There are a few questions floating around regarding sticky STI shifters and the standard procedure seems to be to flush with a load of WD-40 and relube with aerosol grease or similar.
My set is Ultegra 6500 series.
Having tried this with with unsatisfactory results I think I need to take more drastic action. It is clear there is still significant grime and gummed-up grease in the mechanism (excerbated no doubt by long-term lack of name plate). I figured the best method would be to remove the shifter from the bike and give it a good submersion in degreaser.
My idea was to leave the body on the bars and just remove the lever, which incorporates the mechanism by removing the pivot pin and brake/gear cables. The tech docs show this process but I'm slightly scared of tiny pieces flying everywhere and being unable to reassemble. It also requires a "return spring installation tool" which I do not possess.
Has anyone had experience with this? How tricky is it for a reasonably technically inclined person? Would I be better off just removing the bar tape and taking off the whole unit?