Rear Derailleur Dilemma

[jeppen]

Hey everyone,
 
I bought an old Schwinn tandem bike about 6 months ago with intent of repainting it and getting it back out from the rust pit it was in. The problem was that I bought it in pieces, and don't exactly know what I need to do for the rear derailleur. I've looked online an am pretty sure how I ran the chain through it wasn't right. I went under the top sprocket and under the second. But if I try to to it the other way it doesn't work. The arm doesn't seem to spring back as far as what I've seen on other bikes I have or anything online. If anyone has any knowledge on what I should do, I would be very grateful.
 
This is how I attached it on the frame, it being completely relaxed.
 

 
Here it is off of the frame, again relaxed.
 

 

[dabac]

The bottom part of the RD (the "cage") should want to rotate clockwise.
There's a spring in there that might either be broken or simply dislodged from where it's meant to attach.
Don't remenber offhand how it's supposed to look.
In the orientation of the pic the chain should go in front of the top pulley and behind the bottom pulley.
 
If your bike has friction shifters you can use pretty much whichever RD you can find. Shimano has one that's clamp-on and quite decent. Dead cheap too.

 

[jeppen]

The shifter is the old style lever. I'll have to check for a dislodge spring. It will move forward and spring back to that state, the only thing that will move back is the bottom sprocket.
Thanks for the help!

 

[alfeng]

First, you need to clean ALL of the grime off of your rear derailleur ...
 
Then, you need to loosen the bolt ([COLOR= #ff00ff]see arrow[/COLOR]) which is holding the pulley cage on the derailleur ...
 

 
Presuming the TABS at the opposite ends of the coiled spring are not broken/sheared, then you need to **** the pulley cage & set the tabs in their respective holes ... this is akin to installing a Cantilever or V-brake caliper on a frame-or-fork.
 
Tighten the bolt ...
 
Done!?!
 
If the spring is damaged, then you should just replace it with a plain (vs. XT) Shimano DEORE rear derailleur ... why pay more?

 

[jeppen]

I actually, just fixed it.
I was going to try what you just said, but there is no allen screw or anything to take it apart. I saw that it had a dent in it, which showed some damage was done. So I just used some muscle and pulled it back, and got it over the part that comes out and stops it. I was going to soak parts in a solvent after I got it done, which I did for everything else and it worked like magic. Nothing is broken. I probably will replace it in the near future when I build up a little money for new seats and such for it. Thanks!