Re: degreasing rear mech

[Shaun Rimmer]

CandT > wrote in message
...
> 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.
>
> Am I right in thinking that these have bearings, and therefore, submerging
in
> 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.

[CandT]

On Tue, 22 Jul 2003 11:50:36 +0100, "Shaun Rimmer" >
wrote:
>
>
>
>
>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

[gmaker]

Shaun Rimmer wrote:

> CandT > wrote in message
> ...
> > 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.

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.