What and how to use to lubricate Shimano shifters??

[biker.caliente]

My DA 7800 rear shifter gummed up and was having trouble shifting up. I give its internals a good squirt of WD40, based on some of the forumites' experience, and it shifts beautifully now. I can't say enough good about this forum.

My knowledge tells me WD40 acts as a degreaser and I should give the reborn shifters a good lube job. From I have found out, some folks use lithium-based lubricant and others use silicone-based or wax-based.

What do some of you folks that had done this shifter-reviving job use for lubricating and how well it worked? Any specific brand and make that you'd recommend? Also, how it should be applied? There is the aerosol spray can type and there is the same can but with a straw for squirting streams. What are your experiences?

Also, my original DA hood seems a bit loose after the WD40 bath. Would it cause the rubber hood to expand?


Appreciate your help.

[DRietz]

You're absolutely right - WD40 works magnificently to free the hardened grease, but is not the best fix in terms of lubrication.

As we say in my line of work:

"TriFlow is like the cologne of bike shops."

And, that's because it is. We use this lubricant for everything, including bringing gummed up shifters back to life.

You can get it in aerosol cans or in dripper bottles. I typically drop or spray (a wee bit messier, IME) directly in the shifter through the hole where one would thread a new shift cable.

In my opinion, that's really the only option with shifters like yours. There's no way you can go back in and regrease, so a thinner lubricant is the next best thing. It should last quite a while and if you find the time in your regular bike maintenance to squirt a couple drops in each shifter, then that's more than enough.

The one thing I would definitely NOT use is a wax-based lube. I believe OldPotatoe has a $20 surcharge at Vecchio's for scraping White Lightning off a drive train, and I wish we charged for that additional pain in the arse as well. Wax-based lubes are a great way to gum something up again...

By the way - your hood is probably loose because there's un-evaporated WD40 under it.

[jh_on_the_cape]

Tri-flow.

[559Rando]

I brought an old Tiagra back to life with a lot of WD-40 and simultaneous shifting. After the flush out it, it felt gritty, but I lubed it with TriFlow and hung the bike from the rafters overnight and the following day all the grittiness was gone and it shifted like new.

[Bob Loblaw]

The WD40 (or tri-flo works too) will actually not flush out the grease if you don't dramatically overdo it. It will just soften up the grease and keep it from being sticky. You'll have to do the same flush again some years in the future, which is proof the grease is still in there and getting gummed up again.

BL