XTR B-tension spring

After ten months, I seem to have lost most of the tension in my upper pivot spring. Is there an easy way to fix this without a rebuild?

scott

i'm assuming that you tried tensioning your b tension screw.

rebuild? it sounds like your upper spring is broken. those things are as rare as rockinghorse shit.

pip

Originally posted by HEYPIP
** those things are as rare as rockinghorse shit.

pip **

hahaahahah, ok i had my first good belly-laff of the day…

thx Pip….

:beer:

rockinghorse shit.. hmm I think I steped in somthing like

take the horshoe clip off the back of the derailler and see whats wrong inside.The shaft could have siezed up and just needs a little grease,this happened to the XT on both my bike and my GF's bike.

the lower pivot shaft was also binding on mine,I just took it apart ,cleaned and lubed

Thanks guys, I'll give that a try.

(and yea, the b-tension screw is already all the way in)

s

I had the same problem, and I found out why buying an XTR is kinda a waste.

The beauty of XTR is that it should last ages, and be serviceable. My old bike came with XTR and I was stoked. When my springs wore out, I though, no big deal, its an XTR and shops should carry all kinds of parts for them.

No dice. I called a handful of shops and soon found a few things out.

1) shops seem reluctant to help you rebuild a part… the most common answer I got was "we don't stock that…but we have XT's brand new for $100". Great, thanks for the update son, but if I wanted a new mech I would have phoned asking if you had new mechs in stock. I want to rebuild my $200 XTR, not throw it away.

2) few shops actually care enough to notice that the XTR B-Tension spring is unique. XT, LX, Deore, none of those have the same parts as XTR. My brother was on the same quest I was, and went to a shop I will not mention, but its one of the most popular…and was assured that the spring they gave him would fit, no problem. So, he drives home, tries to install it, and it is the wrong part.

3) to conclude, shops don't seem to want to help you with this. I understand why, it is hardly worth their shipping dollars to have such small parts brought in. But, when that trickles down to the consumer, it makes it pointless to buy a top quality part that is supposed to be rebuildable when nobody can be bothered to bring in the parts to rebuild the derailleur. That SUCKS. How often do shops try to upgrade you, or point out that "this bike comes with XTR" etc, when the product being preached for its reliability and quality, is not something they are able to support you on when you want to freshen it up.

Rear derailleurs suck. There is no way around it. They wear out, they get sloppy, and they are fricken expensive.

I don't understand why they are not made to be rebuildable…new pins, bushings, springs, etc. How hard can it be? (note: I know the new XO is supposed to be complteley serviceable, but has anyone tried to get parts for it yet?) And, why must the only rebuildable ones cost so much? Rear derailleurs can last years provided you don't tear them off. I'd be down for an XO, but I don't want to gamble with a $400 price tag in hopes of keeping it on the bike long enough to be able to benefit from its serviceability.

parts for sram esp derailleurs of the past have not exactly been cheap either. i doubt the situation has changed for the x series derailleurs

I've got the same problem in my XTR rear.
I havn't even smashed it yet, but it's toast.
It's not the spring, it's the little hole the spring "tip" fits into.
The hole gets rounded out and the spring won't stay in.
I've tried using some "JB Weld" to glue it in, but it won't hold.
Basically the derailleur is mint, but it's allready dumpster food.

Rear derailleurs suck.

That is the B Tension plate.

TIP * You can actually drill yourself a new hole, a little farther along from the stock one. End result will be more spring tension, and a nice new spring tip location that won't allow it to pop out. :)

Originally posted by EVRAC
**I've got the same problem in my XTR rear.
I havn't even smashed it yet, but it's toast.
It's not the spring, it's the little hole the spring "tip" fits into.
The hole gets rounded out and the spring won't stay in.
I've tried using some "JB Weld" to glue it in, but it won't hold.
Basically the derailleur is mint, but it's allready dumpster food.

Rear derailleurs suck. **

exact same thing here… jb weld and all

Pip, better watch your step at daycare. The b tension plate and spring is available from Shimano as a little rebuild kit. Good shops will order one for you if that's the problem. And the XT plate is the same only steel. So this same good shop will likely have a box of broken derailleurs that have pefectly servicable parts on them which can be salvaged. XTR is weight saving aluminum. I have used xt plates on XTR, they work, I think. It was a couple years ago when I broke the tab off my b plate. I don't remember if the springs are different or not. I vaguely recall that they are. Its quite possible you just need to clean the pivot bolt with a little emery and reassemble. I do that about once a year after it seizes.

XTR has better quality pivot bushings and stronger aluminum all around. It is a more durable derailleur. But no derailleur will put up with whacking rocks forever. those plastic SRAMs were particularly suceptible to rocks, sticks, large blades of grass, mighty wind. Plastic derailleurs are dumb IMHO.

Drilling a new hole will work well too.

what oldfart sez,clean and lube the pivot shafts,both the derailliuer pivot AND the cage pivot.If one is siezed the other one is also likely siezed

I couldn't get my XT to shift into 9th until I serviced both these shafts… the idler couldn't shift the chain onto the smallest diameter cog

hey an I re[HTML_REMOVED]re'd it just using a swissarmy knife and a pipe wrench

hey Mullet u dont need to spend 400$ on a X.O..

http://www.bikeroom.com/product.cfm?ProductID=22

enjoy….