# Possible broken cable-head holder inside STI shifter (Pictures added)(



## bd772 (Apr 6, 2015)

I have a Salsa Fargo gravel bike bike with 2013 SRAM Red 10speed shifters, and I think the plastic bracket piece (cable drum??) that holds the cable-head may be broken.

There's a thin slit/gap where on the cable drum(?) where the cable head is supposed to rest in.

I feed the cable in correctly and it sits where it's supposed to when there's tension on the cable, but the cable head slips out when I shift to the highest gear (loosening the cable tension).

I don't think I can purchase that broken piece separately and buying a new shifter is an option at the moment. I'm a budget biker and want to try to find a fix before spending more money on this bike.

Someone suggested JB weld.. would it stand to constant shifting up and down?

Any help/suggestion would be appreciated. Thank you all for reading!

p.s. why are these shifters so expensive? Please don't tell me I need brand new shifters, lol.
(pictures to follow)


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## bd772 (Apr 6, 2015)

The first picture shows that when the cable is taut, the cable-head stays in place and shifts ok. The last picture is when I shift to highest gear on the cassette, the cable head always falls out of it's "home". This is when I'm clicking at the shifter and it won't shift since the cable is no longer attached to the red plastic piece. Any way to keep this from occuring?


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## Lone Rager (Dec 13, 2013)

Yep. You diagnosed that correctly. A new SRAM Rival 10s shifter is ~$120. Force and Red are higher. Years ago I found some SRAM shifter parts on the web that I ordered from the EU. They were not available in the USA. You might see what you can find parts-wise, or look on eBay for used or take-off shifters.

I can think of no adhesive that would work in that application.


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

what it should look like


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## bd772 (Apr 6, 2015)

Lone Rager said:


> Yep. You diagnosed that correctly. A new SRAM Rival 10s shifter is ~$120. Force and Red are higher. Years ago I found some SRAM shifter parts on the web that I ordered from the EU. They were not available in the USA. You might see what you can find parts-wise, or look on eBay for used or take-off shifters.
> 
> I can think of no adhesive that would work in that application.


Ugh. I was afraid this was the case.


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## bd772 (Apr 6, 2015)

127.0.0.1 said:


> what it should look like
> View attachment 1260785


Thanks for the pic. I wondered how it was supposed to look. The left shifter isn't being used since it's 1x10 setup. The red plastic piece is probably reversed in the left shifter right? so I can't transplant it into the right?


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## wschruba (Apr 13, 2012)

Get your hands on some short, stiff wire, and bend into a partial loop ('U' shape) that spans over the broken area..you'll probably need a pair of chain-nose pliers. Drill, using a pin vise, two holes for it to rest in, and then clean the plastic area as well as possible. Grease the cable head well, and leave it out of the area for the moment; carefully smush/shape a blob of epoxy over the wire,and after placing the cable head into its home, smush the epoxy around, but not over, the head. Let it cure, and pull the cable head out (since it was greased, the epoxy shouldn't stick).

Since it already doesn't work, you have nothing to lose...


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

^^^good idea. use standard jb weld cold, mix it up and let it firm up to silly putty mode then use that. jb weld is great for this since it takes a while to get cured you can use it like putty halfway through the curing process...as said nothing to lose really. after 36 hours that jb weld will take that cable load


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## bd772 (Apr 6, 2015)

Thank you all for your input. I couldn't use the thin wire method because there weren't enough clearance on one end of the plastic piece. What I ended up doing was make a base coat using a weaker glue (E6000) as a "base coat", let that cure, then as you all suggested, used JB weld putty to carefully coat the base coat. 

The E6000 base coat isn't going to be super hard/strong like the JB weld. My hope is that down the road when it's time to change the shifter cable, I'll be able to remove the cable only along with the base coat, as needed, while the JB weld will stay put.

I'm going to let it cure and will report back.

This forum is so very helpful due to experts like you guys. Rock on!


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## Lone Rager (Dec 13, 2013)

I think the approach I would try is simply gluing in the head of the cable in with JB Weld in the hope that it would form around and between the cable end and pocket preventing it from coming out. I'd clean the parts off very well with solvent but even with that the JB Weld won't adhere well at all to the the plastic and would probably come right out with the cable when you need to remove it. I wouldn't hold out much hope for that holding up, but it's what I'd try.


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

bd772 said:


> p.s. why are these shifters so expensive? Please don't tell me I need brand new shifters, lol.


all brifter type shifters are expensive. Especially the ones where hydraulics are jammed in there with the shifty bits. since your shifter is trashed, I don't see anything wrong with diving in with some aggressive attempts at recovery. but I think you're going to need to buy a new shifter eventually.


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## bd772 (Apr 6, 2015)

Not the cleanest but it's holding up for now. Hope this will be a lasting fix. Saves me from dropping couple hundred!


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## mack_turtle (Jan 6, 2009)

Genevale might be a cheaper option- https://www.gevenalle.com/shifters/

You might also aquire a bar-end shifter or downtube shifter. I rode with barcons for a long time and liked the simplicity, durability, and cheapness of them.


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## bd772 (Apr 6, 2015)

mack_turtle said:


> Genevale might be a cheaper option- https://www.gevenalle.com/shifters/
> 
> You might also aquire a bar-end shifter or downtube shifter. I rode with barcons for a long time and liked the simplicity, durability, and cheapness of them.


Intriguing, thanks. definitely more affordable. Will it work with my existing SRAM X0 10 speed derailleur?


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## mack_turtle (Jan 6, 2009)

I might be in a little over my head (singlespeeders here), but you definitely need a shifter that will work with your rear derailleur. Look for a SRAM-compatible 10 speed bar end shifter. Microshift might make one too. I am 99% certain that you can mis-match SRAM road and MTN 10 speed shifty bits, but Shimano is another story.


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