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broken shimano ultegra left shifter

by billyman
Tue, Jun 11, 2013 12:00
13

hi guys, my flight deck left shifter suddenly stopped working. moving either sticks does nothing, no clicking nothing even attempting to catch.Has anybody had any success with repairing the shifter is it even worth me trying, I'm hoping something has popped out or vibrated loose and looking for a bit of advice on if I should even attempt dismantling the shifter, looking on websites I could be paying anything from 60 quid to a ton fifty to replace ( second hand and new) so thought I might just have a dabble, no tech experience changing an inner tube is about the total sum of what I have done before, cheers.

Billy

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13 comments

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David9694 | 8 years ago
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I watched a You tube on this (jammed ultegra shifter) and the guy found a bolt on the underside of the shifter that secures the innards down to the housing.  He tightens this up and problem solved. 

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The _Kaner replied to David9694 | 8 years ago
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David9694 wrote:

I watched a You tube on this (jammed ultegra shifter) and the guy found a bolt on the underside of the shifter that secures the innards down to the housing.  He tightens this up and problem solved. 

 

3 year old post...

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billyman | 11 years ago
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update, I bought some gt85 and have given it a good drenching, loads of brown liquid poured out and wiped excess away, left s couple of hours, went back and click click click... then nothing again, sprayed some more, played around a little more and click click click, then nothing again, lifting the rubber hood completely off if I push the working parts just on the inside side slightly up it works again for a few clicks then dies. tomorrow when I can put the bike on the turbo trainer I am going to see if I can stop that part of the mech dropping, I'm only talking a couple of mm at most.

looking at second hand replacements on eBay already thanks.

what I have learned..£3 for a can of gt85 and regular maintenance is cheaper than buying replacement parts lol

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spongebob | 11 years ago
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Mine snapped like described, picked up a second hand left shifter off ebay for £40 or so

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billyman | 11 years ago
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I have MOST TALON pinerello carbon handle bars that has internal rooting and my frame is also internal cabling and I am starting to go off shimano as if you look on eBay there are loads of " for spare" parts giving the impression of un reliability.

sram tickles my fancy and I believe it is tougher, is it possible to mix and match different makes ie sram shifters with shimano chainset? I would guess I would only need to change the derailers.

can't afford to change all in one goo you see...(4 kids lol)

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Yorkshie Whippet | 11 years ago
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Billyman,

By internal routing do you mean the cable is routed internally in the frame or that the cables are routed under the bar tape immediatelly after the shifter?

Not sure BBB was dissing the shifter, just stating that Shimano shifters are fit, forget and throw away. SRAM once quoted over 260 parts in a Shimano shifter. You can only get Dura Ace, Shimanowise. Microshift also do a Shimano compatable. The other option is to replace everything with either SRAM or Campag.

Hope this helps.

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billyman | 11 years ago
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cheers lads, going to pick some of that gt85 today, worth a go.

obviously I'm looking for shifters that the cables can be internally routed if you are dissing the 6703 what could you recommend to replace them with?

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FMOAB | 11 years ago
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Agree with the above...but just in case, flood it with GT85 work the lever, repeat, leave for a while, if it still doesn't work, give up.

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BBB | 11 years ago
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Shimano STI shifters are effectively expensive throwaway items.

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Al'76 | 11 years ago
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If you follow this: http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/EV/bikecomponen... you might be able to get the part number you need. Google part number; somebody must stock it and if not you could order through LBS.
Alternatively, save the time and effort and pick one up off ebay!

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billyman | 11 years ago
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thank you gents, will look for a new one and put the broken one on eBay as to be used as spares,

my handlebars have internal cabling, if I buy some dura ace shifters would they work with my current chainset etc I do plan on upgrading next summer anyway so common sense says buy that part now.

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ed_george | 11 years ago
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I had the same problem last year, it sounds like the ratchet has gone inside, this is a tiny metal component that will have snapped (hence no clicking). Unfortunately once that has broken then fixing it is not possible unless you can get hold of the component which is unlikely. you will then have the problem of the whole lever being spring loaded so its near on impossible to take apart and then put it back together without having the correct tools. I tried and failed.

Probably worth getting a second opinion on it but sounds to me like you are going to have to purchase a new one.

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bike_food | 11 years ago
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May be worth dropping by LBS if you have a good one nearby.
If I can't figure out what's up with a component after a couple of hours of tinkering/web searching/reading Zin book I'll visit guys in town and the vast majority of the time they've seen the problem before and can diagnose in seconds.
Always worth the initial attempted self diagnosis though.

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