Having real trouble getting good shifting on this rear derailleur. It’s an RD-5700 on an ultegra 10 speed cassette.
Initial symptoms were jumping gears by itself and being noisy.
Upon inspection, found the chain was worn out. Replaced it. Thoroughly cleaned the cassette, checked teeth for wear, they all look good. Ultrasonically cleaned then lubricated rear derailleur. Reinstalled, set limits screws and indexed.
It now simply refuses to index properly. No matter how I adjust, it either messes up shifting in one or two of the lower gears or the two highest gears.
I’ve done all that i can think of to resolve this but I’m evidently missing something. In order:
1. Checked derailleur hanger alignment, it was slightly bent. Adjusted it using hanger alignment tool. Made no improvement.
2. Replace shifter cable and all cable housings. Fit slightly larger rear housing loop as the original was quite tight. Made no improvement.
3. Clean old grease from shifter ratchets, applied new grease. No improvement.
4. Try several variants of B tension screw adjustment. No improvement at all in any position.
5. Reset limit screws and start from the beginning several times, not able to make any improvement to the performance.
6. Remove cable from derailleur, feel the cable movement when shifting to see if there are any shifts that are binding or feel restricted, I was unable to feel any difference.
In the photo attached, the shifter is in the 2nd highest gear position. The jockey wheels are in line with the second gear but it will not shift up to it, seems impossible that it wouldn’t make the shift from this position? If I add a bit of extra tension to get it to make this shift, it won’t even come close to shifting back down. Removing enough tension to shift down, it then doesn’t even come close to shifting back up.
I’m at a total loss, I don’t have a clue what I can do next to try and resolve this. Any ideas?
by sk8erade
7 Comments
Is there any cable tension when in the smallest cog?
Sounds like a bent hanger
What shifters?
Are you sure the cable is connected correctly? I had issues for three days where I just could not fix it no matter what. Then I double checked the cable again and it was wrapped counter clock wise instead of clockwise, which threw the pull off entirely.
Maybe it’s the angle of the photo but it looks like your rear derailleur is cross threaded into the hanger.
But if you’re in your smallest gear and the chain/derailleur is doing what it’s doing in the photo, you have way too much cable tension. There should be hardly any in the smallest gear.
Check to see if you have any bent teeth on your cassette and check to make sure the derailleur itself isn’t bent. Make sure the rear wheel is all the way in the dropout. Inspect your cable for corrosion. If it’s getting hung up in the housing, that’ll cause lots of shifting issues.
Check your hub for any side to side play. If the freehub body and cassette can move even a little it’ll mess with your shifting.
Your derailleur looks funky in the pic you posted. It looks like the hanger is super bent. Is your wheel in the dropout properly? Your QR springs are installed correctly?
Make sure all your housing bends are smooth at the bar. Try routing the cable through the other hole in the shifter. Make sure your cables aren’t twisted up inside the frame if it’s internally routed. Your b tension should be set so the pulley wheel is barely not rubbing the largest cog while in the smallest chainring.
10 speed Shimano once they started routing cables under the bar tape kinda sucks. It’s hard to get it dialed in and never really likes to shift 2 cogs at a time.