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Shortening a Cage is it Possible

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Shortening a Cage is it Possible
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flag samnation
O+ FL
Posted: Oct 15, 2007 at 18:35 Quote
Would it be possible to change the length of my rear Derailer cage by cutting and re-drilling and tapping it.

Please I would prefer logical advice
flag m47h13u
Posted: Oct 15, 2007 at 18:37 Quote
My short answer, no.


My long answer, no. My reason is that it would most likely break the derailleur, put it out of alignment.
flag primodeelux
FL
Posted: Oct 16, 2007 at 9:30 Quote
Depends on your derailleur....XT and XTR u can buy replacement cage plates in your choice of length(long,mid or short) as well as some Sram derailleurs. Check with your LBS....
flag DavidMakalaster
Posted: Oct 16, 2007 at 9:31 Quote
Yes it's possible. Now get on it. How to do it is up to you, your bike, your mechanical capabilities, your tools, and your derailleur.
flag fufalump
Posted: Oct 17, 2007 at 21:19 Quote
really, unless you change it out for a new, proper cage, it cant be done safely or effectively. So you better hope you can get a replacement cage, and that the cage is held on with allen bolts or the like. If its riveted on, forget about it.
flag paulmboyle
O+
Posted: Oct 17, 2007 at 21:34 Quote
Are you kidding, no of course you can't do that. But a new one.
flag twofastoocatch
Posted: Oct 17, 2007 at 21:41 Quote
I actually managed to shorten up the cage on an X-0, but I had a "donor" X-0 as well. So assuming your running sram, and its new enough, and expensive enough it may be do-able.
flag samnation
O+ FL
Posted: Oct 18, 2007 at 5:09 Quote
well its an LX so I cant get new plates but I will just leave it and see how it does.
flag konaman24
Posted: Oct 18, 2007 at 9:13 Quote
Don't waste your time... it'll never work perfectly. If you really wanna shorten your cage, just get a new one.
flag MOIFR
Posted: Oct 18, 2007 at 9:23 Quote
ALTHOUGH YOU CAN DO IT, IT WON`T BE REALLY RELIABLE ANYMORE!
flag gabodude
Posted: Oct 18, 2007 at 9:24 Quote
You can swap pretty much any pre-2006 shimano cage and derailleur. I had a XT with a 105 cage that worked amazingly well. I had torn off the cage on my XT and found a 105 with a cracked P-knuckle in the trash.

I Also managed to build a 1st gen XTR with a old (600?) shimano road cage. Din't work super good beacause of the 7spd design, but it had a defenitive novelty value to it...

I wouldnt cut and drill a cage.. you'll never get it perfect and those bolts sticking out will snag more rocks than the general lengh of the old cage.
flag cubed
Posted: Oct 18, 2007 at 9:28 Quote
What cluster are you running? If you shorten it too much you may not be able to use all of your gears.

Why not shorten your chain so your derailer is in more of a horizontal orientation?
flag samnation
O+ FL
Posted: Oct 18, 2007 at 14:15 Quote
cubed wrote:
What cluster are you running? If you shorten it too much you may not be able to use all of your gears.

Why not shorten your chain so your derailer is in more of a horizontal orientation?

well I am hoping to switch to a Road cassette


now when I asked at the LBS they said that it is impossible to change cages and my cage is Riveted on so I wouldn't want to try it
flag cubed
Posted: Oct 18, 2007 at 15:53 Quote
samnation wrote:
cubed wrote:
What cluster are you running? If you shorten it too much you may not be able to use all of your gears.

Why not shorten your chain so your derailer is in more of a horizontal orientation?

well I am hoping to switch to a Road cassette


now when I asked at the LBS they said that it is impossible to change cages and my cage is Riveted on so I wouldn't want to try it

You should take some links out of your chain.
flag dirtjump-derek
Posted: Oct 18, 2007 at 15:57 Quote
If you REALLLLLY wanted to shorten the cage, and not just get a different cage or a different derailleur you could always cut the cage, take however much you want out and weld it back together, it wouldn't work well since the cage metal isn't the same width all the way down, but w/e it's you bike, I wouldn't do it if I were you though.

And like cubed said, if you shorten it too much you might not be able to reach all the gears on your cassette.
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