Repacked rear hubs and deraileur

[daver]

I just repacked my rear hubs and got everything back together only to find out that now I cannot shift into my two high gears. The derailleur seems to be two sprockets out of alignment. Any ideas what I did wrong?

[Terry]

I would check the following:
1 ) Disconnect the derailleur cable and make sure the barrel adjusters are loose.
2 ) The rear derailleur should naturally come to your highest rear gear (smallest cog).
3) Make the adjustment of the H limit screw to bring the jockey wheels in vertical alignment with the highest rear gear (smallest cog).
4) This is important - Make sure your rear shifter is in the highest gear position.
5 ) Reconnect the rear derailleur cable and start shifting toward your lowest rear gear (largest cog).
6 ) Make small adjustments to the barrel adjuster for any gears that do not shift easily.
7 ) Once in the lowest rear gear (large cog) check the L limit screw to make sure the jockey wheels are in vertical alignment with the lowest rear gear (large cog).
8 ) Shift back toward your highest rear gear (smallest cog) and continue to make small adjustments to your barrel adjuster.

[spymaster]

If it's the same bike you're putting the wheel back on, and that you have not made any adjustments to the rear derailleur or loosened the cable, then the derailleur cage alignment should not have changed (and so drastically) after you repack your hub.
If you did loosen the derailleur cable for whatever reason while your wheel was off the bike, Terry's advice should help.
If the hub repack is the only thing you did, then I'd double check that I had used the right sized bearings, and kept the same set of spacers that go on both sides of the axle. True, these are things that are so obvious but I can't think of anything else that can affect the spacing so much. If it's a freewheel you're using, is it screwed all the way onto the hub?

[DaveM]

Yeah, unless you messed with the derailleur, seems likely you got the axle spacers back on wrong. If so, your wheel would also probably not center in the frame properly.

[daver]

Thanks for the tips. I took it apart and realized I had moved the drive side nuts when I tore it apart the first time. I moved it back to its original spot on the axle and all is good now.
Thanks