X9 Trigger-Rebuild after being an idiot!!!

johnnyrotten

After deciding it would be "educational" to look inside my front mech trigger to see how it worked and grease it, and change the cable, I can't get it working again. The top (small) trigger mechanism seems ok, but I can't get the bottom trigger to engage into the body properly, and its spring is giving me a nightmare. When it IS in, with no cable attached, it is flapping in the breeze. Can anyone help, or is this an LBS job? Cheers johnny.

seataltea

After servicing my bike in Feb the LBS took my X9 shifter apart for cleaning and lubrication........they fitted a brand new one last week after being unable to put it back together. They were good enough to loan me an X5 in the interim but the two are like chalk and cheese.

Be prepared for a spend.

timberjack

when i did mine i spent ages trying to get it to work, i eventually spotted a hole and realised i had lost a spring, i found it with a magnet on the shed floor. I wouldn't grease it, i greased mine and it formed a grinding paste and i ended up having to buy new shifters after the hard coating wore off and the shifters wouldn't release. Went for xt , far superior imho

godin

Ouch! Just "fixed" my front shifter (2008 X-9). It worked for a couple of hours then it stiffened up. I probably spilled thread lock somewhere.

There are no guides for the 2008 ones anywhere. I will take some pictures when I put it back together tomorrow.


/Jonas - Just noticed Merlins sale on X-0 shifters...

ExeterSimon

I was always told never to take apart the X9 shifters. Changing the cable can be done using that little hole (sorry...no idea what the technical term is).

I hear loads of stories of shifters not working properly after they were stripped for unesessary cleaning.

I've had X9s on my Stumpjumper for 2 years now and apart from new cables that's all I've had to do. And that's with riding at least twice a week all year around.

mcbazza

On both my X9 and X0's there is no access hole (with the rubber bung) to replace cables.
You have to remove the top cover (which invariably means removing the shifter from the bars), be careful not to lose the spring, replace cable, refit cover.

I wouldn't buy X0 again. Not after having a level shear off, and finding it was just shy of £40 to buy ONLY THE REPLACEMENT METAL LEVER!!!

X0 are nice. Very nice. But, once on the bars, and sat under a Juicy you can't even see the 'bling' carbon cover.
But, X9 are exactly (more or less) the same, for much less money.

Then there's the fact that MatchMakers cost so much money, that you'd think they'd be included with the X0 set as standard (they're not), and that I recently had a MatchMaker snap whilst removing the X9 to do a cable swap.
Grrrr....

adb1006

There's an article somehwere about rebuilding an X9 shifter - looks very complicated but the article is good and very detailed. I'll have a look for it.

EDIT: found it http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showth ... p?t=130339

breezer

Brilliant thanks! I took one of my X.9's apart so I could use the main bolt in an Attack one on another bike then promptly dropped it on the floor! may have a chance of repairing it now once I find a suitable bolt

godin

There is a link on that page to someone rebuilding a newer shifter (http://www.sicklines.com/tech/howto/sra ... r-rebuild/). It still doesn't look like a 2008. I am uploading two clips on youtube on how to assemble and attach the lever without having to take the body apart. I will post the links + some pictures when I get back from work tonight.


/Jonas

johnnyrotten

Thanks folks. I managed to get it back together. Only took an hour! Still, it gave me something to do on the train home yesterday.
I still need to get a new cable on there and see if it still works. It seems like it will work, but I've got a feeling it's not going to feel quite right somehow... If not, I'll splash out on another one. Still prefer Sram, and wouldn't buy Shimano as a replacement.

godin

Nice one. Ill post this guide anyway just in case someone else is interested.

I'm not sure if any of this makes sense. I am fairly tired, so I'm typing this out quickly. I might clean it up tomorrow

So, this is how to re-assemble the lever side of an 2008 SRAM X-9 front shifter without having to disassemble the body.

Picture 1 shows all components apart from the black plastic cover that holds the lever return spring, and the spring itself. T1 and T2 is simply "Thingy 1" and "Thingy 2".



Lightly grease R1 and R2. This keeps water out and also keeps them from falling off when you assemble the mechanism. R1 goes on first, then R2. Note the tab on R2 and the notch in the lever.

Picture 2



T2 goes at (3) (See picture 3), S1 fits around (2) with the straight arm resting against (1). The kinked arm pushes T2 outwards (Picture 4). The lever return spring enters the lever body at (4).

Picture 3




Picture 4



I was quite generous with the grease when I put everything back together, just to keep it from falling apart. You do want to grease the ends of T2 and the base of T1 at least.

T1 goes on top. the lever return spring enters at (1). The most difficult bit for me was to keep T2 from slipping out of the hole in T1 when I was tensioning the lever return spring and flipped it upside down to attach the lever to the body.

Picture 5




The lever body. I kept it upside down on the handle bra as I was re-attaching the lever.

(1) is the plastic cover that locks the lever return spring to the body.
(2) is the lever return spring.
Note the position of (3). The tab on T2 fits in the groove here. Make sure the notches in the groove are free from crud.

Picture 6



A picture of the top side of the shifter body. Note the positions of the springs.

Picture 7



A picture showing how T1 and T2 will fit in the shifter body.

Picture 8


The pictures where taken when I cleaned everything, so I don't have any pictures of the lever with the lever return spring attached. Make sure the spring is wound the right way (see video).

When attaching the lever to the shifter body, I found it easiest if I pre-wound the spring to make sure it coiled around the outside of the lever tight enough to fit in the shifter body. I also had to twist the spring a bit to hook the end that goes under the plastic cover in to the shifter body. Also, make sure the plastic cover fits between the spring and the metal washer (R2, remember?)


Clip 1: Assembling the lever
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIfe1owAfSw&feature=channel

Clip 2: Attaching the lever to the shifter body
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYUnky8SSjU&feature=channel


/Jonas

johnnyrotten

Jonas, thanks a million for the great guide and clips. It makes it really clear.

I might need to rebuild mine again. I think the return is a bit wrong, but i won't find out until next week when I get a chance to stick a new cable in.

Thanks again