Is there still hope it it clicks? DA 8 speed brifters revival
 

Hi all, I have a pair of DA brifters which I thought I could revive with the old WD40 / Triflow combo. The right shifter had 1 or 2 clicks in it so I felt like this could just be a matter of dried up grease. After having worked them for quite some time with WD40, I have managed to get the full 7 clicks a few times, but it feels like a lottery. Most of the time I'll just get 1-2 clicks, 3-4 if I'm lucky.

As a more radical solution I tried to to let them soak in Varsol (paint thinner) for a day. The left shifter feels very nice now but the right one is pretty much the same. If I'm very patient and work it a lot, I will end up saving 5-6-7 clicks, but the second after I'll be down to 1-3 clicks.

I was just curious to know it those with more experience in brifter revival would say that the fact that I sometimes get the full range of clicks means the shifter can be saved to a certain extent, and if so, if there is another trick I could try before opening the brifter itself. Or maybe this whole thing is just a lottery in the end and there is really no way to tell? I've spent quite a lot of time on the shifter so far..! Thanks

Did you receive them this way? It's possible there's a piece of frayed cable in there.

I bought them for cheap thinking I could restore them. So technically not impossible

Solvents only get you so far. I haven’t tried it yet but I believe that you can partly disassemble the malfunctioning shifter down to where you can get a better look at the internals. I think I have read that some encrusted grease on the pawls occasionally has to be scraped away. I have a misbehaving front 7800 double STI shifter that is reluctant to downshift and then crunching hard when it finally does release.

Also, I have a lighted magnifier headlamp that I just used to repack my Dura Ace 9000 pedals. Having the magnification can be a bit of a revelation for fussy jobs like this. I kept track of all my loose bearings and adjusted the cones and locknut correctly thanks to the magnification.

In many cases the shifters have to be taken apart and cleaned manually to restore their complete functionality. If you aren't ready for at least a few hours of painfully precise work it's probably best to just get a functioning pair.

I would loke to use them for a project, but I don't need to use them ASAP. So I might just take them apart then!

Sounds like a complete disassemble is in order here. I did this with a set of first-gen Shimano 600 units which were completely frozen. Disassembled, cleaned, regreased and then put back together with a tool which I had to manufacture, so not easy, but they work beautifully now.

Are you getting missed shifts with the cable installed (with tension), or just by operating the shifter by itself?

It may work fine with the cable tension applied.

You didn't mention which direction of shifts are intermittent, pulling cable or releasing cable(?).

Good points! I have not tried it with cable tension, as I thought it wouldn't work since the shifting is veeeeeery inconsistant. If I work the small lever with resolution, I know I'll end up getting 1-2 extra clicks, but the gain is momentary. The second after the clicks are gone. This answers your second question: it's the small lever that seems to be malfunctioning. Whenever I get it to work, I know that I'll be able to pull the cable one click up.

Definitely try with cable tension. I've had good success with all types of those old 8 speed levers by fitting a cable or even just a short length of old cable with the ferrule still attached.

I rebuilt some Shimano 8 speed STI shifters. There is a special nut that needs to be removed with a special tool. I made the tool myself out of a socket and dremel tool. I took photos with my phone every step of the way because there are so many little parts that are in a very particular order. It was a pain and if not for the photos I would not have been able to put them back together. When I got them apart, the problem was old grease that had taken on the consistency of old peanut butter so that nothing could move. I realized then that I did not need to take them completely apart and only needed to take them apart to a certain point and then soak the parts in solvent.

Moved from C & V.

If the hoods and other cosmetics are good, either rebuild yourself, or pay someone to rebuilt. There are a couple of people on ebay selling rebuild services at a reasonable price. Myself, I keep the 56400 and 7400 brifters for this purpose. The beauty of the 8 speed stuff is that it is rebuildable.

IMHO, the solvent flush is a joke, waste of time, and is temporary at best.

Do you follow any guide/video when it comes to deassembly/reassembly?

I just have them rebuilt by others. I put my time into other repairs.