Help! Can't undo gear cable grub screws

[beagley]

My Raven Tour is about two and a half years old. Today I tried to remove the V breaks from the bike frame for the first time, to give them some TLC. In order to remove the rear left break you have to remove the gear cable guide that's mounted on the break boss. In order to remove the cable guide you have to unthread the two cables and remove the cable adjusters. In order to unthread the cables you have to remove the female connectors (nearly there now []). I put a 2mm allen key (as specified in the manual) in one of the grub screws and rotated counter clockwise. It resisted, so I applied more pressure. The allen key slipped. I double checked the allen key was fully inserted and tried again. This time it slipped even more readily, letting me know I'd already deformed the hex shaped recess. []

Anyone else had this problem? Any suggestions as to how I should proceed?

[stutho]

**  Disregard this post see post below  **Um - It says 2.5mm in my manual, P73. Maybe the spec has changed?

First thing to try is therefore a 2.5mm Alan key.  If you get lucky and get the grub screw out DON’T re-use it!! (A friend of mine did this once, next time it had to be drilled out.)  

If the grub screw really is rounded then I would recommend contacting SJS Cycles – who will probably suggest sending the whole handlebar back to themselves.

I wouldn’t recommend trying to use the ’epoxy on the end of an Alan Key’ trick.  There is far to much risk of getting Epoxy where you don’t want it.

Your final option is to get yourself a set of Left-hand spiral drills.

Good luck

Stutho
**  Disregard this post see post below  **

[PH]

quote:Originally posted by stutho

Um - It says 2.5mm in my manual, P73. Maybe the spec has changed?

There’s some confusion here Stuart.  As I read it beabley is talking about the female bayonet fittings which do need a 2mm allen key.
If it were me I'd cut the cables (cheap enough to replace) and soak the fittings in light penetrating oil, you could also try heating them up.  If you still can't budge them, find a small engineers, they'll probably get them out in no time and shouldn't charge too much.  The worst case scenario is that they are completely seized (very unlikely) there is enough metal in them to be drilled out and tapped for the next size grub screw, again a simple job for any engineer.  Should still be a lot cheaper than the £12 each replacements.
 

quote:I wouldn’t recommend trying to use the ’epoxy on the end of an Alan Key’ trick. There is far to much risk of getting Epoxy where you don’t want it.

Does that work? I've never tried it.  If it does, it'd be worth a go in this case, the heads are accessible.

[stutho]

DOH - me silly!!  I should learn to read properly before I type!!  (Thanks PH for spotting my error)

The good news is that you have more options on getting this grub screw out.  First thing to try is to undo the opposite grub screw and see if you can yank the connector from the cable. If you can then you should be able to drill out the offending grub screw using a normal (right hand) drill through the hole of the good grub screw.  You will need a pillar drill and drill vice to hold connector use a slow drill speed and a 1.5mm drill bit.  

This is not the easiest fix in the world so alternatively you could try the epoxy method.  For this you will need a sacrificial 2mm Allen Key and some slow cure steel/metal epoxy resin (and lots of time) The import thing is to let the epoxy cure for a LONG time i.e. a week+ even then it doesn’t always work.  I would degrees both the Allen key and the grub screw first.

As PH said the final solution is to drill and re-tap.

Sorry again for the earlier reply

All the best, Stutho

[rualexander]

Also had this problem with Raven Tour. Had to replace gear outer cables after they split at head tube guides due to excessive bending at this point. But was unable to remove bayonet grub screws to release cable. Ended up having to cut them off and get new bayonet fittings. SJSC let me have a pair for £12 rather than the £12 each which is a bit pricey! Looks like a possible problem area that needs to be addressed by SJSC/Rohloff? Stainless steel grub screws in an Aluminium(?) female bayonet fitting combined with exposure to the elements is possibly a recipe for seizure? The male bayonet fittings are Stainless steel and the grub screws unscrew easily!