Shimano jockey wheels

salsajake

My Tiagra RD4400 jockey wheels are ground to almost nothing - the chain rubs on the cage briefly each time you change making a little squeak - sounds like electronic shifting!

I always assumed Shimano jockey wheels were all the same, one centring, one fixed, but stick them on anything, but having looked on chain reaction there are countless choices, and none matching what I need. Has anyone had compatibility problems with jockey wheels before? Surely they just spin on spindles and are sized to match all bike chains????

whyamihere

Any Shimano ones will fit. Just make sure you get a pair, as the top and bottom ones are different sized. Doesn't matter about 9/10 speed, they'll all work.

Nigel Bennett

Shimano jockey sprockets are physically different in that the upper one is intended to have axial play in it. A Dura Ace rear I had off eBay was dreadful at shifting until I realised some twonk had swopped them over. Putting them back in the right place improved it no end!

nicklouse

the top one (closest to the block) is the G pulley and it says so on the side.

salsajake

that's what I thought, I know the 2 jockey wheels are not the same as each other but I assumed each top pulley was the same as any other top pulley and vice versa, but looking at the range you can get, clearly not! CRC have told me the ones I need are the same as LX MTB ones, which fortunatley are £2.99 each, so happy days.

The Rookie

The higher spec mechs get better wheels, they will physicaly interchage, but for example the XT has a ceramic bearing top wheel and a roller bearing lower, everything else is steel bush although as the LX is more expensive I assume its better in some way than the lower ones!

Simon

Peppo

I changed mine 2 months ago because LBS said they needed to be changed.
I trust my LBS, they are great. Just I wanted to do it myself so I learn how to do it and next time I'll save time and hassle taking the bike there.
Bought them throught LBS. Changing them was easiest thing in the world.

salsajake

Yep, I take mine out and clean them every couple of months and pop them back in again, my query was more related to the type of wheels needed, but yes, I will get my LBS to have a look and supply the right ones.

rolf_f

I replaced the Deore jockey wheels on my MTB with BBB ones. Same price but vastly better quality - proper sealed bearings etc. The original ones had been spinning on the plastic of the wheel itself. Shimano jockey wheels seem insanely overpriced.

BBB ones have a set of bushes so you can fit them to any cage.

UndercoverElephant

Rolf F wrote:

I replaced the Deore jockey wheels on my MTB with BBB ones. Same price but vastly better quality - proper sealed bearings etc. The original ones had been spinning on the plastic of the wheel itself. Shimano jockey wheels seem insanely overpriced.

BBB ones have a set of bushes so you can fit them to any cage.

This is true, but there are variants depending on how many teeth the wheels have. Shimano and Campy ones have different numbers of teeth.

+1 for the BBB, I was amazed how rubbish the Shimano ones were.

The Rookie

Shimano ones for Deore are available at £2.99 the pair, you got BBB's for that?

Simon