Excess pivot play in SRAM X9 rear derailleur

[Dave99]

Has anybody else found A LOT of pivot play in their main pivot that coincides with the derailleur hanger bolt? I can flex the X9's rear derailleur cage laterally by like 10 degrees. Shifting to the smallest cog is now impossible and it makes for a lot of ghost shifting under power - i.e. when you need to ramp for a launch off a drop.

I never had this issue with my two other Shimano XT rear derailleurs so I was wondering if this is just me or if it's a common problem? I hope SRAM can provide a replacement piece-part or derailleur because I'd like to continue supporting the underdog. And I'd like to think this is an isolated event - i.e. it won't happen again.

[SC blur]

I have never heard of it but I havnt been using sram for very long. I'd be willing to bet once you get this figured out though, it will never happen again.

[Chief]

mine does that if u mean its not really solid on the hanger but i have x7 and mine dosnt ghost shift

[Kye]

i'm not sure about the x9 but i'm holding a new xo in my hands and there is a little c slip on the back side where the screw is that looks like it would hold it tighter mayby yours is missing? hope this helps :)

[Dave99]

mine does that if u mean its not really solid on the hanger but i have x7 and mine dosnt ghost shift

Yeah - my hanger's a bit bent even though I did my best to straighten it out. Maybe it's the real culprit. I'm waiting for a couple more hangers to arrive so I suppose I should hold off before concluding the ghost shifting and skipping gears are due to the amount of play in the pivot.

Anyway it's interesting to hear you get a bit of play in your rear derailleur as well. Maybe it's not a problem on my X9.

[Dave99]

i'm not sure about the x9 but i'm holding a new xo in my hands and there is a little c slip on the back side where the screw is that looks like it would hold it tighter mayby yours is missing? hope this helps :)

Hmm. I'm not sure I saw that c-clip on my X9. I'll look for it again as well as the notch.

[rancor]

Yeah - my hanger's a bit bent even though I did my best to straighten it out.
Did you just pull on the derailleur, or did you use a hanger-straightening tool?
If you just pulled on it, you probably damaged the derailleur - which explains all the pivot play.

I personally refuse to use expensive rear derailleurs. I crash on them too much. Shimano LX is just fine for me thanks.

[Dave99]

Did you just pull on the derailleur, or did you use a hanger-straightening tool?
If you just pulled on it, you probably damaged the derailleur - which explains all the pivot play.

No - I take the hanger off the frame and then place it between a few small flat pieces of aluminum billet. Then I pound the crap out of it with a hammer until it returns to flat. Sometimes it works but usually the hanger remains a little bit curled at the end. It's never as good as new. I'm actually waiting for a couple of new hangers to arrive. After my third straightening session it's fair to say this one was DOA. Aluminum fatigues.

Tugging on the derailleur to straighten the hanger is like begging for a disaster.

[JSinclair]

There is play in all sram deraileurs. Once set up though there should be no ghost shifting. I think the play is engineered to stop deraileurs from breaking when landed on or torqued in a crash. The other reason might be chainline issues. With different bikes the chainline moves from inside to outside depending on the design. If the deraileur were solid the chain would change angles but the deraileur would not, thus having the chain hit the pulley wheel at a big angle. Whit float(Play) in the deraileur it can twist to accomodate the angle. If there is a bit of movement, technically it should be more forgiving as far as breakage as well.

The ghost shifting will be a hanger issue not a play issue. You deraileur might be bent as well (But sram stuff is pretty strong).

Once you get the new hanger (Or straighten the one you have) try again and see what happens.

Sram makes the best product around, no questions asked in my mind.

but yeah they all have play.