Re: Front Mech Prob - hopefully simple fix - help (again ple
An update -
Thanks to blacktopdisciple for the new arm - I fitted it today and it worked (donation sent to Cancer Focus NI).
Here is a poor pic of the old arm with the new one fitted -
And the mech which now works -
After careful examination of the two arms i discovered that the old one had a very slightly larger bore than the new one. I wonder if this has been rethreaded in the past. As I tightened the new clamp bolt I thought that it was very tight. I had bought NOS NIB levers and I happened to look in the box, the box contained levers, cable stop, stainless outer, sticker and cables. I had a look at the cables and compared them to the cables i had fitted - the older cables are thicker than the new ones. This could be the explanation for the damage - to tighten the bolt on a narrower gear cable, the bolt has to be tightened further than was intended when the mech was made. So i removed the 'new' cables and replaced them with the thicker NOS cables - it worked a treat and there was a lot less effort required to tighten it up.
I think the above is worth noting for anyone working with older mechs - it applies to the rear as well.
Here is a pic of the two cables although it does not give the sense of how much thicker the older cable is -
From this box -
The bits and bobs were cunningly hidden behind the cardboard which held the levers in place.
To complete my horror of the week, I realised that the stainless outer did not have stepped ends which are needed for the frame so i was able to put some stepped end ferrules over the ends to fit it. I could have removed the original ends and swapped them but this means no damage to the outer. I had to make a cut in the ferrule to enable it to slip over the end - maybe not pretty in the pics but never seen once on the bike -
This may be of help to someone.
Thanks everyone!!!!!!
Richard
An update -
Thanks to blacktopdisciple for the new arm - I fitted it today and it worked (donation sent to Cancer Focus NI).
Here is a poor pic of the old arm with the new one fitted -
And the mech which now works -
After careful examination of the two arms i discovered that the old one had a very slightly larger bore than the new one. I wonder if this has been rethreaded in the past. As I tightened the new clamp bolt I thought that it was very tight. I had bought NOS NIB levers and I happened to look in the box, the box contained levers, cable stop, stainless outer, sticker and cables. I had a look at the cables and compared them to the cables i had fitted - the older cables are thicker than the new ones. This could be the explanation for the damage - to tighten the bolt on a narrower gear cable, the bolt has to be tightened further than was intended when the mech was made. So i removed the 'new' cables and replaced them with the thicker NOS cables - it worked a treat and there was a lot less effort required to tighten it up.
I think the above is worth noting for anyone working with older mechs - it applies to the rear as well.
Here is a pic of the two cables although it does not give the sense of how much thicker the older cable is -
From this box -
The bits and bobs were cunningly hidden behind the cardboard which held the levers in place.
To complete my horror of the week, I realised that the stainless outer did not have stepped ends which are needed for the frame so i was able to put some stepped end ferrules over the ends to fit it. I could have removed the original ends and swapped them but this means no damage to the outer. I had to make a cut in the ferrule to enable it to slip over the end - maybe not pretty in the pics but never seen once on the bike -
This may be of help to someone.
Thanks everyone!!!!!!
Richard
