Rear suspension and derailleur question?

Question

I have a full suspension mtb with a 9 speed cassette. I took off my rear derailleur (SRAM X.7) for cleaning (soaked it in diluted degreaser) and mounted it back on my bike and put a new shift cable on it, and now I can't nail the adjustment. I also have a brand new work stand (as in, have never used one before). I referenced my derailleur's instructions to reset the high, low, and indexing, and I can get it to shift through gears 1-8 or 2-9 by playing with the cable tension, so it's missing a shift somewhere. I've never tried shifting the bike with the suspension unloaded, so when I'm actually riding the thing, will it shift through all 9 gears? Anything else I should try to get the shifting down? I don't think anything's bent out of place, but I guess it could be.

Answer 1

Yep...wasn't a good idea to soak the entire derailleur in solvent.  It won't kill it, and honestly it shouldn't affect your shifting the way you are saying, but in the future, just wipe everything clean and keep the 8 body pivot points lubed with a light oil from time to time.  For now, I'd suggest that you don't try to take apart the pivots to regrease them.....one of them is easy and the other is a pain in the rear!  Try dribbling in some heavy lube to both of those pivots and it should be ok.  

As for your shifting problem, did you also replace the cable housing, or just the cable?   If not, you might start there.  It sounds like your shifter isn't working correctly or that the cable is possibly binding/friction in the housing.  

Two other things....double check to make sure that when you remounted the derailleur that you didn't get the b-s***w mashed up against the tab on the back of the derailleur hanger (on the frame).  That's easy to do and it'll throw your shifing off quite a bit.   Also, if there's any possibility that your hanger is bent, take it to a bike shop and have them check it for you (or buy the tool yourself for $50).  You can't eyeball hanger alignment, you have to use the tool to check and adjust it if needed.  

Hope that helps some, post back if you need any more help.   Good luck!   :o)

Answer 2

Two things, the only thing you should ever degrease on a rear derailleur is the pulley wheels as the two pivots and packed with grease but aren't fully sealed. If you "dunked" it or got degreaser into these, it will eat the grease away and affect your shifting. If this is the case, a Barnett Bicycling Institute manual can show you how to take apart your derailleur to get the degreaser out and regrease the two points.

Second. If your cable tension is correct, look at which side or position you are locking the cable in place with the bolt. The SRAM derailleurs are notorious for being a little tricky in getting the cable bolted in right. This is the #1 thing I fix when people "do it their selves" and have problems.

Other than that, I can say that 99% of the problems that aren't related to the "L" and "H" stops are cable tension if the shifting isn't good in the middle rings. Good Luck.