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Rear derailleur barrel adjuster problem

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Rear derailleur barrel adjuster problem

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Old 03-19-17, 05:22 PM
  #1  
ammarolli
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Rear derailleur barrel adjuster problem

I have a bike with shimano tiagra 4700 rear derailleur and when I loosen the barrel adjuster to get more cable tension it gets loose and then tight again.

Anyone have an idea what's going on? Damage threads?
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Old 03-19-17, 05:28 PM
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I can't tell for sure from the photo, but some Shimano adjusters work like screw jacks, but have a sort of ratchet which advances the tensio in clicks, with a "bump" separating them so they won't back off over time.

So, if gets tighter then settles back a bit, but still tighter than when you started, and advances in this sort of 3 steps forward/2 steps back kind of action, than it's normal.
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Old 03-19-17, 06:12 PM
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It's not like that.

I can't get more cable tension with the barrel adjuster after screwing it out few turns it gets tight like it's screwed all the way in.
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Old 03-19-17, 07:25 PM
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Remove the cable from the derailleur and unscrew the adjuster. If it won't unscrew out of the derailleur, you may have a problem.

John
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Old 03-19-17, 08:08 PM
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Originally Posted by 70sSanO
Remove the cable from the derailleur and unscrew the adjuster.
I removed the cable from the derailleur and the barrel adjuster became loose, so I did not have to unscrew it.

However I got a shifting issue, with too little cable tension.

The barrel adjuster is not adding enough cable tension when I turn it so something is wrong with that.
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Old 03-19-17, 08:18 PM
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Has it been stripped or is the barrel adjuster broken?
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Old 03-19-17, 08:25 PM
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Originally Posted by ammarolli
The barrel adjuster is not adding enough cable tension when I turn it so something is wrong with that.
Then you need to screw the adjuster back in, loosen and reattach the wire with less slack and readjust the indexing; perhaps it has slipped under its clamp bolt.
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Old 03-20-17, 01:46 AM
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Originally Posted by Darth_Firebolt
Has it been stripped or is the barrel adjuster broken?
The threads on the barrel adjuster looks fine but the treads on the derailleur might be damaged.

Originally Posted by dsbrantjr
Then you need to screw the adjuster back in, loosen and reattach the wire with less slack and readjust the indexing;
On my other bike I can turn the barrel adjuster and get the cable tension I want but on this tiagra bike I can't get enough tension the adjuster gets just tight and screwed all the way in.

It's worked to use needle nose pliers to get more cable tension by hand but I need more tension as the bike is not shifting up the cassette 2 gears at once.

When I detached the piece of housing to clean the cable the barrel adjuster became loose and removed from the derailleur.

Last edited by ammarolli; 03-20-17 at 01:50 AM.
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Old 03-20-17, 07:47 AM
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I went to LBS today to with the bike cause I had an appointment for them to fix a creak.

The problem was fixed by the fact that I did not get enough slack out of the cable and therefore I had turned the adjuster all the way out.
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Old 03-20-17, 08:35 AM
  #10  
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Originally Posted by ammarolli
The problem was fixed by the fact that I did not get enough slack out of the cable and therefore I had turned the adjuster all the way out.
Aha! Next time that you have to readjust your derailleur, make sure that your shifter is in the smallest cog position when you start. Don't ask how I came to know this.
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Old 03-20-17, 09:21 AM
  #11  
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Originally Posted by Retro Grouch
Aha! Next time that you have to readjust your derailleur, make sure that your shifter is in the smallest cog position when you start.
Thanks.

I do that all the time when I adjust my derailleurs.

Next time I double check that I shifted into the smallest cog.
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