[nick53nick]

I am replacing worn out pulleys in my rear der.
How much tension should I tighten the pulleys down with?

It seems like when I snug up the bolts the new pulleys dont sping freely enough--could I be overtightening? Then again I dont want them to fly off either!

Thanks

 

[Kerry Irons]

Not understanding

How much tension should I tighten the pulleys down with? It seems like when I snug up the bolts the new pulleys dont spin freely enough--could I be overtightening?

The spin of the pulleys should be pretty independent of the torque you put on the bolts, within reason. It sounds like you might not be putting things together right. You want to snug the bolts well, because having one come undone is a bad problem when you're riding.

Questions: Do the pulleys have adjustable bearings, and have you adjusted them properly? Are these aftermarket pulleys, or are they specific replacements for the brand/model of your derailleur? If they are bushings rather than bearings, could it be that the dust caps are bent, causing drag? Have you lubed the pulleys?

 

[bigbill]

Yup, you need to supply more info. KI is right, how the pulleys spin should be independent of how tight the cage bolts are. What kind of derailleur is it, are you replacing with stock replacements? I take my RD cage apart every three months or so to get the red dirt gunk out of them, but I can torque on my bolts until I am dizzy and they will still spin the same.

 

[wim]

No free spin.

Perhaps you're looking for something that isn't there? When you flick a derailleur pulley with your finger, it will not even complete one revolution before it comes to a stop. It's just too light to do any spinning by itself. All you can do is test for excessive bearing drag by lightly setting it in motion with your finger. It should feel like pushing a feather across a table, sort of.

 

[wim]

Mine don't. Dura-Ace 10.

 

[bigbill]

Perhaps you're looking for something that isn't there? When you flick a derailleur pulley with your finger, it will not even complete one revolution before it comes to a stop. It's just too light to do any spinning by itself. All you can do is test for excessive bearing drag by lightly setting it in motion with your finger. It should feel like pushing a feather across a table, sort of.

Mine spin. Chorus 9.

 

[mtpisgah]

Top and bottom pulleys are different

Check to make sure you have the pulleys in the correct position. I haven't replaced pulleys on a road bike but I have on a mtb and the top and bottom pulleys are slightly different and that could be the problem.

 

[Tom Kunich]

Not understanding



The spin of the pulleys should be pretty independent of the torque you put on the bolts, within reason. It sounds like you might not be putting things together right. You want to snug the bolts well, because having one come undone is a bad problem when you're riding.

Questions: Do the pulleys have adjustable bearings, and have you adjusted them properly? Are these aftermarket pulleys, or are they specific replacements for the brand/model of your derailleur? If they are bushings rather than bearings, could it be that the dust caps are bent, causing drag? Have you lubed the pulleys?

Shimano and Campagnolo pulleys are different widths so he might have gotten the wrong width. Buying the "ceramc" pulleys has a different spacing mechanism so it wouldn't matter. Also it is easy for people to accidently reverse the outer derailleur arm which has the effect of making them overtighten I did that several time before getting it correct.

 

[.je]

Like #7 says, the pulleys have different widths, so if you switch them around, one of them is hard to turn.

 

[cxwrench]

Good thing this incredibly important thread got resurrected after lying comatose for a mere 15 years.

 

[No Time Toulouse]

Good thing this incredibly important thread got resurrected after lying comatose for a mere 15 years.

It seems that Tom Kunich is our new Dredgemaster General.....

 

[Lombard]

I predict a firestorm.

 

[bvber]

I wonder if he is lonely. Covid lock down and etc...

 

[Tom Kunich]

I wonder if he is lonely. Covid lock down and etc...

I wonder if you think that Road Bike Review should delete those postings or if they are relevant to many new members? Since commenting on postings that are still there seems to bother you so much why don't you advise Road Bike Review how to run their site?

 

[No Time Toulouse]

Did they just put a chromebook in the day room today?

 

[Tom Kunich]

Did they just put a chromebook in the day room today?

So you don't have an answer to my question either so are reduce to muttering nonsense.

 

[ogre]

I wonder if you think that Road Bike Review should delete those postings or if they are relevant to many new members? Since commenting on postings that are still there seems to bother you so much why don't you advise Road Bike Review how to run their site?

Relax Tom. Users have always found it humorous when someone picks up a ten year old conversation without missing a beat. Also known as dredging to non-yachtfolks. And you’ve dredged a bunch in the last day.
If you want to put up a force field to deflect then just begin your post with “I know this is an old thread......”

 

[Tom Kunich]

Relax Tom. Users have always found it humorous when someone picks up a ten year old conversation without missing a beat. Also known as dredging to non-yachtfolks. And you’ve dredged a bunch in the last day.
If you want to put up a force field to deflect then just begin your post with “I know this is an old thread......”

Thanks for the suggestion. 11 years ago a carbon fork broke and dumped me directly on my face giving me a concussion that destroyed my interaction with the world for two years before a friend of mine got me to an actually competent neurologist at Stanford. I was just on the edge of dying since my memory was so bad that I was not even remembering to eat. From 210 my weight was down to 142. Seizures were occurring about every 30 minutes but since I was living alone no one knew it. Good thing my NCIS friend took me to a club dinner and his wife, a nurse, saw me have a couple of seizures while I was there. The neurologist took about 10 months to balance my medication and bring me back to life. When I came to, as it were, it was an entirely different world. I hope none of you ever have to go through that. Most neurologists only treat various forms of dementia so they forget how to treat concussion. The professor of neurology at Stanford sees concussion cases from the football team enough to be treating them all the time and he had seldom seen a case anywhere near as bad as mine.

 

[Lombard]

Thanks for the suggestion. 11 years ago a carbon fork broke and dumped me directly on my face giving me a concussion that destroyed my interaction with the world for two years before a friend of mine got me to an actually competent neurologist at Stanford. I was just on the edge of dying since my memory was so bad that I was not even remembering to eat. From 210 my weight was down to 142. Seizures were occurring about every 30 minutes but since I was living alone no one knew it. Good thing my NCIS friend took me to a club dinner and his wife, a nurse, saw me have a couple of seizures while I was there. The neurologist took about 10 months to balance my medication and bring me back to life. When I came to, as it were, it was an entirely different world. I hope none of you ever have to go through that. Most neurologists only treat various forms of dementia so they forget how to treat concussion. The professor of neurology at Stanford sees concussion cases from the football team enough to be treating them all the time and he had seldom seen a case anywhere near as bad as mine.

OUCH! Sorry to hear about this. Sounds like some scary sh!t.