[AT] OT lubricating a cable

Will Powell william.neff.powell at comcast.net
Mon Nov 3 08:19:44 PST 2014


I have worked with many cables on motorcycles. Sometimes WD40 can make them a little better if you hold it upright and drip the fluid down in. But, nothing works as well as a new cable. 
  
There is a company called flanderscables that sells kits to make your own cables. I've never used their products because I've always been able to find NOS cables. 
  
  
http://www.flanderscables.com/ 
  
  
Might be worth a try. 
  
Regards, 

Will 
  
----- Original Message -----

From: "Bradley R Gunnells" <brad-gunnells at uiowa.edu> 
To: "email, Antique" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com> 
Sent: Monday, November 3, 2014 10:58:34 AM 
Subject: Re: [AT] OT lubricating a cable 

John, sounds like you've gotten many good suggestions on how to lube the cable. I have an old Ericson skid loader that uses push/pull cables to steer the unit. Moving snow one winter I got some moisture in one and over time it became almost unusable. I was looking at how many pivots and linkages I'd need to convert it to the same system on the Ford skid loader (Ericson made them for Ford before the NewHolland version). 

In my research I found a place called Midwest Control Products. In addition to supplying cables they had an online program to build your own cable. If you don't want to give Deere $200 you might try them.  https://www.midwestcontrol.com/linkage/mainpage.html 

They built a couple control cables for me and the price was well below what I had expected. This was many years ago but it might be another option. I couldn't believe how smooth that machine operated afterwards. Well worth the $$.  So it might be worth you time to check out. If it's sticky now, it's likely to do it again in the near future. 

No association other than a satisfied customer. 

Brad 

On Nov 2, 2014, at 7:07 AM, jtchall at nc.rr.com wrote: 

> Maybe someone here has a great idea other than me giving Deere $200. The transmission shift cable on my 3300 combine has gotten really hard to move. I’ve unhooked it from the transmission and it is still hard to move. The gearshift lever and the quadrants are not binding, they actually are so loose they need the bushings replaced. This cable is about 15 ft. long if I had to guess. The OD is about 5/8-3/4” so  I imagine inside there is a 3/16 or 1/4” cable or rod. There is one damaged spot on the cable where it got into a pulley years ago and wore away the rubber casing. Beneath the casing it is wrapped in wire strand. I can separate the strand slightly and spray penetrating oil, but haven’t forced it open enough to see what's inside. Unless I am missing something, you can’t pull the cable apart. Last night I rigged up a hose clamped on one end filled with a few ounces of diesel fuel. Hooked this up to my air compressor with the tank valve barely cracked open. I’ve got the hose positioned so the diesel is around the cable. I’ll check it this evening to see if the fluid went up the cable or if the pressure managed to bust something—I wrapped some rags around it to keep the mess down! Any ideas how to free this thing up? 
> 
> John Hall 
> _______________________________________________ 
> AT mailing list 
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at 


_______________________________________________ 
AT mailing list 
http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at 




More information about the AT mailing list