Shimano Rapid Fire Shifter Installation

[Alembicbassman]

I'm replacing the gear cables on an old MTB with Altus rapid fire shifters

Are there any instruction manuals available online to help with intsalling?

I haven't been able to properly test the shifters. I've threaded an old cable through them and applied a bit of tension. The cassette shifter seems to click through all 7 OK

The chainring shifter appears to shift OK from 2-3 but I can't get it to shift to the 1 position (as I would assume is needed for installation).

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[gwhite]

If by position 1 you mean the smallest ring then you may have the tension of the cable too tight.
Have a look here:
http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/front-derailleur-adjustments

Or alternatively here:http://bicycletutor.com/adjust-front-derailer/

 

[Alembicbassman]

It seems to be a problem with the ratchet mechanism in the thumb shifter.

The shifter is not on the bike yet.

I can't install it with the shifter set at the middle ring as the front derailleur has to be in the unloaded position for the inner ring.

I'll try some WD40

 

[Zoiders]

Which set of Altus shifters are they?

The very early ones never lasted that long, later versions re cable in a different manner to the old ones and also in a differnent manner to some other shimano shifters.

Got a picture?

 

[Alembicbassman]

Think I may have figured it out.

I'm not able to supply enough tension (using my foot) in the cable to engage the 3rd position on the ratchet and pawl mechanism, it has to be on the bike.

That spring on the front derailleur is pretty strong.

The optical readout was wrong, reading 2-3 (now set back to read 1)

I'm actually only shifting 1-2 and not giving enough tension to get to 3

I'll bung it on the bike when my new cables arrive and see what happens.

 

[rusty bearing]

You'll probably find what you need here
http://techdocs.shim...KYh0!1294812215

enter altus rapidfire in the search box.

 

[Alembicbassman]

I've given up on gears for this project.

It's going singlespeed.