smaller OD) added to the end of the bushing might correct that at lowest cost.

Having both pulley bolts good and tight is a matter of safety in my experience.

Upper pulleys for indexed shifting have some side to side float to allow for small misalignments in indexing. Friction you just adjusted the lever to trim out any noise/misalignment.

I replaced both pulleys with a set of pulleys off of an old pre-SIS Shimano 600 derailleur and they both spin, although the bottom one not quite as freely (by a small margin) as the top one. This leads me to wonder whether the inner plate could be bent somehow. Having said that the bottom Campy pulley was clamped solidly when it was still on the derailleur and both nuts were tightened down.

I took the bike out for a rider last night and every once in a while - usually in 5th gear - the chain jumps ahead on the cog of the freewheel. I don't know if this is from having the Shimano pulleys on the derailleur or whether I have a bad cog on the freewheel (I need to study it carefully). The freewheel is a Sachs freewheel. The chain is a new Sedisport chain, and like I do on all chains I install after I pressed the pin back into the plate with the chaintool I made sure the chain link rotates on that pin so the chain works as it should. My guess is it's the freewheel or the Shimano pulleys not working with the Campy derailleur.

I may put the Campy pulleys back on with a thin washer as mentioned above.

Tight Bottom Pulley
 

:thumb: "Someone put the wrong bushing in one of the OP's pulleys"

I'd check that carefully. Also, how tight is tight? Pulley screws are 6mm or 7mm diameter and don't require a lot of torque.

I'm assuming it's the bottom pulley that is tight. I'd carefully inspect all the screw holes in the cage to make sure there are no dings or burrs.

I've seen where a plastic pulley body gets clamped between the cage plates.

I'm still leaning towards a short bushing or the wrong pulley dust shields. It only takes one thick one to apply excess force.

I remove, inspect, clean and grease the pulleys every time I install or work on a RD so I've seen some tight pulleys from time to time. I pack the pulleys with Phil grease before reassembly. It lasts for a few months of use plus keeps grit and water out.

As mentioned above, the top pulleys on most indexing derailleurs have some side to side float. It aids in shifting because the float allows the chain to self center on the sprockets.

One other thing that I thought of, don't torque down one pulley then other. That can make the cage plates to be out of alignment. Tighten one screw lightly then the other before torquing them down.

verktyg :50: