Thread: Throttle Cable

Tweet

Ok guys I give up. I have tried everything I can think of and still I'm stumped. So I surrender somebody has to have this answer in there bag of tricks.

I have a Lokar throttle cable. Its going on a Edelbrock Carb (rear) on a two four set-up. The stainless or insert part of this cable --( Not The Sheath ) is two long and due to the make up of the ends has to be shortened. Will the first one I cut off and then like trying to push a chain up-hill it wouldn't go back into the "Sheath" or the cable ends due to the fact that the cable itself unraveled just a small amount. The more I tried the worse it got. Now I have a tangled up mess of stainless cable that is not going into anything. On to cable two I have tried wrapping it in tape and cutting on the tape. No one can wrap tape small enough to go into that sheaf or the fitting on the cable end. I have tried JB weld and incaseing the cable letting it set and then filling and sanding to get the now encased cable into the sheaf, no go. If you get it small enough the cable unraveles.

Got to be away to do this, Maybe I'm getting in my own way here, but danged if I can figure this out. HELP!!!!

Roland

Roland,
I had to shorten my Lokar cable, and had a new set screw end to slide in place. I left it in the sheath, unhooked the pedal end for slack, extended the cable, taped it with masking tape, cut with a 4.5" angle grinder w/cutoff wheel and put the new end on (tape off now). Once the new end was on and tight I reinstalled the pedal end and hooked it up to the throttle body. Not sure it's the right way but it worked for me...

rspears, I think I know exactly what you are saying. Leave the end on the cable that is held on by the set screw. Pull some of the cable through this fitting cut it and then reinstall the set screw. Right? Well I did in fact think of that, but way after I had pulled the cable from the sheaf and cut it. Now available to me this weekend is only a cable that the cable goes into the fitting and not through it.

RS

It almost sounds like you might have boogered up the internal lining (Teflon) of the outer sheath and then hanging up the inner cable when you try to insert it through. I've used several of those throttle cables in the past plus now their cruise cable and kickdown plus the e-brake cables with never a problem. I'm using a solid throttle rod instead of a cable now which might be an alternative.

If you call Lokar, they might feel sorry for you and sell you a replacement inner cable fairly reasonably - they have even given me various parts when I've had problems

Use shrink tubing - you can get it tight

Originally Posted by paul274854

Use shrink tubing - you can get it tight

thats what i did, and pulled the cable thru the fitting so's i didnt havta push it back thru....cause the first one i ever did gave me hell

Soldier a small area of the cable where you want to cut it. Use plenty of heat (I use a 1000 deg. soldiering iron) and liquid acid flux you can brush on. Make sure you get good a good flow of soldier. Then cut the cable with a Dremel type cut off wheel in the soldiered area. I then use a sanding drum in the Dremel to sand away any soldier build up until it fits back into the cable housing.

Well I did try a couple of these solutions. The shrink wrap was just to big to go thru the cable sheaf no matter how tight I got it, tried this a dozen different times, as I thought for sure it would work. Also the shrink wrap is just not strong enough to hold the little barbs like "Fish" hooks almost. Tried taping it as well same problem.

whistlebritches, Yea you have it right thats fine unless you pull the fitting off and then cut it, it is not going back thru and thats all there is to it. you have to get all of them threads of cable together and hold them to make this work.

I then tried JB Weld. Mixed it up and pushed and massaged it "INTO" the cable as best I could. left a big wad but I let it harden and then filled and sanded it back to the cable, I did about four inches of the cable this way and then cut it in the middle. Even the JB Weld wasn't strong enough to hold the strands together, and this was way before I tried to push it thru the Sheaf.

I was just done at that point, I have already ordered a new cable housing and cable Lokar don't give anything away and they don't sell just the cable. I figured that when this new cable arrives I will cut it the correct way by leaving the fitting on the cable then cutting and pulling the cable thru the fitting to were it has been cut and attach it there. I should have been smart enough to do that the first time, but as I said I get in my own way sometimes.

Then a couple of hours ago I read signman's remedy. I really didn't think this would work any better than the others but what the heck. I had a bunch of solder but no acid core, so I used flux core. I don't have a clue how hot my solder gun gets, it is the pistol type made by Weller with a couple of heat ranges. Evendently it gets hot enough though. I heated up the cable and even spread the strands a little bit to get the solder in there good. I solder'd about 4 inches or so and made my cut in the middle. Looked pretty good after the cut, no little fish hooks. Slid it into the cable and it went thru there just fine, little stiff maybe because of the solder'd area was stiff, got it into the sheaf and reheated it to get the solder out and make it a little more flexable. I don't think that step was necessary as that two inches sticks out of the sheaf or housing and it could actually care less if it is stiff or not.

Thanks to everyone who responded, this """VERY""" simple thing took me three days to fix, man o man ............

Roland

used a very fast and thin cut off wheel like under 060 .you can cut the braid at a small angle as well it will help go it thru .i also chamfer the alum fitting were the braided outer get s push thru . i done many of the lokars all this stuff is braided teflon AN line