cable lubeing

[wrecker]

Cables and Lubing

With winter fast upon us, this is the ideal time to do some of those messy maintenance tasks on your favorite ride. Although I’m sure you do a good job of keeping the bike clean and engine and tranny oil changed many of you forget or just don’t want to get involved with the mess of lubing cables.

We will start with the clutch cable, if you trace your cable coming out of the hand grip, most of you will find a rubber boot with adjusters underneath, others will find the adjuster down by the transmission side cover, either way, loosen these adjusters and thread them inward to allow slack in the cable, once this is done try not to pull on the cable. Remove the pin holding your hand lever, usually a small c-clip will be found on the bottom side of the pin, after the pin is removed the lever can be pulled away from the bike. The cable end will be fasten to the lever somehow and can easily be separated from the lever, you should apply an ample amount of grease to the part of the lever that sits inside the bracket, the pin should also be greased at this time. Check the plastic bushing that’s in the lever and replace if worn. Now to lube your cable, there are several ways of doing this, one of the best methods I have found is to gravity feed you can take a small piece of cardboard and roll it around the cable end to make what looks like a funnel, take the bottom end and tape it or even use a wire tie, as long as it’s tight. Now while holding the cable in the upright position you can add light weight oil or tranny fluid, and fill the funnel, allow at least an hour for this to drip down on the length of the cable. Remove your cardboard funnel, wipe the outside of your cable clean, reassemble in reverse order and adjust the slack out of your lever. There should be between 1/16th and a 1/8th inch of free play when finished.

On to the throttle cables, here you will have to remove the upper switch housing there are 2 screws, 1 on top and 1 on bottom, and there are 2 methods to lubricate one is to remove move cables completely from the lower housing and the other is just to lubricate in place, I choose the easier method here, and that is to lubricate in place. Using a can of WD-40 or dry graphite spray I use the small the spray tip that comes with the cans, and start spraying the cables where they come into the lower switch housing. While you are lubing you will find that if you shake the cables slightly it will help the lube travel down the cable, keep spraying the lube until you are satisfied that it has worked down the cable. Button everything up again, and check your free-play adjustment. On 2 cable systems one is your on and one is your return, play with them so that you have about a 1/16th inch of free play and when you release the throttle it should snap back to the idol position, the reason for the little bit of free play is so that when your running down the highway the throttle doesn’t burp from every bump you hit, it also makes sure that no gas is flowing into your fuel system when you shut off your bike.

These 2 services are a must for once a year maintenance and when done properly will not only enhance your riding skills and pleasure.

[CoolMaker]

Thanks for posting that Wrecker, it surely is good advice..

[Blackpearlultra]

Hey Wrecker thanks for the advice. I have seen pics of people using plastic bags with a small hole cut in the end that the clutch cable can be fed into and tied in place. They then filled it with oil and let it sit over night. I will do this next winter.
BP

[Squirrel]

Great post Wrecker! 8)