Problems with Dura Ace Shifters
 

Dura Ace 9000 Series -

I am having trouble getting the small lever shifters (Shift to a higher gear) to engage. I know they won't engage if you have inadvertently pressed in the large lever, but they are doing it (not engaging) all the time. I can usually get the to engage by pressing them sloooowly. The problem is that I don't always want to shift slooooowly. I have meticulously cleaned and lubed them, no help.

Is there something that wears to cause this, a spring loosing tension etc?

Thank you

Rich

Sounds like a cable issue somewhere along the line. Other than that, I am not jumping into this one.

Not a cable issue, the lever is not engaging in the shifter...
I am going to try to lube it again, maybe I am not getting lube where it needs to be.
Rich

I've found that fresh cables makes a big difference in the performance of the DA 9000 groupset on my road bike. I try to replace them once a year. The housing I leave alone, but have refreshed the whole setup recently and it's shifting like new.

From your description its hard to tell what is going on. If the shifter is "ghost" shifting; ie.., you swing the shifter and there are no clicks, you have a shifter with thick coagulated grease inside the shifter that is impairing the ratchet mechanism from engaging. I have found that if you take a cardboard coffee cup and cut it down to three inches tall. fill it with two inches of karosine (I have had success with motor oil) with the cables removed, you need to submerge the shifting part for 20 minutes. (no downside to doing it longer) I did this to a shifter in 2010, and it still shifts fine.

Have you pulled the cable out to make certain it's not frayed inside the shifter?

When I hear that going to the high ratio gears is an issue and shifting to the low ratio gears is okay, then frayed cables is my first suspicion.

Don't think LUBE, think FLUSH. You're trying to get the crud out of the little nooks.

Thanks all, I'll go at again to try to get it clean.

Rich

Usually the advice is to flush & relube. This is not always the solution.

I've had them work perfectly fine in the hand, but as soon as you put cable tension on them, the ratcheting mechanism does not engage as it should. If this is the case, the shifter has worn too much. Whatever bearing/bushing/bit holds the pawl square & true to the ratchet wheel is no more.

New shifter time?

it could be new shifter time. I just inspected them and the internals are very clean but very dry. I lubed with tri-flow and they are working ok. They still miss once in awhile but they are much better.
I keep this bike very clean. It looks like I have removed all the lube.

thanks for all the help, let’s see if I can some more life out of these.

rich

What product did you use to clean before you re-lubed?

Also what cable housing and style of cable are you using - bare stainless or the polymer coated type.

how much use has this bike / shifters seen ?

was the bike sitting (unisex) for a length of time ?

this problem - or similar - is fairly common for Shimano shifters that sat (unused) for a while ; the factory lube / grease thickens and in some cases hardens

Check out the attached video. I've used the method to flush, clean and lube, with great success on a few sets of shifters. They recommend using White Lightning Clean Streak to flush. I like to use WD40 as the primary solvent to degrease and flush out the old grease, then use the Clean Streak as a final "rinse" to remove the WD40 since the Clean Streak dries cleanly. (It's also cheaper this way since WD40 is much cheaper than Clean Streak). The recommended Boeshield is a great light lubricant and protectant. However, I don't dab the grease onto the internals as shown, since it just seems like a dirt magnet. As maintenance, I do spray a shot of Boeshield into the internals once a year.

Flood the begeebers out of the shifter moving mechanism with WD40, I mean really spray it , let it drip profusely That has helped me in the past.

[edit] Just saw the posted video above - a good one.