Check your Derailleur pulleys for needed maintenance

[cnighbor1]

Check your Derailleur pulleys for needed maintenance
I got a flat yesterday and noticed my Campagnolo chorus derailleurs pulleys had a lot of chain lube crud building up on them. I wiped most off while fixing rear wheel flat.
Than today removed both pulleys and cleaned all the pieces. One pulley had the bearing stuck in place with dried up grease. and was in real need of maintenance.
How it managed to still run is a mystery to me.
So my advice check yours out!

[semdoug]

Yep, good point. I lube my road bike chains quite often because of riding in a sandy environment, even more so with my gravel bike. I will also flush and wipe down the derailleurs pulleys and chain rings.

[dave thompson]

As I have (a lot) more free time than most of you, being retired, I’ll pay close attention to our bikes pulleys. I’ll do a detail on them, removing them, cleaning them thoughly, popping the seals and with a couple of drops of Phil oil lube them. I’ve found through experience that worn, cruddy pulleys, or with bad bearings, can wreak havoc on shifting and derailleur reliability.

[oldpotatoe]

Check your Derailleur pulleys for needed maintenance
I got a flat yesterday and noticed my Campagnolo chorus derailleurs pulleys had a lot of chain lube crud building up on them. I wiped most off while fixing rear wheel flat.
Than today removed both pulleys and cleaned all the pieces. One pulley had the bearing stuck in place with dried up grease. and was in real need of maintenance.
How it managed to still run is a mystery to me.
So my advice check yours out!

And replace the top on the top and the bottom on the bottom..-PAL:)

Once a month I take chain off, cogset off, chainrings off and der pulleys out..clean, lube, replace..

[Plum Hill]

Cleaning up the bike today and took care of the pulleys. Most of the holes in the upper pulley (Campy Record 11 speed) were clogged with garbage.
We have a good paved trail system in the area. A lot of us have noticed pulleys grunge up quicker when riding the trails. Must be the pollen or tree garbage on the pavement.

[saab2000]

And replace the top on the top and the bottom on the bottom..-PAL:)

Once a month I take chain off, cogset off, chainrings off and der pulleys out..clean, lube, replace..

This.

I noticed serious wear on some Campagnolo pulleys. Just swapping upper and lower pulleys improved it a ton. Not as good as new ones but that may happen too. Anyway, they do wear out. And collect tons of crud.

Clean often.

[Matthew]

I check mine with every chain lube. I noticed with Campy those little holes seem to be crud magnets!! Always spin mine and clean with a rag. All of my bikes regardless of group.

[simplemind]

BTW, do you guys ever reverse the chain direction as part of the maintenance?

[dave thompson]

I have quick-links on my chains so when I take them off I’ll reinstall them in whatever manner they come into my hand when I pick the up.

[El Chaba]

I generally take apart the pulleys and apply a thin coat of synthetic Teflon grease to the bearings whenever I replace the chain. I should note that I replace chains early in an effort to extend cassette cog life. So far the pulleys are still sufficiently lubed at this interval and spin freely. I agree that the pulleys are often neglected and are an overlooked source of friction.

[Black Dog]

This.

I noticed serious wear on some Campagnolo pulleys. Just swapping upper and lower pulleys improved it a ton. Not as good as new ones but that may happen too. Anyway, they do wear out. And collect tons of crud.

Clean often.

Ummm, I think old spud was saying to not do this, replace the top with a top and the bottom with a bottom as they are designed to be location specific.

[Mark McM]

Ummm, I think old spud was saying to not do this, replace the top with a top and the bottom with a bottom as they are designed to be location specific.

The upper and lower pulleys have different designs and different functions. In particular, the upper is a "floating" pulley, with a little lateral float to help it center under the sprocket (and make it run quieter). The upper pulley teeth are also designed to push the chain laterally, to facilitate gear changes. The bottom pulley has no float, and is the teeth are designed to tolerate the offset angle to the chainring when cross-chained.

Derailleur pulleys are usually marked to indicate whether they are to be installed in the upper or lower position. Don't swap pulley positions.

[Black Dog]

The upper and lower pulleys have different designs and different functions. In particular, the upper is a "floating" pulley, with a little lateral float to help it center under the sprocket (and make it run quieter). The upper pulley teeth are also designed to push the chain laterally, to facilitate gear changes. The bottom pulley has no float, and is the teeth are designed to tolerate the offset angle to the chainring when cross-chained.

Derailleur pulleys are usually marked to indicate whether they are to be installed in the upper or lower position. Don't swap pulley positions.

Thats exactly what I was saying.

[chiasticon]

yikes. pull 'em apart and lube once a month? I have done it, but nowhere near this often. even on my winter bike.

what do you guys like for clean/lube? WD40 and Phil's?

[oldpotatoe]

Ummm, I think old spud was saying to not do this, replace the top with a top and the bottom with a bottom as they are designed to be location specific.

Yup, at least with Campag, the result is noisy drivetrain(11s), with the shoulder on the top 10s pulley, it’ll drag on cage is put on lower position..some ‘pal’ did this and wondered why he felt so sluggish.:eek:

[oldpotatoe]

yikes. pull 'em apart and lube once a month? I have done it, but nowhere near this often. even on my winter bike.

what do you guys like for clean/lube? WD40 and Phil's?

Simple green then grease...mixture of lithium and boat grease. Pretty light blue color.

[Avispa]

This was one of the main reasons I moved to using a derailleur cage with larger pulleys, not so much for the watt savings BS.... I use a Berner Cage.

I do not think that even with the new redesigned 12 speed rear derailleur top pulley this problem will be fully solved.

Do yourself a favor, get a big pulley cage.... yes they are ugly, but shifting will be better and cleaning your drive train will be much faster and easier...

I use Muc Off MO94 to wipe and clean my pulleys. Takes me less than 5 minutes and I do it seldom. Once a year or if I have ridden in terrible weather a few times, I take the time to do a better job and clean and lube them with a ceramic specific lube... liquid lube, that is, never grease!

I prefer to stay away from Simple Green or any cleaner that is not intended to be specifically used on bikes or high end car surfaces. The only exception being Simple Green Extreme, which is made for these purposes... and that’s not for my bikes moving parts!

Remember the lube you use will also have a big impact on how nasty these pulleys can get. My choice of lube as of now are White Lightning Clean Ride or Muc Off Dry Ceramic Lube C3. With these lubes I can go for weeks with my drive train looking and shifting great... and they perform well in wet conditions as well... however, remember that if you get caught in rain, you should always clean your chain and lube it no matter what!

[Tony T]

And replace the top on the top and the bottom on the bottom..-PAL:)

Once a month I take chain off, cogset off, chainrings off and der pulleys out..clean, lube, replace..

And look for the little arrow for correct direction.