Mech not springing back so decided to clean the clutch in my XT M8000 mech.
Following a good YouTube vid…only problem is the roller bearing doesn’t slide off the pivot bolt like it should….it’s solid – almost like they are welded together! Clearly it can’t spin on that bolt and do it’s job properly as it is. Crap description but any ideas how I can re-separate them? Tried pliers etc and boiling water – nothing giving 🙁

I’ve just had similar, I had to prise the roller bearing off using a screwdriver to lever it off. Then after much soaking in WD-40 and regreasing, I managed to get it going again.

It did take a few tries to get it freed up

You will always have problems if you don’t do the required maintenance See Page 28

You will always have problems if you don’t do the required maintenance See Page 28

Top tip. Never even knew !

StuF – that was actually my next move so when I saw you reply it gave me hope! The bearing popped off the pin easily – now soaking in GT85 so fingers crossed. Noticed the tiny O ring has perished on the pin though – hopefully not too detrimental.

steel4real – thanks for the link to that manual – very handy.

Interesting the manual says not to grease the inner rollers – although that’s the bit that ceases up. I did grease the inner rollers, slide it onto the pin a bit then twist it a bit then slide it on a bit more and repeat until it was running freely again.

Admittedly I’ve not ridden it yet since I’ve fixed it so it might all explode but it looked like it was running much better

Thanks for the info – I’ll give both of mine a strip down and re-grease.

manual says not to grease the inner rollers – although that’s the bit that ceases up

In my brain, the inner bit should “grip” so that the cage can’t rotate without it also rotating and then the outer clutchy mechanism can determine whether that gripped bit is damped in its rotation ??

I do a yearly strip down of my XT mech (two weeks ago, in fact). Keeps it all running nicely.

Shimano specify a particular grease – what’s everyone using and what’s the Shimano stuff called (the manual only gives the part number)?

It’s this stuff:
Shimano Grease for Shadow Plus Rear Derailleur – Y04121000

Interested in this, since my rear mech has never been apart in about 4 years.

How vital is the “correct” grease, and will my bike explode if I just use normal stuff…?

Got the bearing off the pin – levered off with screwdriver in the end.
Few other broken/perished bits so new bits ordered for £15 delivered.
Cheapest new mech was £70 so quite a bit cheaper unless I **** it up!

How vital is the “correct” grease

It isn’t. I just use the same marine grease I use for everything else. No issues between yearly stripdowns, a contrast to the problems I had with the clutch binding badly six months after I first got it.