Rear Derailleur adjuster barrel..Is it required ?

[atulkunte69]

Hi all

I have got a Giant bike from mid 80's. Rear derailleur is Harnet. The adjuster barrel is totally seized up, tried it giving a few WD40 baths, nothing working.
Now the question is :
Is the RD cable barrel adjuster really required as I am having downtube shifters so I can accurately adjust the RD at a position where it runs without any clicks or dongs.....Still confused about it.

[Painkiller]

yes ,I would want to try to do something about that, give us some pics of your derailluer and the cable routing/bosses up to the shifters. so we can better guide you

[DaveM]

If you have friction shifters (they do not click/lock directly into a gear position) then no, you do not need the adjuster barrel. If you have "index" shifting (where the shifter locks into a single position for each gear setting then it is tricky (though not impossible) to get the shifting adjusted right without a barrel adjuster.

[bobtravers]

Have you tried heating it, then unscrew??

[atulkunte69]

(11-04-2012, 05:53 PM)bobtravers Wrote:  Have you tried heating it, then unscrew??

Ahhh...:-)
It may work... But the derailleur body is aluminium alloy... Will it be OK to heat it up?

[bobtravers]

With a hair dryer, should be fine... Put some Liquid Wrench after heating it up, wait 5 min then try to unscrew

It should be a bit hot, not flaming hot!!