AMF Black and Gold

[Always finish last]

I have acquired an AMF black and gold bike. while trying to clean it up I dropped the rear wheel and now I can not for the life of me figure out how the hell I got the derailleur screwed up. Like a dumbass I didn't take a photo before I dropped it. Every photo I can find of the Schwinn positron 2 shows the chain backwards. Is there anyone who has a photo of what this should look like.

 

[Dizzle Problems]

Any pictures?

 

[Always finish last]

Yeah I figured this would be necessary, but this is not my bally wick. So blue circle is where it looks like the chain should go into in the red arrow area. the green arrow is the direction of the chain currently.

 

[GTs58]

With the rear wheel out the derailleur will swivel clockwise if the tension spring is working correctly. Swivel the derailleur counter clockwise and that's how it should go. Here's a shot of an Alvitt but it's basically the same chain routing.

 

[bikemonkey]

Yeah I figured this would be necessary, but this is not my bally wick. So blue circle is where it looks like the chain should go into in the red arrow area. the green arrow is the direction of the chain currently.

View attachment 756697

It can be confusing at first---take a deep breath...

You are trying to insert the freewheel in the wrong area of the chain - the green loop you have should be made towards the front of the bike. Use GTs58's pic above as a visual guide. There are two tension stops on the upper part of the cage that the tension spring engages....that should help you orient the derailleur. In GT's photo the upper pulley is properly shown trying to rotate in a clockwise direction because of the cage spring.

 

[Always finish last]

I don't know if these pictures help. the derailleur only rotates counter clockwise.

 

[3-speeder]

Okay. Here is what I have had happen. Maybe this is what's going on. The chain got flipped inside-out, to put it one way. I had to take the chain off of the large front sprocket and flip it over in relation to how it goes through the tensioner's little sprockets in order to get the rear dérailleur oriented properly. The chain should be in the caged/guarded area. Whatever side was facing out is now facing in. It was frustrating as hell,the first time it happened to me and I was like WTF happened. Could this be what happened to you? It happens when the wheel is off and the derailleur is off and hanging by the cable and that chain is just hanging there.

 

[GTs58]

Okay. Here is what I have had happen. Maybe this is what's going on. The chain got flipped inside-out, to put it one way. I had to take the chain off of the large front sprocket and flip it over in relation to how it goes through the tensioner's little sprockets in order to get the rear dérailleur oriented properly. The chain should be in the caged/guarded area. Whatever side was facing out is now facing in. It was frustrating as hell,the first time it happened to me and I was like WTF happened. Could this be what happened to you? It happens when the wheel is off and the derailleur is off and hanging by the cable and that chain is just hanging there.

That's probably the issue here. OP never mentioned having the derailleur off the frame.

Here is the correct routing. Start with the chain on the front sprocket, follow the chain from the top of the front sprocket to the top of the rear sprocket (s) and then it wraps down and in front of the of the top jockey pulley on the derailleur. Your jockey cage is still upside down in that last picture, that jockey wheel needs to be at the bottom. If the derailleur was taken off and inverted it has to be reinverted. Here's a full shot of the chain..........................Thanks Cody.

 

[Always finish last]

that's kind of what I thought may have happened. I feel like the guy from Derk Gently trying to figure out how I made some impossible physical configuration happen. I still can't figure it out. I kind of just want to get out the chain breaker and start from scratch. But I would like to try to fix it before I make it worse.

 

[GTs58]

If it ain't broke, keep fixin it till it is. If the chain was never off, and it was correct before dropping the wheel out, it's just an issue of the correct rotation. I'm sure you'll get straightened out.