Barrel Adjuster

[dhoyt]

Hi All!!! New to the forums and I have a quick question.

I inherited this bike and was in the process of straightening out the front derailleur and I totally messed up the whole thing. I think my main problem is the barrel adjuster, it really does not seem like it is doing its job. It wont really stay in place. Any info will help and I will put up a picture when I get home later.

Thanks!

[GeorgeET]

Ye its not unusual to mess up the first time. The barrel adjuster is the last thing you do to fine tune shifting . Disconnect cable at derailleur set your hi and low stops turn adjuster clockwise to get the longest cable reattach to derailleur with a wee bit slack than tighten adjuster by turning counter clockwise till shifting well. If its not going down cable is too tight and VS.

You do not say what your problem is.

Check video on this site in repair guide for setup info.

[dhoyt]

See the problem is that I disconnected everything and now I dont know what right is. It started with a chain rub, so I messed with the high/low screws not knowing what I was doing and just made matters worse. So, I went to adjust the derailer position, I might as well learn it all at once and now i cant seem to either grasp the concept or something is off. I will post some pics tomorrow because the bike is at my parents house. Thanks for the info!

[GeorgeET]

Oh. its a fubar. Like I said some very good videos on this site . Check them out , get familiar with how things work. You can ask better questions than.

[Bill]

Yea the pics will be of a much help!

[dhoyt]

So, my back up bike ( my old bike) which didn't have any issues when i put it away seems to have the same problem. Not enough, tension on the cable for the derailer. So that is where my problem lies on both bikes. Hopefully there is a tutorial on that here.

I think that I might have messed up the housing after watching the tutorial on how to change your shifter cables and now I dont know what the right way is?

[dhoyt]

This is the bike.

[dhoyt]

So, I used brake housing instead of cable housing and that was my downfall. Going to get new cable and start from the beginning.

Will using brake cable affect the tension of the cable? If so that is my problem.

I want to make sure that the derailer is position correctly so heres so pics.

[Bill]

Ouch yes indeed getting new right size cables will be of great help!

[dhoyt]

I replaced the cable! Now the tension is too tight and I can't get the derailler to shift into any gears?
The cable that I bought from wal-mart the cable and the housing is all brake housing and no gear housing, would that cause to much tension in the housing?
Any info?

[GeorgeET]

Looks like a nice bike. Stop flaying around. Isolate the problem. First disconnect the cable from deraileur and see if the lever moves the cable freely.

Than check what I said above and also look at Alexes videos make sure the derailleur moves freely by hand and reattach cable with chain on sprockets(F/B) closest to frame with a little bit of slack . Sounds like your cable is too tight.Than adjust with barrel. Start with barrel screwed in all the way.

[dhoyt]

Thanks George!! i was flaying around. I tried all of your suggestions and I have the derailler moving to the second sprocket when the you put the shifter to the 3rd gear. So now my problem is the cable being to loose.

The main problem is that I don't think the derailler is positioned right? It should move freely out over the last sprocket right?

Ill post a video to actually show you guys so you can diagnosis because I dont know where to start!!

Thanks for all the help!!

Dustin

[GeorgeET]

Glad you are making progress. Ye one needs to isolate the problem in troubleshooting the system, not try fixing everything at once. Its SOP.

Did you start the adjustments with the shifter and chain in the lowest position?

As far as the cable being too loose , now its time to screw out the cable barrel to tighten the cable, thats where the tuning comes in. You can put the bike upside down have a friend turn the crank while you tighten the barrel turn at a time and try shifting. Make sure your outer stop is not binding.

You can also hang the bicycle with ropes from garage rafters or three branch and try fine tuning the cable.


As far as derailer setting its no biggie , it needs to be inline with the large sprocket as seen from back and above and about 1/8 of above and 1/8 of an inch outer gap to the chain. Its not super critical, put away your micrometer.

[dhoyt]

Do you start with the limit screws screws in all the way as well?

[GeorgeET]

NO , the limit screws are set to allow derailer travel to low and high position with about 1/8 inch extra gap on the inside (small sprocket) and than on the outside (large sprocket) between the chain and the derailer arm.

All the limit screws do is limit side to side movement, with 1/8 inch extra clearance allowed.

[dhoyt]

Im back at it again. I managed to get the cables and the derailleur hung right, but it still does not want to shift the the high cog no matter how much tension on the cable.

Any suggestions?