Bent mech hanger on steel frame?

Hi all. Today I had a bit of a rear mech issue that results in the mech going into the spokes under load. This has bent the hanger on my 456 evo 2 quite severely. The hole is now probably 1cm rearward of where it should be, opening the dropout markedly. It is also bent in by 2-3mm.

It is quite a severe bend. Does anyone think it can be straightened by either myself or my LBS?

I have bent back hangers like that – really, just have to try and see what happens. Worst case it’ll need a new dropout brazed on.

Would brazing a new dropout on be a job that on one should do? At a cost to me, obviously.

Don’t know if On-one have framebuilding facilities – if you get stuck, bung it up to me and I can easily sort it.

Thanks for the offer. Where are you based in case I need to take you up on it?

I really appreciate your help!

Glasgow 😉

http://www.kinetics-online.co.uk

Get an adjustable spanner clamped down on the hanger and bend it back filled by a bit of vice action 😀

Bung an old axle in the dropout first, though, so you don’t crush the dropout slot closed.

I’ve bent them back no problems, I also have an aligning tool if you need to borrow it, midlands based

I used a rubber mallet on my P7 frame when I caught a branch in my local wood. No problems since I bent it back 2 years ago. 8)

sometimes a big adjustable is what you need

fixed an inbred this way

Where’s Peter Poddy’s pictures when you need them??

My mate did this on his 456 gas pipe, bent the mech hanger right out and opened the dropout.

One 2lb lump hammer and a large adjustable later it was straight enough to hold the wheel and get all 9 gears on the back properly. It’s still going a year later too

Did the same to my 456.Local LBS trued it and sorted all my gear shifting at the same time for the princely sum of £5.00 🙂

Phew.

So it looks like it’s not **** after all.

I’ll be reaching for my biggest adjustable spanner tomorrow, perhaps with some metal piping to ‘bilk’ it a bit if necessary.

I’ll do it with the wheel in and the qr clamped to make sure I’ve got something to push/pull against that is a relative constant.

Wish me luck. I’ll be making sure the kids have got their ear defenders on from a recent ‘air’ show on so they don’t pick up any pithy language from me.

Update……

Well, it seems to have worked. It looks straight and the dropout now seems to be the same tightness as it was before.

I won’t know for sure until I get a new mech and try to fit it and use it I guess, but it doesn’t look too bad at the moment.

Thanks for the advice and sympathy, a decent sized adjustable was all that was required in the end.

Glad to hear you sorted it Danny. Does this mean you will be playing on Wednesday?

Unlikely to be out to play on Wednesday. New mech, cassette, shifter and chain on order and will need fitting before I can ride. I’ve taken the opportunity to upgrade to 1×10. I also won’t know if the hanger is sufficiently ok until I can install a non-borked mech! It looks ok to the eye, but you can never really tell until it’s in a riding situation.

Massive shout to rascal again for yesterday, what a gent!

It’s the beauty of steel 🙂

Yes, it is lovely stuff!

As I was bending it back there didn’t feel like there was going to be a ‘danger moment’. Just a nice, very linear amount of movement in direct proportion to the force and leverage being exerted.

It might just snap at the first opportunity of course, but I do hope not!

Hi all. Today I had a bit of a rear mech issue that results in the mech going into the spokes under load. This has bent the hanger on my 456 evo 2 quite severely. The hole is now probably 1cm rearward of where it should be, opening the dropout markedly. It is also bent in by 2-3mm.

It is quite a severe bend. Does anyone think it can be straightened by either myself or my LBS?

If you want you can email me direct (in profile) and I’ll talk you through it. I rescued a severely bent Inbred on my own with some simple tools and a vice. That was 6 years ago and I’m still riding the same frame

And for those that asked, here’s what it looked like:

[/url]
dropout 002[/url] by PeterPoddy[/url], on Flickr

[/url]
dropout 001[/url] by PeterPoddy[/url], on Flickr

Oops. Sorry I only read the first post and it seems like you’ve fixed it since then. 🙂

No worries pp. I’m not sure it’s 100% yet! but I’m going to whack a new mech on and see what’s what.

You did a bloody good job of getting that beauty straight again!

I would say mine was about half as bad as that, in all directions. I.e. Half as far rearward and half as far over the cassette.

I basically made sure that the axle was nicely clamped in the bottom of the dropout with the qr. Then turned the bike upside down and pulled it out first then forward, bracing the frame against my leg. Wrench over the top of the hanger, on as far as possible. Nice long pulls and constant checking by eye. I then made sure I just over-closed the dropout slightly to then ease it back out a mite.

The thing I can’t visualise is the fore/aft position of the hanger pre-incident. My guess is that if the dropout is now roughly the same width as it was, and the same width down the slot, then that is the best I can do.

The only other thing I have thought of is sticking a dowel of nearly the right diameter through the mech mounting hole to see if this gives any inkling about straightness.

If you have any top tips I’d be glad to hear them. The adjustability of a rear mech (high low limits and b tension) should be enough to compensate for any inaccuracy on my part – so long as it is square to the sprockets and forward enough to ensure the chain has enough ‘wrap’ on them?

Or at least that’s the theory! Seriously, though if you do have any nuggets of information I’m always keen to hear about them. I love a fix or a bodge!

P.S. I bet you’ve got a post-fix photo. I’d love to see that 🙂

I you’ve got an old Shimano rear wheel spindle knocking about you can thread that into the dropout – it gives you something to check for squareness and also checks that you haven’t deformed the threads.

Nice thinking on the rear wheel axle – I think I have one of those knocking around as well!

I know I haven’t goosed the threads as I tested that with the mech mounting bolt off of the old (and now pointing in all the wrong directions) rear mech.

I appreciate all the hints and guidance I am getting on here – knowledge sharing at its very best!

Further update. I managed to find a felt tip that just fitted into the hole if screwed in a bit. It seems to line up pretty well. I used a ruler and a bit of ‘eye’ to sight it across to the opposite side and it looks to be only out by a couple of mm at the other side. I’ll take that for now!

Another thirty minutes of my life I won’t get back spent getting a bastard cassette lockring off tonight and I’m ready to whack a new ten speed cassette, mech and shifter on and see how we go!

Parts are on order, should be able to fix it all up on Wednesday evening. Will only miss one ride due to this issue (touch wood).