Tiagra 4400 3x9 shifters giving problems with Deore M592 rear derailleur
 

Hello All,

I have a Tiagra 3x9 road bike and I need some extra low gears. Research indicated the Shimano 9 speed MTB derailleurs should work properly, along with a 9 speed MTB cassette.

I have purchased and install and Alivio 12-36 9 speed cassette and Deore M592 derailleur. I also purchases some Jagwire in-line adjusters since the derailleur doesn’t have an indexing adjuster.

It works, kind of. I am having problems getting the shift in properly indexed. It appears that the derailleur has a wider range of travel than the cassette width, and that indexing is out. By this I mean that if I shift 7 spots I will end up
skipping at least one cog, and shifting across all 9 cogs. Typically, the what’s 2 and 3 or 7 and 8 will be the ones that skip.

I have put together a few bikes l, mainly 8 & 9 speed, and haven’t had too much trouble indexing them in the past, but I haven’t done a mechanical mullet build like this. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thank you,

JT

I've personally have had trouble getting a shadow derailleurs (M592 and M772) to work properly with Sora 3500 shifters. What you describe sounds like what I was experiencing. I remember shifting up the cassette would skip a cog in the middle, yet I was able to shift down into the skipped cog. I put on a vintage M560 rear derailleur and that worked perfectly. I later replaced it with a 3500 derailleur to match the rest of the group.

I read somewhere that there is a minor difference with the newer shifters (not sure if 4400 is apart of that) and shadow derailleurs.

Thanks for the heads up. The 4400 shouldn’t have an issue - people have reported good results - but I might try an older derailleur. The M592 has a max cog size of 36 teeth, while the older ones have 34, so not a huge difference. But I’m getting older and want to protect my knees and ankles, so will take any edge I can get!

Is the cable attached on the correct side of the RD cable anchor bolt? Should be in the groove side.

You can probably run the older 34t max cog rated RD with a 36t. You might need a slightly longer B screw, but maybe not.

John

I have an M531 (I think) on another bike that I might try. It’s currently running a 36 tooth cassette so should be fine.

I have posted about similar shifting issues with 3503 levers, 12-36 cassette and M772 RD. I was eventually able to make it work, but only after many many many attempts. Just when i thought i had it right ( or good enough) it would act up again. Next the chain started to jump down the cassette under load and I duly replaced the chain, the cassette (which looked good) and finally the cables and housing, which were also in good shape. no improvement just more frustration. I finally replaced the lever, which I guessed (correctly) had lost its ability to hold the spring tension of the RD and so maintain the indexing, with a new R 3030 lever and since then everything has worked flawlessly for 6 months. Good job this 9 speed stuff is cheap. Some things to consider, is your rear wheel positioned correctly the drop outs? I bought new XT QR skewers to keep things in place. Also painstakingly adjusting the limit screws was helpful Good luck.

Thanks for the feedback. I went out for some hill rides today on this bike, and it seemed to settle down. Shifting was pretty good. I’m wondering if I need to have some load in the drivetrain to run things in. Will keep an eye on it over the next week and see. A couple of shifts were not so good, but otherwise everything seemed fine.

I might replace the QR skewers with solid axels as I don’t like QR that much, and have replaced them on all of my other bikes except a folding bike I take in planes.

the lever indexing seems fine. I haven’t noticed any problems with it. I will need to adjust everything as the cables and chain run in anyway, so no rush.

A big thank you and a quick update for you all. Careful tweaking of the limit screws and the indexing has resulted in pretty good shifiting. I think that hte cables have stretched a little, and everythign has bedded down. It's been pretty reliable for the last two weeks, and shifts are generally pretty good. Thank you for the help.