gearbasher

I have a few NR/SR rear derailleur pulleys that are in great shape, but have the typical split down one side. Has anyone ever tried repairing them? If not, what do you guys use as an inexpensive replacement? Thanks.

miamijim

Can't be fixed.

I use standard Shimano TY-series as replacements.

b dub 

If you don't replace them, what happens?

Chombi

I was thinking the same with the split jockey wheels on my 1st gen NR RD lately, but after I examined the split pulleys closely, I decided that there is no way to close up the crack as it looks like that the plastic had actually shrunk that if you can even glue it back together, it will most likely crack again at the same spot or a different part of the jockey wheel.
Genuine campagnolo Replacements costs way to much out there at sometimes over 40 bucks EACH. Fortunately, my LBS had nicely made repros supposedly machined up by the owner's friend and I bought a set of 2 this weekend for 30 bucks. They look pretty good, actually. Still a bit expensive for what they are, but at least they are not cracked and maybe the more modern plastic material will last longer than the genuine Campy crackmaster jockey wheels..... I'll post a pic of them tomorrow evening when I get back home from my project site visit.

Chombi

Rabid Koala

I replaced a pair with aluminum pulleys on one of the bikes I used to own, and then wondered why it seemed to shift better than my other Nuovo Record bikes. It must have been the pulleys.

rootboy 

Very interesting Chombi. Machining them out of plastic? Looking forward to seeing those. I've been tempted by the SOMA Fab alloy ones, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

mainstreetexile 

I had a NR rear derailleur with a set of bullseye pulleys on a bike for a while, seemed to work very well:



Sealed bearings, should last for a while. I believe these were a common upgrade on NR derailleurs, you can still find NOS ones on ebay here and there.

rootboy 

Those are nice too. The black ones go for almost as much as NR pulleys on ebay. One other option is to find a donor derailleur and naturalize its pulleys. I've used some from an old Valentino. Not as fancy as the Record ones but they work.

CrankyFranky

I've had mine on my NR for over 30 years! The aluminum teeth are now just points, but THEY STILL WORK!

gearbasher

I was thinking of just filling in the crack with epoxy or JB Marine weld and not trying to actually close the crack. Has anyone tried that?

Drillium Dude 

That would work to close the crack, but the gap would still be there - as in, it will throw off the spacing between the teeth. Chain run will be affected. No solution, unfortunately, other than new pulleys.

DD

dddd

b dub asked the critical question: "If you don't replace them, what happens?"

The answer is, nothing. The pulley remains strong.

The cracked pullies last for the life of the teeth, and the tooth-spacing issue resolves itself via normal wear, and to a large extent that bit of needed tooth "clearancing" has already occurred from normal wear when a crack appears.

The pulleys seem to crack from shrinkage, and once cracked the stress is removed.

These are much better than the Simplex pulleys that crack because those crack in such a way as to lose several teeth at a time.

I like Huret pullies with teeth, the ball-bearing ones with adjusting cones. The teeth never break and the hole size allows them to be fitted to Suntour derailers.
They will run much smoother than stock with the addition of normal grade25 ball bearings, 1/8" I believe.

Has anyone seen a Campag pulley actually break?

Michael Angelo 

I've used "Cynergy" sealed pulleys, "Bullseye" sealed pulleys. Both work fine, but you have to lift up the plastic dust cover and repack them. They've been sitting around for almost 30+ years and the grease in them is petrified.

Chombi

For me personally, I'll never feel comfortable about riding a bike with cracked RD jockey wheels of any kind lest it asplodes and possibly jam up the chain in the RD and cause the RD to get wrenched or bent up into the spokes.......guys who ride such cracked jockey wheels might call me paranoid, but at least I don't have it in the back of my mind when i ride.
BTW, I also noticed that the cracked jockey wheel on my NR RD has other small cracks forming at other parts of the wheels in addition to the one big split that's already on them, so it's really a progressive thing that happens with the Campy Jockey wheels and not just one big split.

Chombi

Michael Angelo 

I'm afraid that they will crack in half.

Grand Bois

I haven't had trouble with Campy, but I've replaced my Simplexes with Bullseyes. I won't recommend them, since I checked eBay to see what they're going for these days. The vintage bike hobby is becoming too expensive for me.

dddd

There ane now some Chinese, alloy, 10 tooth ball-bearing pulleys being sold for reasonable price on Ebay.
Available in several colors.

I bought a couple of different versions of these, and no problems, but on one I had to drill out the metal covers from 5mm to 6mm.
At least the inner bearing race had the right diameter hole already.

gaucho777 

I love Bullseye pulleys, though they are quite expensive. I tried some of the less expensive drilled & anodized alloy pulleys from Taiwan, but I found them a bit loud.

dddd

I've had a few different brands make noise when new, but all broke in over time.

Have you checked your derailer hanger alignment? The lower pully often makes a lot of noise (usually when using the big ring) on bikes with even a mildly bent hanger, and new metal pulleys could make it very loud.

MKahrl

I agree with dddd; I lived in fear that my cracked pulleys would break completely but I was also intrigued to see if they would. This lasted for decades.

753proguy

The SOMA ones are CNC machined from plastic, but have sleeve bearings like the original Campagnolo pulleys. And retail for about $30/set. They are black. Probably what he's talking about, if I had to guess from here....

Chombi

Here's comparo pics between the machined (CNC'd, according to the shop owner) repros I got from my LBS this weekened to replace the badly cracked originals on my 1st gen NR RD, and the Genuine jockey wheels that's on my pat.83 NR RD:

Pat. 83 NR RD with original jockey wheels.

Pat.-72 1st gen NR RD with the CNC'd black plastic jockey wheels.

Repro

Genuine. See that thin black line on it, going from center and right to the edge of a tooth? It's not a crack!


The obvious differences are, the larger diameter dust caps on the repros, the absence of a groove on the repro bronze bearing bushing (the 1st gen NR bushing did not have grooves either.), and the deeper teeth on the repros. The reproe also seem to be just a smidgen thicker than the genuine campy jockey wheels too. The tooth profiles are also a bit different with the repros reminding me of what Simplex jockey wheel teeth look like.
One interesting thing I just noticed too is the genuine wheels have a dark line at the same spot on the wheels which seems to match the location of the crack on the bad ones from the 1st gen RD. I think it could be a sort of moulding seam where the injected plastic material meets up in the mold during injection. Could this be a built in weak spot on the jockey wheel where that big crack appears all the time??
I won't know how well the repros will work till I get my project bike on the road. but I think it should be OK as the wheels look very well made and there is no excess slop on the bearings.
BTW, I was going to use the original 1st gen cracked jockey wheels for the pictorial comparison, but dang! I think I might have thrown it away! Whydiedoodat?!

Chombi

repechage

Those machined pulleys appear like Soma Fabrications units, alas a quick review of their site just now shows no longer listed as a product.

gearbasher

Are these the ones you use?
https://www.amazon.com/Shimano-Derail...048045-7406858

rootboy 

WHA!? Dang, shouldn't have hesitated in ordering some. But then, if they've stopped offering them ...I wonder if they had problems with them cracking?

You know, I thought I read somewhere someone was making after market Campy copies in alloy and I had assumed it was Soma Fab. Guess not.