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So my LH XTR Trail lever has seized and no amount of jiggling is helping. I've tried to reverse bleed it but the piston is well and truly stuck so that's just going to end up with me covered in red fluid.
Last resort is a replacement lever but they don't seem to be available. Anyone seen one in stock anywhere?
Failing (or even better than) that, anyone know an easy way to free these up and clean them through?
Damn these unrebuildable Shimano things!
Cheers
G
They are rebuildable.
Shimano don't seal replacement master cylinder seals, but other companies do.
Shimano do now sell replacement diaphragms at long last though.
May just need stripped and cleaned and seals lubed with silicone grease?
This video shows how to replace the master cylinder piston and seals with an aftermarket kit, but obviously you could follow the same procedure to remove, clean, relive and refit your existing one.
Worth a try!
Edit - can't get link to work, but search Shimano Master Cylinder rebuild on YouTube and you'll find several how-tos.
I had some xt levers fail on me. I think they got a bit of dirt in them over the years and stopped working while out on a ride on a very hot day.
I took them apart, cleaned them etc. It fixed them but I was never confident it would be a permanent fix and was always worried they'd fail again so replaced them.
Don't forget xtr has a 3 year warranty
I've rebuilt both of mine with new master cylinders and seals from eBay. The resin cylinder swells up and gets stuck in the lever, it started off just doing it when leaving the bike in the sun, then got worse to the point it was practically impossible to bleed them without slathering silicone grease over the seals.
However managed to break the two springs that stop the lever flapping back and forth, must have put them back incorrectly 🙁 Anyone know if the springs from other brakes in the range fit?
Ah thanks for the info guys - will have a watch of the video and see if I've got appropriate tools as the IIRC the pins you need to remove are tiny.
Cheers
XTR cylinders doing what the SRAM Guide did.
Had to fix both my Guides.
damascus
Don’t forget xtr has a 3 year warrant
Ha I wish - they were bought 2nd hand about 6 years ago so they haven’t done too bad. 😀
Anyone have any experience of buying one of these kits? If so, who did you buy from?
I'm looking on eBay at the (ironically named?) Risk branded type as shown in one of the Youtube vids. I'm assuming they're all the same and they'll fit the XTR like in the video.
G
This any good on Amazon SHIMANO XTR M9120 Brake Lever £86.99. Says there is one LH lever in stock
Anyone have any experience of buying one of these kits? If so, who did you buy from?
I recently rebuilt my son's Guide Ultimates using Risk pistons sourced from here. Apart from the usual slow delivery, they installed and worked an absolute treat, so if you can source a version for XTR (which do seem to be available) then I dare say they will be fine.
Couple of other notes. I have a set of XTR M9000 race brakes on one of my bikes and they also started sticking when they were only a few months old. They were especially bad in warm weather, but by 20C ambient they were unusable and just jammed in (much like my son's Guides). Shimano warrantied them as a known issue, so perhaps it's worth talking to a friendly dealer, even if they are out of warranty. My warranty replacements have been absolutely fine since they were swapped.
If you do go Risk, I'd chuck in a couple of sets of spare seals. Hopefully you'll not need them, but they are very, very tight to fit and if you do end up splitting one, you'll be cursing that you didn't have a spare for a couple of quid vs 6 weeks delivery.
I used the guide here (a couple of posts down). However, he makes a real meal out of punching out the pins using woodscrews and nails etc, I just used a small punch and small hammer and they tap out easily. I think I used a bradawl or similar.
Thanks for the seals advice @daern I'll see if I can get some ordered as I've already placed an order.
Thanks Spooky. I was most worried about teh pins but now I've filed a flat end on a tiny nail it's knocked out pretty easily. I thought that was going to be a nightmare. I won't disassemble until the bits get here but at least I've got over that hurdle.
@Tracey thanks for the Amazon link, I had seen it but on reading the responses and watched a few videos I'm going to see if I can refurb them before I get the credit card out. I'd rather not throw these away if they can be repaired/upgraded.
If it doesn't work out please give me a shout before you get rid of them!
https://www.freewheel.co.uk/shimano-xtr-bl-m9100-xtr-complete-brake-lever-i-spec-ev-ready-varblm9100
In stock here and they have a "15% off your first order" offer.
If you get stuck, I've got a box of rusty nails and a lump hammer to help you get them apart 😉 (that video was quite astonishing!)
@sillyoldman you mention diaphragms - I see I can get them from SJS Cycles but there's no pics and I can't see where they'd go without disassembling the thing (also can't find an exploded diagram). Where do they go and are they easy to fit?
@speeder - they go inside the cylindrical reservoir with the black plastic cap on the end.
Easy to remove/fit. Remove (or loosen to last thread) the small grub screw that secures the end cap. Remove bleed screw and o-ring. Use a small Allen key (2mm ish) through the bleed screw hole to pop the end cap and attached diaphragm out.
Replacement is easy as long as you copy the orientation of the diaphragm on the end cap.
Diaphragm is no 9 in the exploded diagram:-
@sillyoldman thanks for the link to that exploded view. I had struggled to fond anything with that level of detail and that explains it perfectly. Cheers.
No idea if I need them replacing - anyone got a feel for if it's likely needed? Almost feel like I might as well whilst I've got them apart.
You’ll typically see oil coming out of that plastic cap if the diaphragm is damaged. Usually done by pushing the caliper pistons home on an overfilled system without first fitting the bleed funnel to allow excess fluid out. If the fluid has nowhere to go, it’ll split the diaphragm.
I'm not sure I've split mine but I've certainly pushed the pistons back without first attaching the funnel so I could well have damaged them. For a few quid I think it's worth replacing them or at least buying the bladders so I've got one "in stock". Cheers @sillyoldman
👍
Actually just realised that mine are the older M9020 versions. So this diagram applies
Does this lever even have a diaphragm? It's not featured on that view/list. I should open it up and have a look really but it's going to be a busy week. If it does I assume it's the same as the M9100 version mentioned even though everywhere I've seen it listed says M9100 only though that's probably just scare tactics and they're likely universal.
M9100 race lever uses a smaller diaphragm. Yours should be same as M9120/M8100/M8000 etc - the servo wave levers.
part. no Y1XK9801T