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Shimano levers.... what witchcraft is this!?

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Shimano levers.... what witchcraft is this!?

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Old 07-25-20, 07:02 PM
  #1  
Chr0m0ly 
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Shimano levers.... what witchcraft is this!?




what kind of wafer thing socket fits in here?
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Old 07-25-20, 07:17 PM
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I think my 1/4 inch drive sockets fit there with the screwdriver handle thing. The hard part is finding hoods that fit.
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Old 07-25-20, 07:26 PM
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Gotta be metric.9mm?
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Old 07-25-20, 07:35 PM
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Nah. 10mm quarter inch socket on an extension will do the trick. Tight, but it works.
There’s a guy in France who sells hoods that fit those levers. Check eBay- they run under $10 a pair. More plastic than rubber but comes in at least three colors.
You’ll need to source beehives for the lever tops if you don’t already have them.
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Old 07-25-20, 08:48 PM
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Originally Posted by Classtime
I think my 1/4 inch drive sockets fit there with the screwdriver handle thing. The hard part is finding hoods that fit.
Or an 8/9/10mm "Y" wrench. The nut doesn't have to be really tight, just enough to hold the brake lever in position.
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Old 07-26-20, 03:00 AM
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!/4" drive with an 8mm socket does the trick, as I recall. Also, as mentioned, not too tight! I always mount very snug but allow for some movement in event of a drop or crash. Better to move a bit as opposed to bend a bit (my opinion only).
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Old 07-26-20, 05:36 AM
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Thinwall / deep-well metric socket is the way to go there. Hopefully you have access to a few of those. They're harder to get, now that Craftsman tools are made in the PRC.
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Old 07-26-20, 06:36 AM
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It requires an 8mm socket. My socket fits nicely. It's thin wall and slightly necked to a 12.0 mm outer diameter. The larger end, which is 12.5mm, won't fit inside the lever.


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Old 07-26-20, 06:59 AM
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Some "all-in-one" screwdrivers will fit over those nuts if you take the bit out of them.
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Old 07-26-20, 07:39 AM
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A campy T wrench (8 mm socket) works nicely on these. I'm pretty sure that the dia compe cane creek hoods will work well on these as well.
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Old 07-26-20, 11:42 AM
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I use a nut driver, I like that it's a hollow shaft (not so important for this job) and the handle stays attached. A full metric set was cheap at the "emporium of cheapness" Harbor Freight. Cheap drivers but still they have worked for me over many years.
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Old 07-26-20, 03:54 PM
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Originally Posted by Jeff Wills
Or an 8/9/10mm "Y" wrench. The nut doesn't have to be really tight, just enough to hold the brake lever in position.
+1 this. Something like this is what I use:


https://www.amazon.com/IceToolz-Sock.../dp/B0028N57SW
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Old 07-26-20, 04:41 PM
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Time to up that tool game.
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Old 07-26-20, 07:56 PM
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12-point sockets are usually thinner than 6-point. I rarely use 12-point, unless I come across a situation like this.
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Old 07-27-20, 06:17 AM
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My first gen D-A levers take an 8mm socket. It was tight enough that I ground down a cheap socket which is generally dedicated to that task now.
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Old 07-27-20, 07:37 AM
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I just ran into this issue with some Shimano 600 brake levers. Used a regular walled socket to remove it. Took a really long time, but my parents were visiting, and it gave me something "busy" to do while they were here. When I was ready to remount them, I used a fat washer on each side, so the nut would be more easily accessed. The washers I found were similar to those threaded nuts bundled with new presta tubes, but they just slipped on. Threading them on would have spelled disaster. It worked and they were simple to tighten with the same nuts and socket.
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