TIP - How to loosen up stiff throttle & shift cables

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DaleH

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Can't take credit for this idea, but just read it on anutha boating forum:

"On my new to me boat, I have dual motors and control. The starboard motor control was really tight, a bear to move, both shift and throttle. I researched the web and found a few videos on how to lube binding cables and make like new. Yeah right but I decided to give it a shot since replacing the cables was a nasty job on my hull. You can search for the videos but here is a description of what I did:

- Remove the cables from the control box. I did not undo the cables at the motor even though the videos said to do so.

- Attach a 2' or so piece of old fuel line to the control cable, slipping it past the sliding rod onto the casing of the cable. Choose a fuel lie size that fits the diameter of the cable & put a hose clamp on the line to keep it in place.

- Hold the fuel line upright so that you can fill it with penetrant and/or light oil. For my really tight cable I started with WD40 followed by a load of light machine oil.

- Attach a compressor to the open end of the hose and apply about 40 to 50 psi of pressure. I made up a fitting for the air connection by connecting two male air fittings back to back, One slides into the hose end and the other connects to the female disconnect on the compressor hose.

The interesting part is that although you might expect air to swoosh in, it doesn't. It almost seems that nothing is happening. I ran the air for an hour and a half, checking every 30-minutes or so to see if there was still oil in the piece of fuel line. If you look at the motor ends of the cables, eventually you will see water/penetrant/oil dripping out. Just let it run until you are sure the dripping is from the clean oil you added.

I was hoping that the cables would loosen up a bit, but to my surprise, they are like new!
 
Yes, that works. You have to do it before the cable wears down to the point that one or more strands breaks inside the cable. If that happens oil will do you no good. I like to use a roller chain grease after that to lubricate the cable.
 
I do this with both shift cables and steering cables, and IF the interior isn't too badly corroded, it works amazingly well.

One thing that really speeds up the process is to slide the ends of the cable back and forth while under pressure. That is why you disconnect from the engine. Once you pressurize the oil, you grab the cable ends and push and pull. This gets the cable moving inside the outer jacket, and helps the oil get moving faster. Without movement, it takes a long time as you saw. But if you get the cable moving, it often happens in seconds or minutes, depending on how bad it is.

I've had maybe 95% success with shift cables that weren't badly corroded. But steering cables are only a 50/50 chance, as they are bigger and heavier, and when they rust inside, it's major scale that lubricant simply cannot fix. Still, it's worth a try! On them, the bad spot is usually on the engine end, so I usually start from that end.

Good topic!
 

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