Suntour skitter jockey wheels

[ChrisEyles]

Just tried to replace the knackered jockey wheels on the 1960s suntour skitter rear derailleur on my ten speed.

Unfortunately the jockey wheels I have in stock aren't quite the same - they have a smaller diameter bush so the original fixing bolt (which screws straight into the back half of the derailleur cage) cannot be used in the fresh jockey wheel.

I've got around this on the bottom wheel using a slightly longer bolt and a nut on the back. Clearance for the spokes is tight but looks like it should do the trick. The top wheel is trickier. The original bolt had a very shallow 9mm hex head. Any replacement bolt I've tried has to tall a head, and this fouls on the derailleur body as it goes through its range of motion. So I've had to re use the last knackered original jockey wheel here in order to be able to use the original bolt.

To cut a long story short, does anyone know if it's possible to buy replacement suitable jockey wheels from anywhere? None of the ones I can find online look to be suitable. Would be very sad to have to retire a very smart Suntour skitter mech (the first ever slant parallelogram design) for the lack of fresh jockey wheels!

 

[Illaveago]

Just tried to replace the knackered jockey wheels on the 1960s suntour skitter rear derailleur on my ten speed.

Unfortunately the jockey wheels I have in stock aren't quite the same - they have a smaller diameter bush so the original fixing bolt (which screws straight into the back half of the derailleur cage) cannot be used in the fresh jockey wheel.

I've got around this on the bottom wheel using a slightly longer bolt and a nut on the back. Clearance for the spokes is tight but looks like it should do the trick. The top wheel is trickier. The original bolt had a very shallow 9mm hex head. Any replacement bolt I've tried has to tall a head, and this fouls on the derailleur body as it goes through its range of motion. So I've had to re use the last knackered original jockey wheel here in order to be able to use the original bolt.

To cut a long story short, does anyone know if it's possible to buy replacement suitable jockey wheels from anywhere? None of the ones I can find online look to be suitable. Would be very sad to have to retire a very smart Suntour skitter mech (the first ever slant parallelogram design) for the lack of fresh jockey wheels!

Could you post a picture so that we can see the problem ?

 

[Illaveago]

You could file or grind the head of the bolt down .
I have had a quick look on Disraeli Gears and the wheels look similar to the ones commonly used on the old derailleurs like Huret and the like . I think I may have encountered a similar problem in the past . I will take a look at some of my old ones to refresh my memory .
If I remember correctly the new jockey wheels have a larger hole requiring a larger spacer. Your old spacer would rattle around inside it .
If you could find a bolt of of a similar diameter as the new spacer you could drill it to the correct diameter as the old bolt and cut it to the correct length and file the ends flat .

 

[ChrisEyles]

Good idea!

Here's the two jockey wheels:

And the difference in diameter of the bushes:

I need something with the larger internal diameter bush in order to re use the fixing bolt, as nothing else I can find has a shallow/flat enough head to clear the derailleur body:

 

[biggs682]

@ChrisEyles could you not drill the hole out ?

Having seen your pictures above i understand a bit more , i have replaced jockey wheels loads of time but never had an issue perhaps i have just been lucky

if not i would try st john street cycles or perhaps Dave Marsh at Universal Cycles

 

[ChrisEyles]

Unfortunately the modern jockey wheels don't have enough meat on the metal bush to drill them out so that the original bolt will fit, otherwise that'd be a good solution.

 

[ChrisEyles]

Hang on, am I being slow? Are you all suggesting to drill out the nylon jockey wheel so that it accepts the original metal bush? That might work!

 

[ChrisEyles]

Would have to drill the metal washer/spacer thingies out too. Might have a go at that if it's raining later in the weekend. Thanks all! Feeling dense now for not thinking of that myself 😀

 

[ChrisEyles]

How tight a fit should the metal bush be inside the nylon jockey wheel do you think? I've only got the single spare left so don't want to mess it up...

Am I right in thinking that the metal bush is clamped stationary by the fixing bolt and the nylon wheel rotates about this? In which case I guess it wants to be a relatively loose fit rather than a tight press fit?

 

[Illaveago]

Looking at your pictures the spacer fit looks quite snug although when you spin the wheels they seem to have a lot of play .
It doesn't look like there is enough meat on the wheels for you to drill them out .

 

[ChrisEyles]

Yeah, it might be the case.

Thought this was going to be a quick ten minute job when I started!

 

[ChrisEyles]

If I can't bodge a fix, these may do the trick (bit of a gamble but they say they come with several different size spacer options).

https://winstanleysbikes.co.uk/bbb-...MI6K6M363e6AIVGp7VCh2UngdEEAkYASABEgJQy_D_BwE

 

[ChrisEyles]

No mention of them being compatible with suntour though, just campy/Shimano

 

[Illaveago]

I've had a look in my spares box and most of them are Shimano based . I have a Campag Gran Sport and a Hurry Svelto both of which have plain disc wheels . Could you just grease them for now and see if they are okay ?

 

[Dogtrousers]

My first ever derailleur was a Suntour Skitter. It was on a wreck of a "racer" that I bought for a fiver or probably less. Unfortunately I used this bike as a learning experience and one of my learnings came when I shifted the RD into the wheel and wrecked it. From then on it was Horrible Hurets.