[Closed] Very stiff upper jockey wheel.

Seized up with the mud and possibly from washing. Had you washed it after the mud ride and then had this problem?

Had one recently seize despite being careful with the cleaning (and I don't wash the bikes that often, favouring keeping them muddy and just dust off). Ended up taking the jockey off, opening up the bearing seals and cleaning it up. It actually wasn't cruddy inside, but some fine grit was locking it up. Ceramic bearing so wasn't rust. Flushed it all out and regreased, put back together and back on bike, fine. Then similar the other day but a few spins of the wheel and it's loose again. I'm thinking the jockey seals (fairly much aren't any) aren't great. This is uberbike jockeys.

Anyway, as for your pic, is there an allen key hole the other side? One side will be flat or maybe look like this, and other should be toolable. Never heard of jockeys you can't remove. Other possibility is the head has rounded.

Have to say I'm not a fan of SRAM's jockeys. They aren't vented so don't clear mud and once seized up they are junk. I replace with ceramic bearing jockeys wherever I can. I used to use KCNC but they jacked up the price so I've been trying uberbike's.

thanks for the quick reply, much appreciated, daylight was failing so I couldn't have a really good look, but the rear side is as is in the pic, it shouldn't be rounded off as its basically brand new this is the first time Ive had cause to even look at it since fitting.

The other side im guessing may be a cap/blanking plate, it was hard to tell in the evening light, although its the same as this - if you use the 360 thing in the pic you can spin it round.

Hopefully Its some kind of cap I can pull off and there will be a hex key underneath, otherwise this derailleur lasted a grand total of about 100 miles before being ruined!

Forgot link... hope its a cap I can pop off?

[url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/sram-x3-7-8-speed-rear-mech/rp-prod41156 ]x3[/url]

Hmm, does look like a rivet!

As I say, never heard of not being able to remove a jockey, but then this is an X3 so budget mech. Maybe they expect you to throw it away! (to be fair, replacement jockeys are same or twice the price of the mech).

Yeh, I hope so, My pic is of the bike upside down, it's the jockey wheel that is closest to the cassette, i.e the first wheel the chain goes over .

The link in my other post you can spin the picture around, there's what looks like a cap or banking plate in a recess (on the outside of the derailleur.. hopefully I can pull this cap off and there will be an aallen socket head under there..

might just have to get a new, new derailleur then lol..

I know its a mega cheap mech, but still, to have to bin the whole unit for a stiff jockey wheel seems crazy, I'll have a look in daylight tomorrow.

Interestingly enough my mates X7 jockeys seized as did the replacement jockey wheels first ride out followed by the replacement GX mech top jockey wheel seized first ride out.....he serviced them and all had mud and moisture behind the shields on the bearing races! 😯
Guess that's not a good advert for SRAM mechs!

Well.. Took the derailleur off.. Looks like there's no way to get the wheels off and I can't seem to free up the wheel..

Looks like it's new derailleur time.. I suppose it was a really cheap one but hey.

Possibly going from 8 to 9 speed in future.. Would it be worth getting something like an x5 that can do both?

As a last resort you could spray a load of WD40 or GT85 in there. Normally would advise against either as it will flush out grease, but it can help free it up and then after try to squirt some oil in there. It might end up gritty sounding after though and wear down fast. GT85 will be less harsh than WD40 and does have a kind of lubricant residue, but it is primarily a solvent like WD40. Though WD40 can free stuck things better.

if you want to stay cheap I have just popped a couple of brand new x4's on the classifieds 🙂

FWIW, you can use the newer Shimano 10 sp mechs as a direct replacement for SRAM 8 sp mech as the actuation ratio of the shifters is pretty much the same.

I'm running a 10 sp Zee mech with 8 sp Sram shifter and it works like a charm 🙂

May well be interested in an x4, but wanted to go 9 speed at some point.. Probably when my cassette next wears out.. So was thinking about putting a 8/9 speed rear mech on in advance.

I thought SRAM jockey wheels were torx not hex?

I had one of the guys at work asking if I had a special round allen key for those bolts.

Possibly going from 8 to 9 speed in future.. Would it be worth getting something like an x5 that can do both?

Get shimano. I've been running x5 on one bike (following on from a lightly used x7 or x9 which I had hanging around - similar results on that too) and it seems to go wobbly awfully quickly, the build quality on the shifter seems poo too, I have never had to do anything to a shimano one but this one pretty much explodes everytime you try to change a cable and has decided to stop changing once or twice too. Deore, LX, XT and second hand XTR across various other bikes have performed/lasted massively better.

My broken x4 was hex, the x3 is riveted and so unserviceable from a jockey wheel point of view.

Just an update if anyone cares! I put an x7 SRAM mech on, very happy with it after the x3 and x4, apart from adjusting the h screw a bit it's perfect, it just works, and and was an absolute doddle to set up compared to my previous mechs. Fitted and riding in about 20 mins...Just seems a lot stiffer and generally better, and you can feel the jockey wheels are more sturdy.

It has serviceable jockey wheels with proper bearings rather than the plastic gromits on the cheaper ones. still on x4 shifters.