Admittedly, I made a fools mistake when taking apart and cleaning my darlings bike in regards to the dérailleur and chain. I haven't had the need to take 'em apart for a long long time.

I didn't take note of how the chain ran through the dérailleur or even how the dérailleur sat normally and now i can't make heads or tales of how I need to position it. here's how it is now;



I apologize for my stupid question and thank you considerably for your help in advance!

Pull the wheel that's into the freewheel away from it, and hold onto it. The chain will come back from the bottom of the chainring, around the bottom of the wheel you are holding, the opposite way around the bottom of the other wheel on the derailleur, and then around the bottom of a freewheel cog.

I apologize for being so dumb but could you make your reply a little more clear. I wrote down it and looked at the chain and dérailleur for about 45 minutes trying each way I could think of to get this show on the road and I just couldn't. Thanks again!

1. Grab the end of the derailleur that is touching the freewheel, and pull it against he force of the spring until it is pointing the other direction.

2. While holding it, in the position shown in your picture, imagine the chain coming from the bottom of the chainring (where the pedals are), and wrapping clockwise around the derailleur wheel you are holding, then counter-clockwise around the other derailleur wheel, and then clockwise around the bottom of the freewheel cogs, and back around the chainring. That's the way the chain should go.

Here's a picture that might help. It isn't an Allvit, and is sprung a little differently, but once you pull the derailleur against the spring, the parts should be in the same relative position.



Here's a picture with an Allvit:

Here is a photo of my trusty but rusty Alvit. It will be going in oxalic acid shortly.

It looks like you have the bike up side down in the photo. That can make it more confusing. I was away from bikeing for a lot of years and had the same problem the 1st time back. I went to the local bike shop , the owner showed me one time and I have been ok ever since. I was luckey the shop was classic friendly and Frank Zappa was plaing on the shop stereo( Joes Garage I think). I knew I was in the right place before I even spoke to any one and its still my lbs 3 years later.

You also have to spin the entire cage counterclockwise (as you're facing the bike) for that tab to catch on the return tension spring. In fact there are 2 tabs on the allvit to catch the spring; sort of a tension adjustment if you will.

Thank you everyone for the help, I really appreciated it. Thank you trhouse and USAZorro for the photos, they helped immensely and from looking at those examples I was able to put it back together.

What had happened was that the spring on actually makes the derailing action got knocked back, once I noticed that the rest was gravy. Thanks again!