degreasing rear mech

CandT <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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I've had good results with degreasing sprockets, front mechs, chains, and

other

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bits by giving them a good dunking in degreaser, and then a bit of a

scrub, and

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then a rinse, but I've never done the rear mech this way because of the

jockey

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wheels.

Am I right in thinking that these have bearings, and therefore, submerging

in

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degreaser would be very bad? Can the jockey wheels be removed beforehand - allowing me to dunk the
mech, and clean the sprockets by hand?

BTW - its an XT rear mech....

Yup - bottom jockey is 'sealed' bearing, top has a ceramic bushing. Both wheels can be removed by
use of the correct sized allen key (hex-bar wrench).

The only problem(s?) I see in totally degreasing the rear mech, is the possibility of dirt working
its way into the bushings, and/or washing out any grease/oil that's sitting deep inside these
bushings, and not being able to get new lube in there - might not be an issue, but you should maybe
bear it in mind.

Shaun aRe - only mentioned the last because a friend degreased his rear mech and had (possibly
related) shifting issues for some time afterward.

Shaun Rimmer said:

Shaun aRe - only mentioned the last because a friend degreased his rear mech and had (possibly
related) shifting issues for some time afterward.

Guess I'll stick with the toothbrush method just in case... Cheers for the help on this one, and the
other post.. Its actually the jockey wheels which tend to get the crappiest.

CandT

CandT <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Shaun Rimmer said:

Shaun aRe - only mentioned the last because a friend degreased his rear

mech

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and had (possibly related) shifting issues for some time afterward.

Guess I'll stick with the toothbrush method just in case... Cheers for the

help

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on this one, and the other post..

Yer welcome.

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Its actually the jockey wheels which tend to get the crappiest.

Like I said, they can be removed, for heavy duty cleaning - normally, I just turn the cranks and
scrape them clean with a flat screwdriver.

Funny thing with Shimano mechs - every one I have ever bought has had at least virtually dry
bushings on the jockey wheels, but great gobs of grease where the cage tension spring hooks on.

The XT mech I just bought was the worst - the ceramic bushing (top j/wheel) was _totally_ dry (I
always check new stuff), but there was a ridiculous amount of grease on the ends of the springs.
I suppose they must just store it there for the customer to put inside their pulley bushings -
neat trick!

Shaun aRe

Cand T-<< I've had good results with degreasing sprockets, front mechs, chains, and other bits by
giving them a good dunking in degreaser, and then a bit of a scrub, and then a rinse, but I've never
done the rear mech this way because of the jockey wheels. >><BR><BR>

Just take the pulleys off, taking care to see which one was top and bottom, clean, grease insides of
pulley, reassemble.

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 vecchios.comvecchios.comOpen ↗ "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

Shaun Rimmer said:

CandT <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've had good results with degreasing sprockets, front mechs, chains, and

other

Quoted message said:

bits by giving them a good dunking in degreaser, and then a bit of a

scrub, and

Quoted message said:

then a rinse, but I've never done the rear mech this way because of the

jockey

Quoted message said:

wheels.

My bikes build up a surprising amount of solid sandy gunk on the jockey wheels.

The desire to get rid of this caked on debris overrides the possibility of deoiling the bearings.
With the particular setups on my road and MTBs, which all have 34T cogs and long DERs which tend to
lay back, I have found the following a quick and easy way to clean the mech and the chain:::

Cut the bottom off a 3 litre juice bottle. This gives you a rectangular container about 150 mm X 100
mm, the size of the mech. Fill this container up to about 20 mm with with hydrocarbons of your
choice. Turn bike upside down...... hehehe. Take off wheel. Place paper and rags on the floor and
especially over the "underside" of the seat... this can get a bit messy.

The rear mech can now be dunked in the solution and cleaned with a scraper and brush. With my bikes
both jockey wheels sit in the cleaner. You might get the mech at a slightly better angle for this if
you raise the front of the bike by putting something under the handlebars.

You can rotate the cranks and so move the chain through the bath. Then wipe down, and put a few
drops of oil onto jockey wheel bearings and chain.

While the wheel is off, hold it cassette down over the bath and give the cogs a clean.