Rear Derailleur adjustment for newbies

[lordofthemark]

As many of you may be aware the squeaking is back, despite the new chain and cassette, and after I lubed the chain (prior to GPR) Jeanne Streetsmarts said something about it sounding like the noise a cat makes sometimes? It is only when I am certain gears, not all. Given that last time Phoenix addressed it by adjusting the derailleur, and that it sounds to me at least like its coming from there, I think it must be the derailleur.

My questions to the hive mind – is adjusting a derailleur hard (assume I have a pretty full slate of tools, thanks to the building’s bike room) ? Is there anything I can seriously mess up if I do it wrong?

[bentbike33]

@lordofthemark 167550 wrote:

As many of you may be aware the squeaking is back, despite the new chain and cassette, and after I lubed the chain (prior to GPR) Jeanne Streetsmarts said something about it sounding like the noise a cat makes sometimes? It is only when I am certain gears, not all. Given that last time Phoenix addressed it by adjusting the derailleur, and that it sounds to me at least like its coming from there, I think it must be the derailleur.

My questions to the hive mind – is adjusting a derailleur hard (assume I have a pretty full slate of tools, thanks to the building’s bike room) ? Is there anything I can seriously mess up if I do it wrong?

I cannot think of anything to adjust on a rear derailleur that would relieve a squeak. Assuming the squeak happens while pedalling, it is probably one of the jockey wheels that could use some lubrication.

[hozn]

Adjusting a rear derailleur is easy; you just need a phillips-head screwdriver (or small hex on some newer derailleurs). There are many youtube videos.

But I don’t think that’s your problem. A misadjusted derailleur won’t shift correctly or will make nasty chain grinding noises while it tries to “half shift”. Mine is making that noise right now because I probably got a bunch of mud jammed up in there at Iron Cross race.

It might be your jockey wheels on the RD that are squeaking, in which case you can spray them with triflow lube or something and see if that fixes it.

But there are other things that can squeak too: shoes (rubber tread on the pedals), maybe pedals themselves, hub endcaps, etc. But hopefully lubing the jockey wheels is all it is.

[hozn]

This is probably worth posting. It is the definitive anthology of investigation avenues for squeaks, clicks, rattles, etc.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/creaks.html

Here’s another: http://www.jimlangley.net/wrench/keepitquiet.html

[TwoWheelsDC]

Can’t say I’ve ever had a “squeaking” that was solved by a simple RD adjustment. If the bike shifts fine (meaning it runs smooth while in a given gear, in addition to actually shifting smoothly) and is all lubed up well, then I can’t really think of any adjustment that would fix some sort of nondescript squeaking. If your RD is in need of adjustment, you should be getting some feedback through the drivetrain as you ride, along with some roughness in the drivetrain sound (but not a squeak). Does it just sound like it’s coming from the RD while you’re on the bike, or have you put it on a stand and traced the sound to the RD area?

One easy culprit to check…make sure your rear skewer is snug. I had a squeak that I eventually tracked down to my hubs, where the little grippers had worn down allowing the hub to move against the dropout, which necessitated keeping the skewers really tight. You generally don’t need the skewers super tight, but they should be nice and snug.

[Tania]

@hozn 167555 wrote:

But there are other things that can squeak too: shoes (rubber tread on the pedals), maybe pedals themselves, hub endcaps, etc. But hopefully lubing the jockey wheels is all it is.

Disc brakes too – I’ve been plagued by this for months now. It’s not the standard “tsing tsing tsing” rotor rub, it’s more a squeee squeee squeeee. I can prove it’s the brakes by loosening up the thru axle just a bit and turning the wheel. We’re pretty sure it’s frame flex because it only happens when I’m putting down power (and mostly as my left leg starts the down stroke) but not 100%.

I lent it to someone for DCCX and it came back squeak free. For now.

[lordofthemark]

@TwoWheelsDC 167559 wrote:

Can’t say I’ve ever had a “squeaking” that was solved by a simple RD adjustment. If the bike shifts fine (meaning it runs smooth while in a given gear, in addition to actually shifting smoothly) and is all lubed up well, then I can’t really think of any adjustment that would fix some sort of nondescript squeaking. If your RD is in need of adjustment, you should be getting some feedback through the drivetrain as you ride, along with some roughness in the drivetrain sound (but not a squeak). Does it just sound like it’s coming from the RD while you’re on the bike, or have you put it on a stand and traced the sound to the RD area?

I did put it up on a stand and it sounded like it came from there, but I didn’t try listening to the pedals, I suppose. Note, I ride regular shoes on the flat side of my dual pedals, and I do not have disk brakes, so its not either of those. Will try lubing the jockey wheels.

[hozn]

@Tania 167560 wrote:

Disc brakes too – I’ve been plagued by this for months now. It’s not the standard “tsing tsing tsing” rotor rub, it’s more a squeee squeee squeeee. I can prove it’s the brakes by loosening up the thru axle just a bit and turning the wheel. We’re pretty sure it’s frame flex because it only happens when I’m putting down power (and mostly as my left leg starts the down stroke) but not 100%.

I lent it to someone for DCCX and it came back squeak free. For now.

Is it the front wheel? Just as another thing to throw out, my 15m endcaps for my Novatec hubs squeak a bit; it is solved by adding some grease around the rubber gasket on the endcaps, but has to be re-applied periodically . Not sure what it is about that design, but this is the second hub, so it’s something in the design.

But certainly your suspicion that it’s rotor rub in certain frame-flex situations sounds likely too, especially if the pads track pretty close. I’ve definitely had some squeaking when swapping wheels and rotors were no longer correctly aligned. I think the squeak was because I was also down close to the end of the pad and the pad spring clip was starting to rub the rotor. (I’ve also had it happen where that spring clip gets bent and sticks out in front of the pad, making squeaking sounds, though that usually makes noise when braking too.)

I had to stop and change my rear brake pads this AM on the way into work. They sounded horrible. I think I see why … Iron Cross was not too gentle.

[Steve O]

If you can put it on a stand (or hang it on a tree branch or whatever) and turn the pedals, you should be able to ascertain if the squeak is coming from the derailleur.
If it doesn’t squeak on the stand but it does while you are riding, then it is you that is squeaking.

[Judd]

@Steve O 167605 wrote:

If you can put it on a stand (or hang it on a tree branch or whatever) and turn the pedals, you should be able to ascertain if the squeak is coming from the derailleur.
If it doesn’t squeak on the stand but it does while you are riding, then it is you that is squeaking.

Don’t hang your bike from a tree, Jeanne.

[lordofthemark]

@Steve O 167605 wrote:

If you can put it on a stand (or hang it on a tree branch or whatever) and turn the pedals, you should be able to ascertain if the squeak is coming from the derailleur.
If it doesn’t squeak on the stand but it does while you are riding, then it is you that is squeaking.

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?9501-I-am-delighted&p=127114#post127114

So, er, like yeah.

[drevil]

@lordofthemark 167550 wrote:

…
My questions to the hive mind – is adjusting a derailleur hard (assume I have a pretty full slate of tools, thanks to the building’s bike room) ? Is there anything I can seriously mess up if I do it wrong?

There is one thing I can think of where you can seriously mess things up with a derailleur adjustment: if you let out one of the limit screws too much, you could possibly “overshift”, which is more likely to happen when going to easier gears/larger cogs. What will happen is the chain will jump over the top of the cassette and get jammed between the spokes and cassette. I’ve seen it so bad that the person had to break their chain and remove their cassette to untangle the mess. On the other end of the cassette, when shifting down all the way to the smallest cog/hardest gear, the chain can possibly get stuck between the cassette and frame.

I agree with the others that say it could be a jockey wheel squeaking, or like Hozn suggested, a rubber endcap — which on Shimano hubs I’ve worked on, the endcap stays stationary while the hub body rotates, rubbing each other and possibly making noise. Check out my pic…

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15690[/ATTACH]

[Judd]

@Judd 167609 wrote:

Don’t hang your bike from a tree, Jeanne.

But I will agree that putting your bike in a stand or something else that is not a tree is helpful for locating sounds. I had a squeak once that I swore was coming from the chain ring while I was riding but was actually the squeak of an improperly torqued handlebar.

[Steve O]

I spent an entire commute once trying to locate a squeak. It was not coincident with wheel rotation, chain rotation or crank rotation. It squeaked when I went over bumps. As I was riding I kept holding different things: fender, bottle cage, light mount, etc. to see if it would stop. But no, every bump, a little squeak.
It had rained the day before, and I thought maybe it had something to do with that. “Dang…it’s somewhere here towards the front of the bike.” I just couldn’t pinpoint it, though. For 20 minutes I searched and searched.
Turns out it was the rain. The rain had soaked the spongy things inside my helmet. Each time I hit a bump the helmet would move slightly and they would rub against the inside of the helmet, making a little squeak. It was so close to my ear that I could not determine where it was coming from. I had a good laugh at myself.

[lordofthemark]

I put the bike up on the rack, and yeah, I guess this time it did seem like the squeak was coming from the jockey wheels. I lubed them as best I could (I don’t yet have spray lube). They still squeak – it looks like the chain presses against the metal thing that holds the jockey wheel. I will get spray lube and try that, but I fear that will not solve it, and again, I am reluctant to mess with the jockey wheel or it’s holder. And I fear the rubbing, aside from being embarrassing, is doing damage to the chain.

[Author]

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