DI2 Rear Derailleur offset by 3 gears

[Black Hawk Down]

My S40 was disassembled for some time as I was using parts for my V20. I'm now getting the S40 back together but the Di2 rear derailleur is some how shifted toward the high gears by 3. When the derailleur thinks it's in 1st gear, its actually in 4th. If I shift to higher gears, it shifts past the 11th (last) gear three more places. The derailleur hanger is in the right place. I have a Wolftooth extender, but it's in the same place it's always been and there's no where else it could go.

It's off by almost 1/2 inch!! I don't know how this could happen. It appears to be shifted by the 3 gears exactly, as the chain neatly shifts in all the remaining gears with no rattling. I'm completely baffled by this and can't think of anything that could cause it. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I'm hoping its something very stupid.

Here's a picture showing the derailleur shifted into gear 11. The chain is actually aligned with the derailleur hanger, far to the left of the last gear.



Here's a front view of the derailleur showing the hanger and Wolftooth extender.



Thanks.

 

[John Formsma]

Did you check the H limit screw? That limit screw is what prevents or allows shifting past the last cog.

 

[Black Hawk Down]

It's not a limit screw problem. My problem is all 11 gears are shifted by 3 gears. Gear 1 starts at gear 4. The limit is not engaged. When I run the E-Tube software, it says I'm in gear number 1, even though the chain is on gear 4. When I shift to actual Gear 11, it says I'm in gear 8. I can continue shifting until the software says I'm in gear 11, but I'm way past 11 physically. It's like the whole derailleur is shifted physically by 3 gears or about 1/2". If there were a way to move the derailleur toward the low gears by three gears, I believe it would work. But I don't see any physical way to do it. And, I don't understand what happened because it used to work on both my S40 and V20. Like I said, I'm baffled. It's like I'm in the twilight zone.

 

[John Formsma]

Hmm. Is the derailleur hanger bent? Or the convex thingee not in the concave thingee? (Very technical terms...you're welcome! Lol)

I only have my experience with one dI2 system, and that was 3-4 years ago on a regular bike. I never used the software either, although my bike shop updated it once for me. On mine, when the upper and lower limit screws were set, it wouldn't shift past them.

 

[Black Hawk Down]

The hanger's not bent. I don't think you could bend it enough to move the derailleur 1/2 inch. If you did, it would be very obvious.

I could set the higher gear limit so that I only have 8 gears to run on, but that doesn't solve the problem for me. I still need the first three gears. The limit's not stopping me from shifting into the lower gears. The software is. I would have to go to negative gear positions.

Thanks anyway.

 

[Frito Bandito]

It doesn't seem like it went into crash recovery mode, but maybe try this...?

If that doesn't work maybe start from scratch and do a groupset setup?
Also, you might wanna give it a bit of a clean

 

[Black Hawk Down]

It doesn't seem like it went into crash recovery mode, but maybe try this...?

Ya. I saw that one. If it were in crash mode, the derailleur wouldn't move. Mine moves fine.

If that doesn't work maybe start from scratch and do a groupset setup?

I'll look into that. Doesn't sound right, but I got nothing to lose.

Also, you might wanna give it a bit of a clean

Waddaya mean? I just cleaned it two years ago. Actually, the bike went on a 11K mile tour last year and you wouldn't believe what I rode through. After the tour, I tore the bike apart for parts to use on my V20. I'm only now getting the S40 back together. I don't have anyplace to work. I'm in a small apartment with a roommate and no place to do cleaning. As it is, I have my bikes scattered all over the living room on a tarp. It's a tough working environment. In a couple of months, I'll be in a house with a garage and hose. That should improve my maintenance schedule (and my sanity).

 

[Frito Bandito]

Waddaya mean? I just cleaned it two years ago. Actually, the bike went on a 11K mile tour last year and you wouldn't believe what I rode through. After the tour, I tore the bike apart for parts to use on my V20. I'm only now getting the S40 back together. I don't have anyplace to work. I'm in a small apartment with a roommate and no place to do cleaning. As it is, I have my bikes scattered all over the living room on a tarp. It's a tough working environment. In a couple of months, I'll be in a house with a garage and hose. That should improve my maintenance schedule (and my sanity).

I was kinda having difficulty seeing where the dirt stopped and the bike began haha.
I've seen worse though. Luckily, the peeps at Shimano prolly had an idea that riders would get their bikes dirty so they did an ok job of making their stuff durable.

 

[Black Hawk Down]

I've seen worse though. Luckily, the peeps at Shimano prolly had an idea that riders would get their bikes dirty so they did an ok job of making their stuff durable.

Bless their hearts.

 

[Black Hawk Down]

Update. I actually have 2 Shimano DI2 derailleurs as I had them on both my S40 and V20. I've since converted my V20 to SRAM. So I replaced the troubled Shimano derailleur (call it DR #1) on my S40 with the other one (call it DR #2) and it's working correctly. Looking at how they mount to the Wolf Tooth GoatLink, I see that they are quite different and I don't see how DR #1 can possibly work. It must require a different Wolf Tooth extender. I don't need to solve that one now as I can just use the one that works and save the enigma for another day.

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions.

However... I have other issues. I guess I'm allowed to change the subject in my own thread. I have an older DI2 setup and it has a bug that was never fixed by Shimano. Shimano has built in protections to prevent cross-chaining. If you use SyncroShift, you can setup the gear where the FD will automatically shift when moving up or down the cassette. This is a separate setup whether moving up the cassette or down. The DI2 version I have limits where I can make that setting and only allows you to set gears 1or 2 to trigger the FD move when moving up the cassette. What I'm experiencing is when I shift from gear 3 to 2, and I'm in the big chainring, the chain tries to drop into the small chainring without the FD making any contact, but once it drops into the smaller gear, it does make contact with the FD which pulls it back onto the big gear. This continues until I stop peddling. The problem is there's too much angle between the big chainring and gear 2 on the cassette. I would like to start the shift in gear 3 or 4, but that's not an option unless I upgrade to a newer DR. I decided that I didn't need two chainrings, so I converted it to a 1 X 11. This fixed the problem as the new chain ring is centered with the cassette.

Now I have another problem. Shimano also restricts shifting beyond gear 9 if the FD is on the smaller chainring, even in manual (not SyncroShift) mode. I removed the FD and it thinks I'm on the small chainring all the time. There is a switch in the eTube software to turn off cross-chain protections, but my version forces it to stay on.. So... research, research, research. There's got to a way around this.

 

[Frito Bandito]

I hope you can find a way around it braddah. I haven't used Di2 yet, only SRAM AXS, and I have access to all of the cassette on the big ring, but on the small ring my RD won't shift into the smallest gear on the 11-30t or even the 11-34t. Thats okay because I am always on the flats and never really need the small ring, but it's still kind of irritating because on easy days it is so much better to start on "small/small" at the bottom of a hill, than to have to do a FD shift part of the way up the ascent. Let us know if you get it sorted and how though.

 

[Black Hawk Down]

I hope you can find a way around it braddah. I haven't used Di2 yet, only SRAM AXS, and I have access to all of the cassette on the big ring, but on the small ring my RD won't shift into the smallest gear on the 11-30t or even the 11-34t. Thats okay because I am always on the flats and never really need the small ring, but it's still kind of irritating because on easy days it is so much better to start on "small/small" at the bottom of a hill, than to have to do a FD shift part of the way up the ascent. Let us know if you get it sorted and how though.

I'm a little surprised that you want to use small - small ever. Kind of a cross-chaining issue. I do get that it can be challenging to do a FD shift on a hill. Have you considered a 1x12 setup? I really hate having to shift the FD and am willing to compromise the range advantage of the 2x11 (or 12). But I mostly do touring and don't care about speed.

 

[Frito Bandito]

I'm a little surprised that you want to use small - small ever. Kind of a cross-chaining issue. I do get that it can be challenging to do a FD shift on a hill. Have you considered a 1x12 setup? I really hate having to shift the FD and am willing to compromise the range advantage of the 2x11 (or 12). But I mostly do touring and don't care about speed.

Normally I wouldn't cross chain because of the accelerated wear and increased drivetrain power loss. Yeah, the FD shift on a hill always kills momentum. If I give it a pretty good push, I can get over the small hills without getting off the big ring.

As for a 1x12, I am thinking of doing just that. Now I have a 53/39. When I was running Campy Bullet dual discs on my V20 with an 11-30t cassette, the chain lightly touched part of the vinyl material that I used when it was on the big/big. Also, I could hear the cross chaining even when there was no disc. Big/big only happened at the top of some hills and it was only for a short time, maybe 20-30 meters. Now that I switched to the Mavic CXRs, and I don't have the drive wheel monokoted or vinyl discs, big/big makes no cross chaining noise. So, I am thinking of buying a 55t 1X crankset, and then putting the Ultegra 12s 11-34t cassette on my Mavic CXR. That'll do fine to get me up the small hills on the flats I always ride on. However, I'd have to change cranks (not really an issue) for touring and climbing, and I wouldn't have the 4iiii power meter. I am mostly on the small side of the cassette anyway with my 53/39, so a 55t would put me closer to the middle of it, but also give me that extra bit when the terrain and winds are right. Having the 34t on the cassette would probably be enough to compensate for the 3t difference between the 53t and 55t. But it would mean that I likely would always have to attack each hill pretty aggressively.

 

[Black Hawk Down]

You operate in a different world than I. I tend to do a lot of miles but I don't ever really exert myself, especially on hills. I'm fine with granny'ing all the way up hill, spinning with ease. I do occasionally push it if someone passes me. Or I think they're going to pass me. Or I pass them. I have to keep up appearances.

My V20 has a 10-52 1x12 (SRAM Eagle AXS) with a 46t chainring , but I'm moving to a 42t ring as I'm feeling a little limited on climbing. I have no flat routes. On my S40, I have a 1x11 11-42 (DI2) and 50t chainring as I converted it to an eBike, so I don't care about the low range.

I finally put the finishing touches on my S40 and it seems to be working fine. Will take it on a short 30 miler tomorrow to check it out. The V20 is still down, waiting for a warranty replacement of the rear derailleur.