Tiagra77

Hello. I am having a hard time trying to adjust my Exage 300 LX front derailleur. I am not even sure where is the L and the H on this model. I guess the H is the one closest to me when I'm in front of the crankset, am I right ?


When I try to repair it, the best that I can do is that the chain goes from the smallest chainring to the biggest chainring correctly. However, when I do the opposite shifting, from the biggest chainring, it's goes straight to the smallest chainring. In other words it doesn't stay on the middle chainring. I tried to fix it by screwing or unscrewing the L but it makes it worst.


Can please someone help me with that ? Thanks in advance !

Bill Kapaun

It's because this very common problem is in the shifter.
The lube has gummed up enough that the pawl can't "snap" back into place quickly enough to catch the detent for the middle ring.
Flush the innards with WD-40 or similar as best you can.
Let soak awhile.
From the 2 position, ALMOST shift to 3 and then SLOWLY ease it back down to 2. Do this a few times.
It should get better.
Repeat the soaking a couple times if needed.

Iride01 

On all my front DR's the high is on the right and the low adjust on the left. Similarly my big chain ring is on the right and the little chain ring on the left.

Shimano has a pretty good tech doc site. You should see if you can find your model DR there. DM's give the most info, but for older stuff you won't find them. SI's have what you need to know if you know how to use that info.

https://si.shimano.com/#/ front DR model numbers will almost always be FD-something

The high and low adjustments probably aren't your issue for the middle ring unless you've positioned one of them way beyond where it should be. They are only for limiting the chains movement at the extreme left (low) or extreme right (high) so the chain doesn't fall off the chain wheel.

Other problems are usually how short or long the cable is attached in the pinch bolt. Some of which might be handled by a barrel adjuster somewhere on that cable. Or even how the cable is run to and fastened on a particular side of the pinch bolt. Along with the cable binding up in the housing and not easily moving to the full extension the shifter is allowing.

Tiagra77

I think you are right Iride01. I think I just didn't put the cable in the pinch bolt the right way. Can you please show me a picture or video on how to do it ? I can't find it for my dr model. Thanks.

Tiagra77

I am pretty sure it's not a shifter problem but could have been. I did the lube like you said Bill it changes nothing.

Bill Kapaun

The cable determines where the FDER sits.
The shifter determines how much cable is pulled.
What logic do you have that it's NOT the shifter?

How many times did you repeat the flush?
Sometimes it can take a while, depending how much SOLVENT is getting to the innards.

Sometimes shifters simply fail.

Iride01 

On that model being that old, you may not find any doc's that show. Usually you can see on the pinch bolt and it's washers or whatever is part of it how to put the cable.

This is what was on the bike originally and it worked before?


Most of mine are almost straight up and through the pinch bolt. No wrapping the cable around the bolt. It might be you put it on the wrong side of the bolt. Sometimes for some of Shimano's front DR's that makes a difference.

Do you know the exact model and series of the DR?

Here is one of the SI's for a circa 1991 Exage front DR, but there may have been more editions than just this.
https://si.shimano.com/api/publish/s...000-00-ENG.pdf


If you've been mucking with everything then you might have other stuff working against you that wasn't the original issue. So start back at square one and pretend that this is an entirely new install and setup.

Tiagra77

I just bought it at a garage sale. It came with the problem I can't solve. The crankset shifts on only two chainrings. I made this even worst because now the chain is touching the derailleur on one chainring making a noise. If I could only be sure what screws are L and H that will help. It's not horizontal left or right but vertical up and down.

alcjphil

To be clear: Limit screws only limit the outward and inward movement of the front derailleur. They will have no effect on whether you can shift to the middle ring. It is the adjustment of the shifter that allows you to shift to the middle ring

Bill Kapaun

https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair...eur-adjustment

Iride01 

If you are willing to pay for your education, then go to a shop that is willing to let you watch them while they adjust it. Some do, some don't. Some are hopelessly backlogged with stuff to work on. But many times when I ride my bike to the shop they'll always give it a quick look, maybe fiddle with something and then give an opinion. No matter how busy they are.

You might google and find out if those are the components the bike came with originally. Maybe someone put stuff on that doesn't play nice with the other stuff.

Tiagra77

I finally solved all the problems, thanks to you guys I wouldn't have made this without you ! The trouble shooting chart on the PDF helped too.