Rear derailleurs position and wheel's spokes

[rockyraccoon]

[attachment=1432]Hi everyone,

I am new here and have to say some thread/replies have been very helpful.

I have been trying to adjust the rear derailleurs on my bike. It is a Shimano RD-TY18 and shifters.

Basically when the chain is on the largest cassette the derailleur pulley touches the wheel's spokes. The rear derailleur is connected to the frame (rear dropout).

I have managed to find a position where the pulley does not touch the wheel spokes and all the gears are able to be changed smoothly up and down.

I'd like to know if this is a correct/acceptable position and also if it is safe to leave it like that since it is the only one that works. I have highlighted the position of the rear derailleur in relation to the dropout. See images.

Thanks in advance

[trevgbb]

your RD is incorrectly fitted, you need to slacken off the retaining screw and pull the arm back so that the stop on the RD arm sits behind the stop on the drop out, as seen in your RH pic.
Then retighten and reset the inner limit screw on the RD so that it does not contact the spokes.
But, the drop out may be slightly bent, hard to be sure from your pic, if it is, you can straighten it if you are careful, remove the RD completely and see the video here.
http://bikeride.com/derailleur-hanger-alignment/
but this is rather complicated for a simple bend, you can usually do it using an adjustable spanner to grip the drop out and tweaking it slowly until you have it aligned by eye, refit and try out.

[rockyraccoon]

Hi, thanks!

There was a slightly bent on the drop out (part of the frame) which I managed very very careful to straight it, making it parallel to the cassette.

Now the stop on the RD arm sits perfectly behind the stop on the drop out and the derailleur pulley does not touch the wheel's spokes when the chain is on the largest cassette (RD) and on the smallest (FD). However the derailleur pulley is still very close to the wheel's spokes which I think it is ok since it does not touch them, right?

I though the slightly bent was characteristic of the drop out frame and not a fault.

Thank you very much trevgbb for your help!

[AndrewB]

The hangars, connecting the frame to the RD, are meant to be somewhat pliable. Such that if you fall over on that side of the bike, the RD, upon hitting the ground, won't cause frame stress. The hangar will absorb it. Unfortunately, you need to probably replace it at that time, and/or use a derailleur hangar alignment tool to bend it back into place.

I've never heard what the official align vs replace advice is though.