Shimano downtube shifter pod maintenance???

[Nothin-fancy]

I recently got a set of Shimano Dura Ace 7401 index/friction down tube shifter's and I'm wondering if there's any maintenance I should do to the shift pod inside the lever? I'm wondering if it needs grease or lube like brifter's???

Google just has answers about cleaning friction shifters and I already know that. I've only had Campy or Suntour indexed shifters before so this is new...

 

[Nothin-fancy]

Just looked at my Zinn's repair manual and it says that there's no maintenance for it.

That shifter has the loudest index click I've ever heard. Which is why I was wondering if it got grease or something. No wonder they complained about other riders hearing your shift in the peloton. LoL

 

[Jonny69]

I wouldn’t run these dry tbh. I can’t remember exactly how the indexing is done on these but I think it’s a spring-loaded ball that drops into pockets. My engineering head says this sort of thing should have some lubrication. I’d try to wick some light oil in, even if it’s 3-in-1.

 

[pigman]

Just looked at my Zinn's repair manual and it says that there's no maintenance for it.

That shifter has the loudest index click I've ever heard. Which is why I was wondering if it got grease or something. No wonder they complained about other riders hearing your shift in the peloton. LoL

I've noticed they're a lot louder on my titanium frame than on painted steel. Maybe the steel or the paint damps out the resonance. I dunno.

I've never lubricated them, but it's got me thinking

 

[Nothin-fancy]

Hmmm, it is a steel SLX frame that's been chromed and doesn't have paint on it. It was also a tight fit on the shifter boss. I wonder if that's making it louder??? There's definitely a secondary resonance high pitched shing sound after shifting to. It could just be the frame and it having a resonance to the frequency of the click. Like tuning a drumset and having the snare react to the tom and it going away after re-tuning one or the other.

I wonder if a dry lube like graphite powder would be best so it doesn't wick in dirt or go gummy like grease can???

It shift's smoothly up and down without a gritty feeling or anything like that. So I'm not worried about it breaking or wearing out that's doing it. It just has a strong detent and loud click when shifting. I'm used to Campy 8speed and Suntour GPX and Sprint 9000 indexing being light and low volume.