Shimano Deore XT M732 thumbshifter clamps

[Spanky22b]

Been rummaging through the boxes and found some XT shifters which i was sure i had but never knew where they were lol
That's a common thing for me, buy something then put it to one side for a build, forget about it and then go to do the build ages later only to think i better buy the part and totally forget i've already got it which in this case i must have forgot quite a few times
So exciment seeing all these quickly turned to, why are XT clamps so crap and always strip there threads
Bar the one with the bolt in and that's there to remind me it works all the rest have stripped threads
Also no idea where the clamps for the rear shifters have gone aswell, no doubt lost somewhere in the cave never to be seen for years lol
So who else has had this problem and more importantly has managed to fix them without completely wrecking them so there not scrap.
On the plus side i did find these nos MT60 Shimano Deore left hand shifters, no idea when i bought them though

 

[Tootyred]

Yes. I've fixed a few. Basic helicoil kit will do it. Think they are m5 from memory. The only thing is you will probably want to put a washer on the bolt as to get the helicoil in means taking a 1/2mm out of the bolt hole to get it through. Other than that easy fix.

 

[Dr Dremel]

BITD I did the poor mans (or was it the drunk man?) helicoil version, just thread a bolt one size up in

What I did not realize at the time was that you do want the shifters to move if you crash to prevent further damage, so no need to crank the clamps down as hard.

 

[benjabbi]

I did the same thing as @Dr Dremel bitd just forced a bigger bolt in! It did the job.
I recently had to do some Suntour thumbies, the stock bolts only had 3-4mm of thread engagement so coupled with a slightly undersized bar it's no wonder they stripped. I did as @Tootyred suggested, a basic helicoil kit off ebay was less than £10, took about 5 minutes per shifter, added some 5mm longer bolts and all is good, well worth a tenner and a little time.

 

[Spanky22b]

Cheers for the advice everyone, helicoil is the way forward by the sounds of it
Sounds like the diameter of the handlebars could be one of the main causes of the threads being stripped then something to think of next time.

 

[Spanky22b]

Is this the type of helecoil kit you need to save the clamps?

 

[benjabbi]

That will certainly do the job.
You'll only need the M5 for the shifters but that could come in handy for other things.

 

[Spanky22b]

That will certainly do the job.
You'll only need the M5 for the shifters but that could come in handy for other things.

Nice one i'll get it ordered then, i need one of the sets for my Kona AA i'm starting to build.