Good morning all! Finding exploded views for rear derailleur and shifters is easy. Can't find the front derailleur. Anyone have experience changing out the front derailleur spring? Haven't found anything anywhere about it- disassembly wise. Is it as simple as unhooking the spring and sliding out the retaining bolt? I'm quite good mechanically, just want to be sure. It is one tough spring.

Thanx, Xeta

Does this help?

Coincidentally I was looking at my SR and NR FD's last week wondering about the same thing. As you said, it looks like it is just a matter of unsaddling the tip of the spring from one of the pivot bolt ends and unbolting (there might be a circlip involved, IIRC) the pivots off the body to take off the cage and pivot arm assembly and get to the spring. The thought of the spring's toughness also scares me, as I remember on other FD's those things can be a bear to handle, even with their small size.

Thank you! I also want to replace the bolt and wanted to make sure of the part number. Couldn't find this in my searches :0 I'm tempted to buy a badly worn and cheap one from ebay to practice on. The one I have is in excellent condition except for the rusty spring and bolt.

Scares me too. You would think there would be a youtube video about this after all this time. When/if I try this I'll film it... D'Ohhh!

I have one of those springs. NOS. As well as the bolt, #788 , also new old stock. As for the little nut, # 217, probably not.
I also have the lower arm, #782 . As well as the upper arm. 778.
Shoot me a PM, Xetaprime, if interested. p.s. Yes...these can be real tricky to disassemble, and mostly, re-assemble.
Wear protective gear! ;>

I'm sitting here drinking my second morning coffee with a Novo and Super Record which I've done that with sitting on the desk, and I'm still smiling. On one, I replaced the cage and pivot arm too and the top circlip has to be removed for that. The main spring is a PITA to exchange because it is so strong but Rootboy is correct; careful with those fingers

What's wrong with it? Why do you need to replace those parts?

I believe he mentioned they were rusty.
BUT, he didn't take me up on my offer of NOS parts to replace the originals,so if anybody else needs them,
send me a PM.

The spring and bolt head show rust and some corrosion. Truth is the derailleur is quite nice, but was wondering how hard replacement would be. I decided to purchase a NOS FD and sell the one I have to offset the cost. My NR RD and shifters though not purchased as NOS, look new and wanted to match.

I've had pretty good results soaking derailleurs in evaporust. Doesn't seem to harm aluminium or paint.

Good evening all! Okay, I decided to mess with the derailleur just because. I'd already ordered another so at least I knew that was coming. Sadly I didn't think about pictures until it was already apart but took some as it went back together.

Let me start by saying I feel the difficulty factor is around 3-4-5 It came apart quite easily and to my surprise there was no danger of the spring shooting out, bouncing off the wall and piercing through my glasses and into my eye. I will attempt to explain what I did. This way you can replace the spring or the cage/arm assembly. But leave the circ clip on until spring is out- helps hold arm in place.

1. Remove the adjustment screws.
2. Take the spring off it's rest, so it is now leaning against the cage. I used a small screwdriver. And you might want to use some tape to protect the aluminum in case you slip.
3. You can now swing the cage farther out with little effort.
4. Unscrew cage bolt nut.
5. There is still pressure so I had to tap the bolt out. To my surprise though nothing shot across the room, hit the wall and bounced back into my eye! It just came apart. Cool.
6. You can now remove the spring or circ clip.
7. Tricky parts- when putting the spring back on, set the large end of spring against top of cage and small part against the bottom as it was before. But what happens is, the little end wants to go through the opening in the back cage and at the same time the pivot arm want to move outward. The small end of spring of course must be against the cage. And If you get the spring on right but the arm isn't all the way in, you have to start over. The pressure will not let you move it in.
8. With spring in position and arm on snug, press it together, aligning the holes until you can push the bolt back in. Reattach nut.
9. Pry spring back into position.

Pictures are from apart to back together.
At least I now know it's not too difficult. It is a tough spring but with the arms outward, there is not much tension. My biggest problem was when I knocked one of the adjustment screws on the floor. I picked it up and realized it's spring was missing. Thank God I hadn't stepped on it or lost it... anyway...