SRAM Red Rear Derailleur Tuning

[prendrefeu]

chris14, I'm having difficulty imagining the tool you fashioned together to remove the pins. Can you take a picture of it?

[chris14]

You are right. I should have posted a photo

[chris14]

Been reading through this thread (and other places on the internet)

Long story short, I scratched up my Sram Red 2013 (Not Red 22, but newer version than the original red) rear derailleur in a high speed race crash, i.e. it slid along the tarmac for a bit, but is otherwise good/structurally sound.

I already had Rothshek Carbon Pulleys installed, which bought the weight down to 131, as it the main body is scratched anyway, I think it is the catalyst to remove the scratches and make it look cooler and lighter with a bit of dremelling, other than that, I have a few questions:

Cages:

• Outercage, how do you remove it so I can sand of the Sram lettering (I want to keep the red highlight at the bottom though!)

Hi Stevec1975

To remove the outer cage from what I remember, you have to remove the small screw on the grey plastic elbow,
or

To remove the lettering I have used Dettol (floor cleaner) in the past. You just bathe the parts over a few evenings and the silver and red comes off plus varnish. There are lots of videos on Y tube (stripping paint off plastic miniatures) however it is really hard on the hands ( so gloves)and your workshop will smell like a hospital.
It may be easier to take all the paint and varnish off rather than trying to protect the red bit. You could then protect the raw carbon with a product like 303 aerospace protection and paint the red bit. This worked well on the shifters too

[chris14]

Hi here is


Unfortunately I found that the ax was really worn on one side so I am a bit reluctant to continue the project until I find a replacement. The part was partially stripped in dettol, however I stopped after I saw the ax..

[chris14]

Did that help?

[prendrefeu]

Work in progress: I want to see how reasonably far I can get in milling away the body without removing the pins. If I remove the pins I'd have much more access and manoeuverability of the tool to get to parts that can be removed... and I tried chris14's technique, but to no success.



At this point, without proceeding on the body too much more, I think I'll end up around 104g complete.

[kevosinn]

nice job Prendrefeu thats looking good. I just picked up an newer sram red group im going to start tuning. its going on a new superlight build

[chris14]

Looking good Prendrefeu, sorry the modified screwdriver didn't work. You could try to get a start (before trying the screwdriver) to get a hold under the pin using a strong knife blade (sheath knife) which is maybe thin enough to get in but strong enough to gently lever. Be careful though.

[Stockie]

For the tuning of my Force rear derailleur i drilled two hole in the derailleur body from the opposite sides of the pivoting rods so that i could tap them out.
But halfway their length, the rods where also soldered to the body of the derailleur. Once i removed the soldering with a drill bit i could easily thap the rods out.
I replaced them with 4 (or 5) mm thick rods that i made from an aluminium bar that i bought online. The new rods fitted quite tight in the plastic bushings. I also secured them in place with some superglue. This construction is holding strong for almost 4 years with some real abuse of the derailleur (shifting under loads et cetera).

[JAQ1]

"Unfortunately I found that the ax was really worn on one side so I am a bit reluctant to continue the project until I find a replacement. The part was partially stripped in dettol, however I stopped after I saw the ax.."

Has anyone been able to remove this axle or have been able to rotate it, as I find this part to wear quite fast and this causes the plate to be pushed out by about 1 mm. This 1 mm is pushed out due to the spring and I'm certain this is making my shifting sluggish. What I have done to limit the wear is to take a thin brass washer and cut it, to be able to twist it over the shaft and take care to make, sure when assembling, that it sits between the axle and the locking pin.

[Gearjunkie]

Yes, I have had that problem with several Sram Red rear derailleurs. Your solution sounds clever - are you able to post some pictures?

[JAQ1]

Ill take it apart to check how well it has worked and then Ill put some pics up.

[4ibanez]

Great work guys. I love to see people's RD tuning.

Would be great for someone to lay out a step by step guide of all the tuning they did and how, then those brave enough to follow can break out the dremel or just try to source the correct lightweight parts.

My Red 22 is at 126g. It has a little road rash, so am tempted to use that as a catalyst to shed some weight while cleaning it up.

[Ailar]

This is the funniest thread ever. Amazing job people! Maybe I should tune my Red a bit too...

[chris14]

Hi JAQ1,

"Has anyone been able to remove this axle or have been able to rotate it, as I find this part to wear quite fast and this causes the plate to be pushed out by about 1 mm."

I have been able to remove it. You turn it over (see last photo) and then screw a bolt onto the ax (where the pully bolt goes in) this will protect the thread. Then I placed it over a vice (axe in vice but not tightened) and hit the bolt. The plate is supported by the vice and the axe pops out through
The axe is just forced into the plate. It has a texture where it is in the plate where they join stopping it being twisted. (k)Narling i think.