42 Tooth Cassette and Deraileur help

Jimmi

Dirt Disciple
I’m trying to fit a 42 tooth cassette onto my bike with a Shimano Deore DX derailer. Is there a way of extending the hanger or do I just need a new derailer? IMG_2117.webp
 
Not sure the DX was designed to work with that tooth count. You might be able to get away with adjusting via the p-screw which gives you some leeway to position the mech in relation to the cogs, but whether it's enough.

You could get an extender for the mech hanger if you are wedded to the DX mech which drops it down.
 
Fit a short hanger extender. They are cheap off ebay and you dont need to fork out for a Wolf Tooth Road Link. The mech will manage the difference between the small and largest gears
Thanks, just bought one, will report back with results.

Cheapest I found was here.
 
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I've used or rather just tried thos derailleur hanger often called goat link.
It helps to operate nowadays big range cassettes with older derailleur designed for 3/2x X drivetrains.
Just wasn't satisfied, as the top Pulley is with that pretty far away from the smaller cogs.
So yes it does the job to serve the 40t granny ring, but it operates the faster gears not very precisely any longer.

My take, stay with 9 or 10speed 11-36 cassettes with does mostly work even with derailleurs from the 90ties, for using a bigger cassette better get a modern rear mech (from last few years) and also trigger (as with introduction of Shimano Dyna-Sys old triggers aren't compatible any longer).
 
The modern shimano 9 speed alivio and deore derailleurs have the capability to do much larger sprockets, and are 7/8/9 compatible.
Screenshot_20250601-074417_Firefox.webp
Vintage derailleurs from the 7 speed era struggle with larger than 32.
The drop link or lengthening the B- screw both have the effect of pulling the top jockey away from the cassette, making top gear shifts poor, and the parallelogram angle is set to the angle of a closer ratio cassette.
 
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