Campagnolo 11s Shifter Rebuild

[VoyTirando]

While stripping a frame to build another, I pulled out the old shift cable to install a fresh one. Somewhere in the process I hit the lever and the barrel had rotated from zero. When I pressed the button nothing happened. A weak click and then nothing. Repeated attempts resulted in further Nothing. I tried poking something sharp in there to see if I could force it. Nothing. Then, unwisely I took off the back bolt to see if I could manually rotate the wheel with some improved access. Nope: all I got was a pile of small parts and an internal, 'oh, crap....'.

Before said disaster, the left shift wasn't great: a VERY hard drop from large to small ring, no trimming. Now it's toast.

Anyone have thoughts on whether this can be repaired? Whether it's worth it?

In the meantime, I've got an old mirage I'll throw in the left side. Mismatched but works fine....

[macaroon]

Originally Posted by VoyTirando

While stripping a frame to build another, I pulled out the old shift cable to install a fresh one. Somewhere in the process I hit the lever and the barrel had rotated from zero. When I pressed the button nothing happened. A weak click and then nothing. Repeated attempts resulted in further Nothing. I tried poking something sharp in there to see if I could force it. Nothing. Then, unwisely I took off the back bolt to see if I could manually rotate the wheel with some improved access. Nope: all I got was a pile of small parts and an internal, 'oh, crap....'.

Before said disaster, the left shift wasn't great: a VERY hard drop from large to small ring, no trimming. Now it's toast.

Anyone have thoughts on whether this can be repaired? Whether it's worth it?

In the meantime, I've got an old mirage I'll throw in the left side. Mismatched but works fine....

If all of the innards fell out, then just put them all back together again in the right order and it should work.

[macaroon]

You should have something like this

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by VoyTirando

While stripping a frame to build another, I pulled out the old shift cable to install a fresh one. Somewhere in the process I hit the lever and the barrel had rotated from zero. When I pressed the button nothing happened. A weak click and then nothing. Repeated attempts resulted in further Nothing. I tried poking something sharp in there to see if I could force it. Nothing. Then, unwisely I took off the back bolt to see if I could manually rotate the wheel with some improved access. Nope: all I got was a pile of small parts and an internal, 'oh, crap....'.

Before said disaster, the left shift wasn't great: a VERY hard drop from large to small ring, no trimming. Now it's toast.

Anyone have thoughts on whether this can be repaired? Whether it's worth it?

In the meantime, I've got an old mirage I'll throw in the left side. Mismatched but works fine....

Is it Ultrashift? Multi higher gears with thumb button? Send it to me and I can fix it. If Powershift, no real 'fixing'...If the toothed disc goes 'past' the wee lever on the shift lever, it will do what you are saying..need to reassemble..but send it to me.

[cmg]

What holds the spring? Does it anchor on the body of the shifter or does it have the ring with the post?

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by cmg

What holds the spring? Does it anchor on the body of the shifter or does it have the ring with the post?

11s Shift disc with notches facing another with wee ball bearings pushed by teeny springs. No shift springs ala older ERGO and that older ERGO post was to anchor a spring that made the shift effort easier..starting in 1998. The spring in the back anchors n body. As does the spring in the front. Another one anchors in a hole in the body the one at the base of the shift guts in the back.

[gfk_velo]

Originally Posted by VoyTirando

While stripping a frame to build another, I pulled out the old shift cable to install a fresh one. Somewhere in the process I hit the lever and the barrel had rotated from zero. When I pressed the button nothing happened. A weak click and then nothing. Repeated attempts resulted in further Nothing. I tried poking something sharp in there to see if I could force it. Nothing. Then, unwisely I took off the back bolt to see if I could manually rotate the wheel with some improved access. Nope: all I got was a pile of small parts and an internal, 'oh, crap....'.

Before said disaster, the left shift wasn't great: a VERY hard drop from large to small ring, no trimming. Now it's toast.

Anyone have thoughts on whether this can be repaired? Whether it's worth it?

In the meantime, I've got an old mirage I'll throw in the left side. Mismatched but works fine....

As Old Potatoe says, part of the answer depends on whether it's UltraShift (easily fixable) or PowerShift (fixable if you have access to the spares but can be a bit hit-and-miss).

If it's PowerShift, which is what I am guessing from your description of pre "oh crap" feel on the lever, you might be able to reassemble with a new cable bushing if you can find one - and it might be OK. The problem that you have, though, is that the plastics used for the thumb lever and the cable bushing have degraded (usual reason is spraying mineral oil into the shifter) and the contact areas are worn. PowerShift relies on two accurately timed operations inside the lever to work properly and wear in the interface between the thumb lever and the cable bushing will upset that timing.

Older PowerShift levers with black cable busing were more susceptible to this - newer ones, since Feb 2014 (white cable bushing) are better, because the materials change that is evidenced by the colour of the cable bushing makes them less susceptible to accelerated wear of the plastic parts.

If you are going to try the reassembly route, scrub the lever out with soapy water first to get all vestages of oil out, dry, then reassemble with the correct, synthetic grease and pay attention to the mechanism in the front of the lever - the finger lever return spring coils around a plastic bushing at the front of the lever and if that gets displaced, the spindle that everything revolves around does not come far enough "back" into the rear portion of the lever - so when you assemble the other lever parts onto it, the various components are not accurately placed and you will get lever function problems anyway.

Best get someone who knows what they are doing onto this gig, as you can spend alot of time getting nowhere if you don't know how the lever should go back together and what to look for along the way.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by gfk_velo

As Old Potatoe says, part of the answer depends on whether it's UltraShift (easily fixable) or PowerShift (fixable if you have access to the spares but can be a bit hit-and-miss).

If it's PowerShift, which is what I am guessing from your description of pre "oh crap" feel on the lever, you might be able to reassemble with a new cable bushing if you can find one - and it might be OK. The problem that you have, though, is that the plastics used for the thumb lever and the cable bushing have degraded (usual reason is spraying mineral oil into the shifter) and the contact areas are worn. PowerShift relies on two accurately timed operations inside the lever to work properly and wear in the interface between the thumb lever and the cable bushing will upset that timing.

Older PowerShift levers with black cable busing were more susceptible to this - newer ones, since Feb 2014 (white cable bushing) are better, because the materials change that is evidenced by the colour of the cable bushing makes them less susceptible to accelerated wear of the plastic parts.

If you are going to try the reassembly route, scrub the lever out with soapy water first to get all vestages of oil out, dry, then reassemble with the correct, synthetic grease and pay attention to the mechanism in the front of the lever - the finger lever return spring coils around a plastic bushing at the front of the lever and if that gets displaced, the spindle that everything revolves around does not come far enough "back" into the rear portion of the lever - so when you assemble the other lever parts onto it, the various components are not accurately placed and you will get lever function problems anyway.

Best get someone who knows what they are doing onto this gig, as you can spend alot of time getting nowhere if you don't know how the lever should go back together and what to look for along the way.

I'll add, the droopy thumb button Powershift is WAY more durable and robust than the pre droopy thumb button ones. GFK can correct but I think those started in 2015 model year.

[VoyTirando]

So, per OP's description, it's power shift. One great at a time via the droopy button (though of course this is the front/left). Noting 'looks' broken. But the pile of parts sadly doesn't look like the picture above. The final bit that I stupidly removed was what I'd describe as a cheap metal disc, secured by a bolt, under which was the white cable-carrying wheel. I suspect that an attempt at reassembly is best a job for OP

In the meantime, the 8spd mirage shifter I've got mounted, paired with a 10 speed Chorus front derailleur, on a chorus 10 crank, works wonderfully with my otherwise 11 speed (chain/cassette, rear/left shifter/mech) system.