I have a 2011 SRAM X9 9speed shifter. This is the type with the hole and rubber flap in the plastic cover to allow the cable to be fitted without taking the cover off.

When I change down to a lower gear the lever is not returning. Has anyone had this problem before and if so how did you fix it? I have fitted a shifter from another bike to my main bike for riding this week, but I need to get the broken one fixed if possible. I did take it to bits and I couldn’t see anything obviously wrong with it.

Yup, have had something similar before. The return spring broke. I dismantled the shifters and fabricated my own out of another (X7) shifter I’d scrapped.

Rebuilding was a massive, massive PITA. The shifters still work but the amount of faffing around to fix was ridiculous.

eBay is your friend, sadly.

+1 I dismantled an X9 lever some time back and drove myself mad rebuilding it…

+2!

Happened to me last year. Found a replacement on line which was available in my local Halfords!

Not sure, but I may have a good X0 9-speed shifter down the shed. Possibly needs a new long lever (not sure if the X9 in interchangeable.). Can have a look if you are interested.

Mark

Assume as you’ve fitted another shifter and this works friction between the inner and outer cable is not the problem.

I’ve had exactly the same problem which turned out to be muck and water in the X9 shifter just making the mechanism sticky. Plus there is a “tension” screw from the base of the shifter up through the body that needs to be correct.

They are a fiddle to dismantle, I took photos on my phone at each stage so I could refer to these and placed every component the right way up on a clean tray as they were removed.

Cleaned everything, light oil and rebuild and it’s been fine ever since.

There are a few youtube videos that show the process and I also found a lot of images just using Google and the image option that helped.

Another tip is that it is possible to convince yourself that the two main springs can be transposed, they can’t. Physically there is a fit but it won’t work. Taking out everything in order and will prevent this mistake.

Having done this a couple of times I would be happy to do the job again.

Okay guys thanks fo the feedback.

Welshfarmer I’ll let you know if I need any spares.

PeterStarKiss: Yeah the other shifter works well and my cable is well lubricated. I will clean the shifter parts and check the tension screw. I can check properly if anything is broken as well.

I think this shifter has only had 18 months of use so it will be good to get it working again rather than having to buying another.

Had the same I gave up and switched back to Shimano just change the rear derailleur and shifter. Note that the Sram had a problem with their derailleurs and reurn spring it is a known issue so maybe worth looking at…

JeZ

I had a couple of 10 speed X9 shifters do the same. Taking them apart is a right pain and it didn’t seem to work for me.

In the end, I binned them and bought an X0 shifter. It wasn’t much more expensive but was much better; the shift action was nicer, the adjustable triggers were nice and it lasted much longer than any of the X9 shifters.

That was exactly what I did as well, the X0 shifters are still going strong several years later

The problem is the fact that the older X9 shifters use a bush and not a bearing for the large paddle shifter, unlike X0/XX shifters of the same age which did use bearings. SRAM changed the X9 10speed shifters to using a bearing in 2011 (and ‘ball bearing’ is actually printed on the lever).

Kudos to anyone who has managed to rebuild one of these shifters – I almost went nuts and gave up in the end……(and normally I like doing the fiddly jobs like this!).

I have just been trying to rebuild my shifter and i have only managed to get 5 clicks when I put it back together. It is a 9 speed so it should have 8 clicks.

Before disassembly all 8 clicks worked but the downshift lever would not return without me pulling it back. I can’t see anything missing or broken in there.

The local shop says labour is 40 pound per hour so it is not worth paying for them to fit it. I could get either a new x5 or x0 shifter if buying new or just change to a shimano rear mech. I really don’t want to change shifters as I have a good x0 and x9 rear mech in 9 speed.

Does anyone know where the assembly instructions and bill of materials are for this shifter as I couldn’t find it on the sram website. I wonder if it is deliberately not shown.

If the x9 9 speed shifter has known issues I may be better getting a second hand x0 but I want to try and fix this one first.

Peter: Where is the tension screw as I haven’t seen this? My shifter is not like the one in this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qskSMBamxsU it is the newer type like this:http://www.pricepoint.com/Brand/SRAM/SRAM-X9-9-Speed-Trigger-Shifters-Individual-2014.axd

Does anyone know where the assembly instructions and bill of materials or assembly drawng are for this shifter as I couldn’t find it on the sram website.

mtbcowboy,

Google – ‘sram spare parts catalog (and then the year)’ and download the PDF. Within you will find exploded diagrams with the relevant parts numbers.

I did find a spare parts catalogue but it only shows the main parts like lever, cover and body of shifter etc, i.e it wasn’t a proper exploded diagram showing all the parts and descriptions. When I looked for assembly instructions for the shifter I couldn’t find anything at all. 🙁

http://www.sicklines.com/tech/howto/sram-x9-shifter-rebuild/

http://www.ridemonkey.com/threads/2008-sram-x9-shifter.206672/

http://www.ridemonkey.com/threads/2011-sram-shifter-rebuild-pics.271974/

Mate, you need page 68 of this PDF, surely!

https://sram-cdn-pull-zone-gsdesign.netdna-ssl.com/cdn/farfuture/1E2WqxxkcYXkk7El8fLceNe7wdxAyHTlKVfclLITs5Q/mtime:1409262053/sites/default/files/techdocs/2015_sram_spc_reva_0.pdf

Cheers for the links. The last link on page 68 is the wrong type of x9 shifter mine looks like the one on page 69. The second link is the wrong type of x9 shifter. The first and third links do help a bit.
I will try and assemble the shifter again by followng the 1st and third links but I ideally need the official instructions to be sure I am not missing something.