This is why I avoid SRAM – What replacement GX Jockey wheels?

I remember the last time I owned SRAM components I was shocked when I found out A) How quickly SRAM jockey wheels seized and B) How much new ones cost.

Well more fool me, I’ve ended up with another SRAM bike, and right enough, after about 6 months of light tarmac duties and about 4 properly muddy off road rides recently, the jockey wheels have seized :roll:

I’ve taken them apart, flushed, greased and reassembled, but there is still noticeable drag when turning the cranks by hand, and the chain goes slack when you backpedal.

Anyone know what size replacement bearings are, or preferably a non-SRAM equivalent jockey wheel?

Googling has just yielded replacement SRAM jockey wheels at £33 a set…

Answered my own question, sort of

Making a dollar out of fifteen cents

Done over 2500 miles on mine with no issues if it helps? :D Do you leave the drivetrain wet? I did that one night, chain was rusted solid the next morning but a lot of lube recovered it.

I bought some Hope cartridge bearing ones. Not cheap mind.

Yeah, but don’t see how leaving the drivetrain wet could accelerate jockey wheels wearing out, unless you’re supposed to blast them with WD40 or something after every wet ride.

The only common factor between the X9 jockeys wheels which failed me and the GX jockey wheels is that both have been ridden a bit in the wet, and in the mud. I think I’m pretty light on drivetrains in general, certainly don’t break chains or wear cassettes out too quickly.

I never touched my shimano jockey wheels and they ran and ran until they turned into throwing stars :D

I think SRAM know what they’re doing, supply parts which fail quickly and offer replacements at heinous mark ups. I’ve now sourced 2 spare bearings for £3 so that’ll show ’em 8)

Had sram mechs for the last 4 years, with no issues. What are you using?

You can get some Absolute black replacement ones. Pricey (£40 iirc…) but should imagine they’ll last longer. Maybe. Was about to go down that route, but ended up replacing the whole mech after smashing it up on a stump…

Great find with that website though – have bookmarked for when the inevitable happens…

Cheers,

Rich

I bought some Hope cartridge bearing ones. Not cheap mind.

Still cheaper than SRAM equivalents :roll:

Wrong size sadly (SRAM are 13 tooth) and don’t have the X-Sync profile unfortunately (not sure how important it is but running single ring CX so don’t want to take any chances…) otherwise I’d have had some.

In issues here in 18 months and some grim rides.

Had sram mechs for the last 4 years, with no issues. What are you using?

SRAM X9 first time round, GX 2×11 this time round.

The X9 was back in the day when I was actually a legitimate MTBer, i.e. it got a pasting in muddy conditions twice a week, most weeks.

Nowadays I’m just an over-biked commuter who does occasional long gravel rides (albeit the last one was five hours in the pouring rain) and have recently done a few CX training rides, i.e. hour long rides looking for mud. Not a hard life really.

Not sure what the common factor is for the jockeys seizing. I don’t really clean the drivetrain much, just run the chain over a rag and drip some finish line wet lube onto it every couple of rides, keeps the chain clean and running sweet. Don’t blast the drivetrain with hoses or anything, but I guess I don’t ever specifically lube the jockey wheel bearings either…

Odd. The ones on my 2005 X9 mech on the hack bike that never really gets cleaned have outlasted 2 XT sets on the good bike that I got 6 years later. I know that doesn’t help, but not all SRAM stuff is tat.

Wrong size sadly (SRAM are 13 tooth) and don’t have the X-Sync profile unfortunately (not sure how important it is but running single ring CX so don’t want to take any chances…) otherwise I’d have had some.

Doesn’t matter. You can literally use anything in there. I’ve got 2 random ones in the X01 mech on my HT, think one is from an old 9spd Deore mech & the other is from a 9spd X7 mech I found in the spares box.

It works fine, its never done anything untoward, and I hammer the bike & barely ever clean it.

Strange! It’s obviously a known problem since the website I linked above exists (another SRAM user who refuses to pay SRAM spare parts prices…).

Maybe it’s the wet road miles I’ve done on the bike, lots of pedalling and spray coming off the road. Doesn’t explain the X9 jockeys failing, did virtually no road miles on that bike.

Doesn’t matter, you can literally use anything in there

Good to know! I’ve just ordered some replacement bearings for the princely sum of £3.40, so I’ll see how they work first.

13thfloormonk – Member
Answered my own question, sort of
http://www.peterverdone.com/making-a-dollar-out-of-fifteen-cents-2/

Nice find there bud, might get some ordered for the future!

Ditch the OEM jockey wheels. There are loads of replacements available at much lower prices. If you really want to, you can prize out the bearing seals prior to fitting to squirt a bit more grease in.

For example:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AEST-REAR-DERAILLEUR-PULLEY-JOCKEY-WHEEL-11T-KCNC-105-tune-xtr-xt-sram-dura-/141363266948?var=&hash=item20e9e84584:m:myQZnkH2cWsunrkxCmrRiUA

I use the Lerway ones from Amazon. Usually a tenner or so a pair.

Got a link as to where you bought the bearings? Mine had seized solid. I popped the seals and span them
Up in the drill last night and that has helped but I’m going to replace them. Just fell of the chair when I saw the SRAM price

Simplybearings.co.uk

Didn’t really shop around, perhaps possible to get something fancier or better sealed, I plan on popping seals and greasing from new this time…

BBB[/url]

I’ve the BBB ones on several Shimano mechs and they seem to list them for Sram.

So sorry to drag this thread up chaps, my Jockey wheels have seized up again! So time for replacement bearings. To save me stripping the mech down does anyone have the bearing numbers please? I can order today that way

RichBowman – Member

Absolute black……they’ll last longer

Doubt that….

I don’t know if my solution is the right one, but after paying a fortune for SRAM jockey wheels for an X0 mech, I’ve since avoided bling mechs and gone with ones with simple bushings on the jockey wheels.

I guess bearings are fractionally more efficient in ideal scenarios but once things are muddy, do they have any benefit?

Agree with the above. The simple jockey wheels last me the longest.

Here are the Sram NX ones. Which have no bearings to seize.

http://activesport.co/epages/80c85f8f-7a95-4b1c-9c30-e64b314f3f2e.sf/?Locale=en_GB&ObjectPath=/Shops/80c85f8f-7a95-4b1c-9c30-e64b314f3f2e/Products/SSP8072000&ViewAction=ViewProductViaPortal&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsI68mY7N1wIVjRbTCh1_MAzhEAkYASABEgLAsfD_BwE

Purchased a set a week or so ago.

Not sure to be honest, but I’m hoping a replacement bearings are only a couple of quid so I can stock up and the replacement cost shouldn’t be too much. The originals have lasted 6/7 months (shocking I know) but if they are cheap to replace I’m happy enough

Don’t Uberbike do SRAM specific ones for not a lot of money?

I found some alloy ones that seem to run on bushings on Amazon for not very much. Mercoca I think they were called. The problem is the 13 teeth – makes them much more difficult to source.

I can’t vouch for longevity because I am only about two weeks in, but seeing as how they are about a quarter the price of SRAM ones, they wont need to last too long to pay for themselves.

The SRAM ones are rubbish – mine got to the point where I could no longer remove them to grease them as the whole bearing fell out, in its constituent parts. :evil:

Ian – exactly same issue here, totally seized after a couple of wet rides so I started a similar thread a few months ago. Hadn’t found the bearing solution, though, so thanks for that – ordered!

626rs bearings £2 sorted

D’oh! The replacement bearing solution lasted all of two CX races before seizing again.

In fairness, I guess any exposed bearing would get a bit grumpy being encased in mud and then hosed off and left to dry, but I’m not going to start dismantling my rear derailleur after every muddy ride, nor am I going anywhere near it (and hence my rear disc) with a can of GT85.

jonnym92 has it I think, NX jockey wheels for me! At least they’re a lot cheaper to replace if they do seize…

I have Eagle X01 and already after a few months and not much riding the jockey wheels are suffering.

Uberbike are bringing out 14tooth wheels soon hopefully so i can replace them!

My SRAM Rival ones end up being stripped and greased after every second ‘cross ride.
Waiting for the next 25% Uberbike discount code for a punt

Hmm, I’d swear those Uberbike ones didn’t exist last time I checked!

They look nice, but I’m worried that any sealed bearing jockey wheel would be prone to seizing, unless there’s something special about the bearings in the Uberbike jockey wheels?

Agree with the above. The simple jockey wheels last me the longest.

Here are the Sram NX ones. Which have no bearings to seize.

http://activesport.co/epages/80c85f8f-7a95-4b1c-9c30-e64b314f3f2e.sf/?Locale=en_GB&ObjectPath=/Shops/80c85f8f-7a95-4b1c-9c30-e64b314f3f2e/Products/SSP8072000&ViewAction=ViewProductViaPortal&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsI68mY7N1wIVjRbTCh1_MAzhEAkYASABEgLAsfD_BwE

Purchased a set a week or so ago.

I run these too, bin the ball bearings!!!!!

Decathlon, £6. Sealed bearings too.

Just had the same thing with Sram GX 11 speed jockey wheels. Had the bike since May and until now they’ve been fine. Had a really cold and wet full day of push up / blast down at Windhill Bike Park then chucked the bike in the garage with a cursory spray of gt85 a couple of weeks ago.

Gone to give it some tlc today and both jockeys were almost seized. Prised off the seals and cleaned and regreased the bearings and they’re smooth again now. They hadn’t rusted and are no longer gritty.

Assuming they get bad again, how have people pressed out the old bearings and pressed the new ones in? The bearings have the model number on it so I should be able to buy better sealed versions of the same bearings.

I guess the alternative is the NX jockeys mentioned above with bushings instead of bearings.

I just used a suitably sized socket as a drift, and an old BB tool to support the jockey wheel body. Tapped old ones out and new ones back in easily enough.

New ones didn’t last long though, and that’s despite packing them with grease from new. In fact it may literally have taken one CX race for them to seize again.

Just go NX and save yourself the hassle I reckon…

Why don’t they last – is it because they’re not well shielded from dirt? I’ve never had this issue with X9 / 10 sdpeed GX or Shimano….,

Slight hijack – are jockey wheels with ball bearings noticeably better or smoother than ones with bushings? I’ve always run the latter and never had a problem.

My 10 speed GX ones snuffed it in about 200 miles and one wet ride.
Amazon replacements in there now for a tenner. If those for I’ll go NX.
Utter crap.