Following a gentle crash my XTR levers now have some play in them. The play in in the direction you pull to brake not side to side. What this means is that the lever flops away from the bars due to gravity then have about 1cm of travel before they engage and you can feel resistance again.

They seem to work okay but obviously it isn’t ideal. Has anyone come across this before? Are the levers likely to be dead or is it something that can be fixed and if so what parts and where from? All I can think it the push rod might have snapped allowing the lever to move further away from the bars but I’ve no idea how that damage would happen or why the brakes still seem to work???

Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

No diagrams available to check, but most brakes have a ball joint on the end of the pushrod that’s held in place by a washer(usually held into the body with a circlip). An impact often pulls the ball joint into the washer, and distorts it, causing play. Usually, placing the washer on an anvil (or similar), and hitting it flat with a hammer sorts it, but you may need to source a replacement washer if it’s too far gone.

Would you know if this washer is easily accessible? Would it be a messy job and require a bleed afterwards i.e. if I am not the best with bleeding is it a LBS job?

Thanks!

You’ll need to loosen the grubscrew that holds the lever pivot pin, remove the pivot pin, and screw the adjuster rod through the lever to gain access to the circlip. If the piston pops out once you remove the washer, it’ll need bleeding, if it stays in then it won’t.