timber_cruiser

Hello, Took my old steel frame bike with Campagnolo components out for a ride today.

I noticed my rear derailleur down tube shift lever was slipping, kept dropping into lower gear. I have adjusted the D loop screw tightener as far as I dare.

I am wondering if I need to repair something internal on the shift lever assembly to get proper tension or friction?

Any help or advice would be appreciated!

SurferRosa

Assume you mean a higher gear (smaller rear cog). I'd check chain length and overhaul the rear derailleur and both shifters. Use a little grease between the shifter assembly. Reassemble and test. If the right shifter still slips after tightening, try a different shifter washer(s) and/or some blue Loctite on the shifter threads.

JohnDThompson 

Do you have all the parts and are they installed in the proper order and orientation?

timber_cruiser

Thanks for the diagram. I will check, especially for the friction plate #174 .

Steelman54 

I used those shifters for years and found them to be generally reliable, but every 3rd or 4th ride (say 80+ miles) I'd have to reach down on the right side shifter and tighten the D nut a bit. Same on my bud's bike as he had same shifters. I think its just the way they are (assumes all is assembled correctly). Again, not an every shift issue, but they seem to loosen up for whatever reason. For info, my Simplex shifters never need tightening.

Salamandrine 

Record shifters normally don't slip at all if set up properly. I don't think I've ever needed to adjust mine in decades. There's one exception. The last generation record shifters with a nylon insert were not that great. Those were only made for 2 or 3 years IIRC. The tell is the conical outer plate.

Anyway campy shifters use something similar to a belleville washer set up to maintain constant friction. Double check assembly diagram, grease lightly, and put a drop of loctite on the threaded D ring adjuster. (I never had to do this BITD but it won't hurt. For sure if there's a part missing or an improper substitution they aren't going to work right.

Manny66 

Your issue is in the levers, probably just need a good cleaning and re-assembly. Those things are very reliable and a simple twist of the D ring usually does the trick for any slipping problem.

timber_cruiser

Thanks everyone for your advice.

I just disassembled the shifter. All the parts are in place. I do not have the nylon insert, but I found that there was liberal amount of grease on the interior parts. I carefully cleaned with a q tip to remove the old grease, and applied a light clean grease covering.

I put everything back together, and I think this will solve the problem. Plan to go out for a ride later today!

repechage

The version you have imaged has no plastic, that was the later one with the conical chrome outer washer. That version was more of a problem. If the problem persists, remove the D ringed bolt and look closely at the middle washer, if cupped set it concave side inboard. And a 4mm lock washer as a last resort, the later design used a serrated belvel washer or two! Locating those would be sheer luck.

verktyg 

I remove the lever and clean everything including the threads inside that brazeon lever boss or the clamp. I use Q-Tips and alcohol or solvent to make sure the threads are clean. Before reassembling, I put a drop of Loctite Blue in the threads and use a light coat of grease on all of the moving parts and wear surfaces making sure that no Loctite oozes out.

Adjust the tightness of the D-ring to where it's not too tight but wont slip.

verktyg

JohnDThompson 

Good point. The older iterations were somewhat different:

billnuke1 

Definitely use the blue...check your threads, too...over tightening is over torquing...incrementally going beyond tight enough each time the d-ring is used...make a thin mark on both the d-ring and the landing surface, the shifter indexed to the all the way up position and the d-ring tight...check it every once in awhile...

bikemike73 

Great schematic JonDThompson !!

Thank you for sharing.

Mine loosen up every once in a while.

I just tighten it up a little.

Seems to " loosen up" with the rough roads

norskagent

I had a similar problem, I tried several things but for me the solution was to put a little more "dome" in the dome washer. Can't remember exactly what I did but I know it involved a hammer and measured control.

repechage

I forgot this page- way back I wondered what the difference between the 174 and the 174/1 washer was... I have had both apart, but never studied the parts side by side.

jamesdak 

Glad to find this info. Wanted to service the Victory DT shifters on my old Colnago but wasn't sure about is and where to relube.

After a wonderful ride on my Opus III with sexy Superbe DT shifters I realized just how rough these Campagnolo ones are.

conspiratemus1

Being contrarian, I will say that the later ones with the nylon inserts became less likely to slip as they got dirty from riding in the rain, fenderless (as we all did, back then). More stiction, perhaps. Or self-serving false memory, also perhaps. It was also a given that you had to tighten that D-ring screw every so often. Ideally you’d feel the action getting just a tad slippery and give it a twist before it ghost shifted on you when you stood up to climb a hill. I don’t recall them ever being incapable of finding the sweet spot where they would hold at least temporarily, though.

Loc-tite on the screw threads seems unwise because a central feature, or bug, in the design of friction shifters was that you had to optimize the tightness in order to optimize the friction. If you were out riding with adhered threads you couldn’t decide to tighten or loosen them to suit, you’d be stuck with whatever you had when you assembled them. And then to take them apart, you’d need a tool, not just your fingers, on the D-ring to break the adhesive, and likely break the D-ring before the Loc-tite let go.

If they work, leave them alone is my advice. (The originator of this thread had shifters that didn’t work.). If they seem “rough”, try cleaning off any obvious crunchies that have got inside but don’t lube any of the parts that slide against each other at first. They are friction shifters, after all. If the barrel of the shifter lever is grinding against the boss that it rotates on, OK a little grease there, if removing rust from the steel shifter boss first doesn't help, but the parts that are meant to be pressed together by screw tension need to be sticky, not slippery.

dddd

I agree with conspiratemus1 that use of LocTite on the screw threads really defeats the advantage of being able to optimize the tension for best shifting.

I'm no expert on Campagnolo assembly diagrams from different years. I have dealt with a few full-campag setups where there was a tolerance problem between the boss and the washer flats that lead to constant loosening of the screw. This was hard to resolve because the washer is hardened and thus very difficult to smoosh inwards toward the flats on the boss. I had to use a big vise grip and a small ball bearing as I recall.

I have taken apart shift levers where the outer anti-rotation washer was not positioned (indexed) in alignment with the flats on the boss, leading to slippage. Other slipping levers had missing or reversed washer parts, as the assembly order (and facing directions of the washers) can be unintuitive for some of us. Sometimes I've had to take apart the left lever to find out what proper assembly should look like!

Sometimes (hopefully the case here!) the problem is merely the presence of gummed grease causing the lever position to drift. Gummed grease is like that, and can even prevent a stem quill from gripping well inside of the fork steerer!
I have often mentioned that along with cable lubrication/smoothness that lubricating a Syncro/SIS or friction shift lever internally was one of the very first things to do on any neglected bike that shifted poorly. Even merely applying motor oil internally is immediately effective and might last for years!

HTupolev

I just checked my blue-Loctite'd downtube friction shifter. It's SunTour BL, not Campagnolo, but it wasn't difficult to use the D-ring to break the adhesion by hand. Even if that were a concern, there's always purple Loctite.

Obviously red Loctite would be a poor choice.

Salamandrine 

Yeah, blue loctite is just gummy sticky stuff that impedes loosening. You will still be able to adjust the D ring. If it's not organic enough for you, boiled linseed oil works.

FWIW I've never needed to use either on a campy record shifter. They are pretty dang reliable and functional if properly assembled.

oneclick 

I think the general problem being described is not the shifter slipping, but the screw loosening. It's supposed to be kept from turning by the washer being fixed by the boss flats. If there is play between the washer and the boss it will wiggle back and forth as you shift, and the screw will unscrew. There is *always* (some) play.

Shifters deal with this issue in different ways. The Simplex shifters with a tabbed washer are easy to set up with no play. The tab fits in a slot in a projecting steel tongue - after assembly you squeeze the slot in a vice and done just right you get no - zero - play.

I found all the campy record shifters slip (so did the nasty Triplex copies). My favourite campy shifters are the Valentino/Gran Sport ones, nice big knurled thumb nuts and a tabbed setup you can fiddle with.