[Closed] How do you straighten a bent mech hanger ?

Step 1
Buy a new hanger.
Step 2 try with a lever/bolt tool or a big adjustable spanner

Big adjustable spanner and go careful using a keen eye

With a mech hanger straightening tool

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/x-tools-pro-gear-hanger-alignment-tool/rp-prod122319

Or do it by eye with a pair of molgrips.

If it's aluminium they do tend to crack though when bent back, it's only really viable with steel or Ti (and new hangers are much cheaper than the tool).

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Buy a new one, do your best with the old one and stick it in your pack as a spare. I straightened one once by checking it on a piece of glass / mirror where the gap and associated wobble were obvious.

Put it on a big flat rock. Hit it with another rock hard and repeatedly.

Worked for me (as you might guess, this was out on the trail rather than in the workshop!)

Go [url= http://gearmechhanger.com/ ]here[/url], find mech hanger, order. Eagerly await postman/woman.

Edlong and Lunge have it. Worked for me on numerous occasions!

if you can't get a mech hanger tool, use an old threaded QR axle and gradually ease it back into position..

Thanks everyone - I used a large adjustable spanner and I *think* I have straightened it. I appreciate it's aluminium and won't take that many fatigue cycles but sourcing one seems a little complicated as http://gearmechhanger.com/ do not seem to stock the right one (2017 META HT AM) and BETD Components don't have a proper compatibility list so a little touch and go.

I suppose I'll order one from Commencal and hope the right one will arrive before Xmas.

Have you got an old QR rear wheel with a threaded axle? It's the same thread as a mech bolt so you can thread it straight into the dropout and it gives you a perfect tool to get it straight- leverage and it's easy to eyeball. Every bit as good as the proper tool ime.

+1 for a proper hanger straightening tool. I find that most hangers on new bikes aren't even straight, so it's a really good thing to have in the toolbox.

don't do what a customer did after failing to bend the rear mech hanger back to reasonably straight then bend the rear mech instead. so much so when we fitted the new hanger the mech was at nearly 45 degrees out. would have cost him £15 for the hanger, now it's £50+

Trailside repair method (if riding with a group)....

If you have an older wheel with shimano hub then you can take the QR out and thread the end of the axle into the hanger. You then use the wheel to 'adjust' the hanger until it and the rear wheel in the frame are more-or-less parallel. Works quite well actually!

Edit: What Northwind said ^^^^^

Hard and fast with a big hammer.

I like the method with the QR but I don't understand it. Do you mean I thread the hanger where the mech normally screws in ?

I *think* Northwind is saying that you thread the wheel axle into the hanger so that you you now have another wheel hanging off the bike and then you can use it as a lever to bend the hanger until the two wheels are parallel...

Is that right? I'm quite intrigued!

I used a big adjustable spanner with some success when my brother managed to crash a demo bike 😳 I'm sure they didn't notice 8)
but if it was my bike, I'd just buy a new one. I say "just", when I odered one for my Tripster they sent the wrong one, then eventually sent me 5 different hangers to try to find the right one. That was a long drawn out process, I can tell you! Luckily I hadn't actually bent the existing one, but just needed a spare.

Anyone have a good source for a cheap (off the shelf) mech alignment tool. The lifeline one was well regarded but I don't think they're made anymore

The X-tools one is good.

Better than the Park one actually.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/x-tools-pro-gear-hanger-alignment-tool/rp-prod122319 <

GavinT - Member

I *think* Northwind is saying that you thread the wheel axle into the hanger so that you you now have another wheel hanging off the bike and then you can use it as a lever to bend the hanger until the two wheels are parallel...

Aye, that's one way- though it can be a bit crowdy, it won't always fit. So I have an old rear axle in the tool box that does the same job

^^ further up there -- QR method.

You can either cannibalise a QR axle and have it it your toolbox, screw it on to the mech hanger and that way you should see which way it is out (bent in, bent out) and then use spanner to bend up or down, or I guess trailside you could thread it on and use the wheel as a fulcrum and gauge.

Lots of bikes use the same hanger so we at BETD do try list as many as we can that we know fit a frame as if it's wrong then it's a pain for the customer to return it and then get another/or refund. The best way is to send us a picture of your hanger even if it's broke or bent and we can match it against our stock. We even get riders sending pictures of the drop out area as they have no hanger and we can still identify it from that image. Hope you find one any way.