My wife has recently upgraded to a modern bike with thru axle mountings ive had to fix a rear wheel puncture.
However, i undid the wrong side and loosened the UDH hanger enough for it to rotate from its original position.
Ive moved it back into position and nipped it up whilst i seek guidance.
Is it just a matter of putting the hanger back into position until the frame stops it rotating any further and then torquing it up?
Finally, could i have affected the shifting? Being my wifes bike, life wont be worth living if the gear shifts are out!
Thanks
Yes, it is a question of re-attaching it.
Yes, you may have affected the shifting slightly, only because moving the derailleur around can (IME) slightly alter the tension between the shifter cable and housing, but it should resolve as she rides it and it returns to it's normal equilibrium.
You'll probably need to redjust the b tension...
Probably best to leave the country, she’ll know you buggered it up. 🤣
On my bike, the UDH can only go in one orientation. I’d be surprised if it wasn’t part of the design spec. Having said that, even if the hanger is rotated a few degrees, its axis of rotation would be exactly around the rear wheel / cassette so it shouldn’t affect the shifting at all. As long as it’s nipped up tight, you’re fine.
Teach her to fix punctures, or better still encourage a basic maintenance course.
I used to teach courses and the basic ones were always the most popular. Learning to sort a puncture was liberating for lots of people.
Make sure you torque it up to spec after refitting rather than just nipping it up! This requires a reverse/dual direction torque wrench. A UDH is designed to rotate to “save the derailleur”, however if it’s too loose it will take out your rear triangle (at least according to the LBS who fitted it then weren’t willing to warranty it!)
Many thanks for all the replies.
I have a Silverline 962219 torque wrench coming from Amazon which, from the instructions, is dual direction. So i'll torque it up properly.
Make sure you back the tension off on the axle first before you torque up the UDH.
Torque wrenches have a reversible feature but not all click in both directions, some just click clockwise so aren't really dual direction and don't give a usable reading for left hand threads, this can be worked around by using a long allen socket bit from the inner side of the UDH. Hopefully yours is true dual function.
As above, check the clicks!
The Silverline site says "Reversible ratchet head" rather than reversible torque mechanism.
https://www.silverlinetools.com/en-GB/Product/ProductDetail?ModelName=962219
This is an oft misquoted or misunderstood feature so please double check.
The ratchet is reversible to allow bolts to be backed off, but it's not good practice to loose a bolt with a torque wrench anyway.
I'd recommend checking in a vice to see if it clicks at around a similar perceived effort in both directions before using in anger, just to be safe.
New bike !
More tools AND a new bike!