[kyle coxon]

We've been having problems with R. derailleur breakage on both a Stinky & Stab, after some reasonable drops. We've gone thru a Deore ( bike was 1 week old), LX (bike was 3 weeks old) now an XTR on the Stab. Is there something wrong with our setup that would cause derailleur to extend & shift in so far to go into the spokes? The landings aren't unusally hard

 

[konabiker]

We've been having problems with R. derailleur breakage on both a Stinky & Stab, after some reasonable drops. We've gone thru a Deore ( bike was 1 week old), LX (bike was 3 weeks old) now an XTR on the Stab. Is there something wrong with our setup that would cause derailleur to extend & shift in so far to go into the spokes? The landings aren't unusally hard

maybe you need to check the hanger?

 

[BJ-]

i dont know...seems as i dont ride or have a stinky...stab etc.

but my 2 mates who live just up the road both destroyed there XT derailuers after 2-3 weeks...dunno how they did it but one of em pulled it through his spokes and royally fu>ed up his wheel and the derailuer...the other did summin to his...

but would it have anyting to do with the rear drop out...is it stuffed... ...coz it could be bending under pressure and allowing the derailuer to pull its way into the spokes...a mate of mine did this a couple of time and then got an X9 and the problem stopped...dunno why dunno how...

 

[WEBERTIME]

Check the Chain length...

As the swingarm moves through it's travel the chain length stretches a bit. If the chain length is set without taking this into account the rear derailleur/dropout are the weak links in the "chain" so to speak, when the chain get's pulled to hard/far the they will fail (twist, bend, snap, pulled into wheel)
done it, seen it, it sucks

 

[binary visions]

I would agree with checking the chain length. I had a friend who used to rip off his derailleurs left and right doing slow speed drops. Kept telling him his chain was too short, and finally after about the 4th derailleur, he added a couple links to his chain. Fixed the problem.

Unfortunately, derailleurs break so there may be nothing you can do but keep buying cheap derailleurs and accept that they occasionally break. Check your chain length, add a link or two, and make sure your derailleur hangar is straight. If all that checks out, suck it up and buy a spare derailleur because they're going to break...

 

[chuffer]

the first thing to do is....

...adjust the upper stop properly. if the upper stop is properly adjusted, the rear-der. should 'never' find its way into the wheel or spokes even if the hanger is bent. if you dont what i'm talking about, go to www.shimano.com and find the instructions for any rear-der....basic stuff here fellas.

 

[robsetsfire]

We've been having problems with R. derailleur breakage on both a Stinky & Stab, after some reasonable drops. We've gone thru a Deore ( bike was 1 week old), LX (bike was 3 weeks old) now an XTR on the Stab. Is there something wrong with our setup that would cause derailleur to extend & shift in so far to go into the spokes? The landings aren't unusally hard

I haven't seen anyone post this problem in a long time. My roommate had the same thing happen to him on a Stinky (2001.5). He would land a drop and suck the derrailler into the spokes wrecking the derrailler and the hanger and doing some damage to the wheel.

I don't think we every solved the problem, although I can tell you that it was not the chain length, since we mocked up a piece of wood in the compressed length of the shock and setup the chain with that.

We were kinda down to one of two things. The rear cable may have been getting hungup somewhere when the bike compressed a lot and when it extended it would pull the cable way passed where the shifter would. But a properly setup derrailler stop should have prevented this. We also had another scenario where the chain would whip up and on landing either pull the derrailler off the hanger or bind it up on the cassette so that when the cranks turned the derrailer would rip off and find the wheel. (I don't know if that is very clear).

This problem appearently happens, but it was kinda infrequent since he would land some drops without issue. He did go through 2 or 3 deraillers...

Good luck though. You may try searching the archives. I had the same user name, and I think his was traxxas.

 

[binary visions]

...adjust the upper stop properly. if the upper stop is properly adjusted, the rear-der. should 'never' find its way into the wheel or spokes even if the hanger is bent. if you dont what i'm talking about, go to www.shimano.com and find the instructions for any rear-der....basic stuff here fellas.

Even a perfectly adjusted derailleur will find its way into the rear wheel. All it takes is a slightly bent cage or hangar, a too-short chain, or to whack the derailleur on a rock and suddenly it's not so perfect anymore.

It's true, you should make sure you're stops are set properly, but that's usually the one part of derailleur adjustments that even newbies can figure out. The fact that he's losing them after drops and such instead of shifting indicates to me that it's not a problem with his stops. Otherwise, he'd notice the chain jumping off the biggest cog into the spokes when he shifted into low gear.

 

[chuffer]

The fact that he's losing them after drops and such instead of shifting indicates to me that it's not a problem with his stops. Otherwise, he'd notice the chain jumping off the biggest cog into the spokes when he shifted into low gear.

Is there something wrong with our setup that would cause derailleur to extend & shift in so far to go into the spokes? The landings aren't unusally hard

after reading the above two sentences from kyle, specfically the part i highlighted, it seemed that his problem prolly was a poorly adjusted stop.

however, it seems that he is saying that it happens during landing drop offs...in which case the chain being too short is a likely suspect. it still wouldnt hurt to check the stops. it takes what all of ten whole seconds?

robsetdfire: strange.