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I'd usually nip off the end of the hose and use a new barb & olive if replacing brake levers, but I don't want to shorten the hose.
I gather that it's possible to loosen off the crushed olives using pliers, so is it an okay approach to do this and just replace the olives?
I have heard that some folk simply plug the old hose & olive into the new levers, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this on something as safety critical as brakes.
I've used same olives afterwards plenty of times...
I've never been able to get an olive/barb off without having to shorten.
+1
Yeah just crush the olive with some pliers and they crack and fall off. Never had an issue doing this with Shimano.
I'd just try reusing the olive as is. If it doesn't work and leaks you can try to take it off then
Possible tip: take teh pads out and pump the M/Cyl a but so the pistons move into the caliper.
When you get everything back together, push the caliper pistons all the way in and avoid having to bleed it all. Ir in teh hose is pushed back into the M/cyl. You might just need a top up.
I’m pretty sure that you can’t fit a new olive without removing the barb.
I swapped the levers on my Code RSs to upgrade them to Code RSCs just by doing a straight swap, no problems.
The only problem that you’d be likely to get if there was a small leak would be needing to bleed them more often, rather than catastrophic brake failure IMO.
You can usually have a pretty good guess once its out if the olive has more life left.
As Kramer say's its just going to leak not catastrophic failure...
If that fails crack the olive (or score with a blade then crack) leaving the barb in place...
If you do have to fit a new hose I try and make the path somewhat inefficient to give a bit of leeway later.
With banjo fittings sticking them at an angle rather than shortest possible path will see you through a couple of cuts.
I've re-used the olives in Shimano brakes before with no issues, just kept an eye on it for a bit to make sure it wasn't weeping.
I’ve re-used the olives in Shimano brakes before with no issues,
+1
Most guides to swapping levers from left to right don't mention replacing the olive, I've done it a few times with no issue.
I’ve done it a few times with no issue.
And I've done it hundreds of times - converting new bikes from Euro to UK braking, and changing them over for hire customers. I think I had to replace the olive maybe twice.
Sounds good, thanks. I should have mentioned that they were Shimano. It's a second hand set of SLX 7100s, I'll see how I get on when they arrive. I've got spares if needed.