Front derailleur shifter problem

I have a Shimano XT shifter problem. The shifter is about 5 years old
and I have three chainrings. It works fine on the two smallest
chainrings, but when I try and get into the largest chainring by
pushing the lever there is NO resistance to my pushing and therefore no
movement of the front derailleur. Where do I need to make adjustment?
thanks for any help, rick

On 16 Jan 2006 16:20:05 -0800, "semidemiurge"
wrote:

I have a Shimano XT shifter problem. The shifter is about 5 years old
and I have three chainrings. It works fine on the two smallest
chainrings, but when I try and get into the largest chainring by
pushing the lever there is NO resistance to my pushing and therefore no
movement of the front derailleur. Where do I need to make adjustment?
thanks for any help, rick

Is this a thumb lever, a rapidfire two-trigger setup, or what? The
described symptom should not be possible with a regular lever-type
shifter AFAIK. With a rapidfire, it might be hanging up internally
and not allowing the pawl to engage to move the wheel around.
--
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Assuming this is a thumb shifter, I've seen this on many Shimano
shifters (although not on an XT). When you push with your thumb, there
is a small pall (size of a thin pencil lead) that is spring-loaded
inside. As you push, it folds into a slot and the spring pushes it
back out when you get to the next gear. This is hard w/o a picture!
Anyway, with age and dirt this pall gets gummed up and the spring can't
push it back out. It therefore doesn't catch where it should and your
second push (for the next gear) does nothing!

You can open the shifter and squirt degreaser in there, and often get
it to work again. In my experience, this period of working will be
short! I'm hoping to acquire a ultrasonic cleaner soon, partly to see
if this will fix these shifters. Unfortunately you are probably
looking at replacing the shifter soon.

Pete

Yes it is a thumb-type shifter. I will take it apart tomorrow and have
a look-see. I will clean out the area around the pall. Question: why
do you think and ultrasonic cleaner would work better than a thorough
manual cleaning? This seems to imply that you are unable to get it
cleaned thoroughly manually? I'll report back what I find. rick

Yes it is a thumb-type shifter. I will take it apart tomorrow and have
a look-see. I will clean out the area around the pall. Question: why
do you think and ultrasonic cleaner would work better than a thorough
manual cleaning? This seems to imply that you are unable to get it
cleaned thoroughly manually? I'll report back what I find. rick

Don't do it!!! (Take it apart, that is). Try flushing the lever with
PowerLube (available at finer auto parts stores everywhere). It does
absolute miracles with old shift levers that no longer "catch." All you need
to do is remove the little cap that you'd use to replace a cable and spray
quite a bit in there, work the shifter a bit, and if it doesn't start
working, come back to it in 10 minutes... and it just might. It's worth a
shot.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

The Power Lube did the trick. I hope it continues to do so. I will
report back if it sticks again. I was unable to shift to the large
chainring on the return 25 miles of Sunday's ride and it was sorely
missed=) thanks for everyone's help, rick