Shimano MTB Shifter - Stripped Thread Repair?

On Oct 3, 4:41*pm, Nate Nagel wrote:
Peter Cole wrote:
On Oct 3, 4:04 pm, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On Oct 3, 9:32 am, Peter Cole wrote:

On Oct 2, 10:39 pm, Steve Sr. wrote:
Hello,
I have an 1992 vintage MTB that uses a Shimano Rapidfire brake
lever/integrated shifter. The threads in the shifter that hold it to
the brake lever have become stripped and no longer hold. The shifter
is Deore DX group. I believe that the shift lever is model ST-M070 *or
071 for the front der.
It appears that this was a suspected issue as Shimano appears to have
put some type of heilicoil liner inside of the shifter to strengthen
the bite in the shifter. I believe a piece of this broke when the
original locktite failed to release upon removal of the attaching
bolt. *I suspect that this problem may have been a common one with
these shifters.
Repair Options?
Replace it (with a new model), they're cheap.
Well, that's probably what Shimano had in mind...

But should we really pitch every little thing that goes bad, with no
thought of repair??

- Frank Krygowski

No.

Only cars and power tools, right?

nate

(yes, I am busting your balls a little, but I'm really not trying to be
a jerk... just honestly confused as to why you think of some things one
way and other things another...)

Well, you're misrepresenting me anyway.

My problem with really old cars is they pollute heavily. There are so
few of them around they don't cause an environmental problem, except a
very local one -- they stink. I don't enjoy driving really old cars,
either.

I have lots of old tools, I repair them when reasonable, I just don't
find old tools to be better than new, categorically. In the same price
range, I generally prefer the new.

I recently reclaimed an old MTB with Shimano brake levers with plastic
shift pods. The pods were cracked, so I removed them and ground off
the pod mounting flange and combined them with new twist shifters.
Saved the purchase of new canti levers. I wouldn't try to repair a 17
year old low end Shimano MTB brifter, it wouldn't be worth the time. I
might scrounge levers off it, though. The last pair of Shimano MTB
brifters I bought were like $17, I also bought a right recently for $8
or so. I'm frugal, but I don't totally discount my own time.

Steve Sr. wrote:

I have an 1992 vintage MTB that uses a Shimano Rapidfire brake
lever/integrated shifter. The threads in the shifter that hold it to
the brake lever have become stripped and no longer hold.
[...]
Repair Options?

Depending on the form of the clamp, you may be able to drill through
it and use a longer screw with a nut.

Chalo

On Oct 3, 9:04*pm, wrote:
On Sat, 3 Oct 2009 16:03:43 -0700, notme wrote:
It's tempting to keep broken stuff with the vague hope that it might
fixable.

That's not what he said.

Fix it rather than buy a replacement. Hence no collection of "junk".

Dear NM,

Junk is often more interesting to post about than it is to fix.

Let's watch this thread and see if the original poster fixes his piece
of junk.

So far, that's what it sounds like--a commonplace piece of bicycle
equipment whose poor original design led to stripped threads and left
it a piece of junk not worth fixing.

I was recently in a thread about Zefal pumps. There is one poor
aspect of their original design: The plastic wings that help hold the
pump to the frame sometimes break.

I've made replacements - rather laboriously, I admit. I could have
pitched that piece of bike equipment because of the failure - but it's
otherwise a fine pump. And I'll gladly work for half an hour to save
spending $30 on a new pump, plus spending an hour online or in bike
shops determining which one will work well and fit my bike.

For me, putting a replacement helicoil in a lever body is probably
easier - a fifteen minute job. I've got the helicoils. Like the
pump, I think the lever is worth fixing. And it gives me
satisfaction, just as some people enjoy cooking more than going to
restaurants.

Now, since somebody (Nate, perhaps? In any case - thanks!) pointed me
to an online source in France, I've got three spare plastic Zefal
wings in my small parts drawer. For $5, that pump is going to last
longer than I am.

Hopefully, my heirs will appreciate my foresight - if they can figure
out what those odd pieces of plastic are! ;-)

- Frank Krygowski

On Sat, 3 Oct 2009 21:15:20 -0700 (PDT), Chalo
wrote:

Steve Sr. wrote:

I have an 1992 vintage MTB that uses a Shimano Rapidfire brake
lever/integrated shifter. The threads in the shifter that hold it to
the brake lever have become stripped and no longer hold.
[...]
Repair Options?

Depending on the form of the clamp, you may be able to drill through
it and use a longer screw with a nut.

I took a brief look at doing this. There is a screw in the bottom of
the shifter pod which holds the plastic cover on. Any through bolt
would press on and possibly distort the cover and might cause binding
issues. I'll have to tear it apart and look.

Thanks,

Steve

On Sat, 3 Oct 2009 06:32:31 -0700 (PDT), Peter Cole
wrote:

On Oct 2, 10:39*pm, Steve Sr. wrote:
Hello,

I have an 1992 vintage MTB that uses a Shimano Rapidfire brake
lever/integrated shifter. The threads in the shifter that hold it to
the brake lever have become stripped and no longer hold. The shifter
is Deore DX group. I believe that the shift lever is model ST-M070 *or
071 for the front der.

It appears that this was a suspected issue as Shimano appears to have
put some type of heilicoil liner inside of the shifter to strengthen
the bite in the shifter. I believe a piece of this broke when the
original locktite failed to release upon removal of the attaching
bolt. *I suspect that this problem may have been a common one with
these shifters.

Repair Options?

Replace it (with a new model), they're cheap.

But that's no fun! :-) The other issue is that these are integrated
with the brake lever so I would be buying brake levers as well. which
will push up the cost.

Steve

On Fri, 2 Oct 2009 19:45:58 -0700 (PDT), Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On Oct 2, 10:39*pm, Steve Sr. wrote:
Hello,

I have an 1992 vintage MTB that uses a Shimano Rapidfire brake
lever/integrated shifter. The threads in the shifter that hold it to
the brake lever have become stripped and no longer hold. ...

Repair Options?

1. Find a real metric heilicoil and install it. Do they even make
metric heilicoils this size and where do I find one?

Yes, they make them. I've bought them in the past.

Search online. Try Google.

Thanks, Good to know that these are available. I'll see if I can find
the correct size.

Steve

Steve Sr. wrote:
On Sat, 3 Oct 2009 06:32:31 -0700 (PDT), Peter Cole
wrote:

On Oct 2, 10:39 pm, Steve Sr. wrote:
Hello,

I have an 1992 vintage MTB that uses a Shimano Rapidfire brake
lever/integrated shifter. The threads in the shifter that hold it to
the brake lever have become stripped and no longer hold. The shifter
is Deore DX group. I believe that the shift lever is model ST-M070 or
071 for the front der.

It appears that this was a suspected issue as Shimano appears to have
put some type of heilicoil liner inside of the shifter to strengthen
the bite in the shifter. I believe a piece of this broke when the
original locktite failed to release upon removal of the attaching
bolt. I suspect that this problem may have been a common one with
these shifters.

Repair Options?
Replace it (with a new model), they're cheap.

But that's no fun! :-) The other issue is that these are integrated
with the brake lever so I would be buying brake levers as well. which
will push up the cost.

Steve


What's the thread size and where are you? I have a Helicoil metric
master kit - reference a thread a month or two ago my repairing a
stripped rack boss on an aluminum frame - when I buy tools I tend to go
for the massive overkill, esp. with stuff not readily available at my
local hardware emporium. My goal is to be able to fix anything with
only stuff that I have laying around, with only maybe a trip to the
store to pick up a few specific bolts (although I do have a good
assortment of commonly used sizes.) I have lots of tools but lots more
to acquire before I can reach this goal

I think the smallest size is 5mm though, so if it's smaller than that
you're on your own (they make smaller taps/inserts, but I don't have
any.)

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

On Oct 4, 12:05*am, Peter Cole wrote:
On Oct 3, 4:41*pm, Nate Nagel wrote:





Peter Cole wrote:
On Oct 3, 4:04 pm, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On Oct 3, 9:32 am, Peter Cole wrote:

On Oct 2, 10:39 pm, Steve Sr. wrote:
Hello,
I have an 1992 vintage MTB that uses a Shimano Rapidfire brake
lever/integrated shifter. The threads in the shifter that hold it to
the brake lever have become stripped and no longer hold. The shifter
is Deore DX group. I believe that the shift lever is model ST-M070 *or
071 for the front der.
It appears that this was a suspected issue as Shimano appears to have
put some type of heilicoil liner inside of the shifter to strengthen
the bite in the shifter. I believe a piece of this broke when the
original locktite failed to release upon removal of the attaching
bolt. *I suspect that this problem may have been a common one with
these shifters.
Repair Options?
Replace it (with a new model), they're cheap.
Well, that's probably what Shimano had in mind...

But should we really pitch every little thing that goes bad, with no
thought of repair??

- Frank Krygowski

No.

Only cars and power tools, right?

nate

(yes, I am busting your balls a little, but I'm really not trying to be
a jerk... just honestly confused as to why you think of some things one
way and other things another...)

Well, you're misrepresenting me anyway.

My problem with really old cars is they pollute heavily.

Not if you consider the pollution created in manufacturing a new car,
and/or drive an exorbitant amount of miles in a year.

There are so
few of them around they don't cause an environmental problem, except a
very local one -- they stink.

You're exaggerating, or else you have a bunch of old cars in your area
that are also in poor repair, which is a separate issue. e.g. my ex
had a '69 Plymouth for a daily driver for many years and even though
that car had somewhat worn rings, it didn't "stink" by any stretch of
the imagination - in fact it felt/drove/smelled downright
unremarkable. At the time I believe that there was no exemption for
emissions testing for older vehicles and yet she still managed to
register it every year. Likewise with my dad's (used to be my
grandfather's) old Chevy pickup truck. Both vehicles pre-cat.
Keeping a vehicle in good tune goes a long way towards keeping the
exhaust clean and stink free (and helps the engine last longer, too.)
Heck, I had an old VW Scirocco that I know had no guts left in the cat
(I didn't gut it mind you, I wouldn't deliberately do that - I would
have had no problems replacing it were it indicated) and it still
passed emissions every year by a wide margin - and that car had almost
a quarter million miles on it when I (stupidly) sold it.

Seriously, one can make a good argument that keeping an old car on the
road is actually the environmentally correct thing to do, although
that's an unpopular stance likely due to pressure from auto mfgrs. who
have their own interests and various environmental groups that are
well-meaning but aren't looking at the big picture.

I don't enjoy driving really old cars,
either.

This I don't understand, although it's obviously a personal preference
thing. Newer cars are much less pure machine and more tarted up with
gimmicks and extra "features" that only serve to add weight and
insulate the driver from the experience of driving. So barring
expensive sports cars e.g. Lotus that I haven't driven and can't
afford anyway (so I'm merely guessing that I would find them
acceptable) most new cars hold little interest for me. I'm definitely
a KISS kind of guy...

Now if you *want* a new car and *prefer* a new car, I would never say
that you shouldn't get one. I'm just saying that the environmental
arguments for *mandating* that people get new cars really aren't
anywhere near as strong as general public opinion would lead one to
believe.

nate

On Oct 6, 9:08*am, N8N wrote:
On Oct 4, 12:05*am, Peter Cole wrote:

My problem with really old cars is they pollute heavily.

Not if you consider the pollution created in manufacturing a new car,
and/or drive an exorbitant amount of miles in a year.

As I said below, I don't think of that as a social problem because of
the numbers.

There are so
few of them around they don't cause an environmental problem, except a
very local one -- they stink.

You're exaggerating, or else you have a bunch of old cars in your area
that are also in poor repair, which is a separate issue.

No, I'm not. The emissions (hydrocarbon) data backs me up. I posted it
earlier.


Seriously, one can make a good argument that keeping an old car on the
road is actually the environmentally correct thing to do,

I don't think that argument holds water, we've been through it
upthread.

I don't enjoy driving really old cars,
either.

This I don't understand, although it's obviously a personal preference
thing. *Newer cars are much less pure machine and more tarted up with
gimmicks and extra "features" that only serve to add weight and
insulate the driver from the experience of driving.

New cars are much more sophisticated in technology. I prefer unibody,
OHC, CFI and all that. I don't think there's really any comparison.
I've driven my share of old belching lead sleds. I have little
nostalgia.

*I'm just saying that the environmental
arguments for *mandating* that people get new cars really aren't
anywhere near as strong as general public opinion would lead one to
believe.

What "mandate"? There's no law against driving old cars. Perhaps there
should be, or at least a tax like some countries, but there isn't.
From an energy POV, programs like cash for clunkers made sense
according to the study I cited. If you have a contrasting study,
please cite it.