Seized pull cables?

[Al Weyman]

Why do you always find them locked solid a day or two before the event or worse still which would have happened if I had not have checked, when the scrutineer checks it when a week or two earlier they were fine???? Anyhow I have just had to order the second one in 18 months but this time paid a bit extra for a stainless steel cable type. The question I ask is should this last longer i.e. anyone had any experience with these and should I pre-treat it in some way like greasing it up or whatever?

[gt917]

Al,

you should always put the cable in pre greased or oiled and always leave a small amount of "slack" in the cable itself so that with the locking pin in still you can still easily check that you always can move the handle in and out a fraction. An odd squirt of lubricant from time to time keeps everything free.

I,ve never had to change or renew a cable. They will never wear out thats for sure!!

[Tim Falce]

I'm always worried that by oiling them it may attract dirt to the cable and cause it to seize so I now change them at the beginning of every season. I may try oiling one and see how long it lasts compared with the other.

[Al Weyman]

I am sure I read somewhere maybe here don't use WD40 is that correct? I received this more expensive stainless one this morning and it looks nothing special.

[Chris Y]

This is what I do: Install cable, and cut to right length, etc.

Then take out inner cable from outer sheath, and run through a pot of copper grease - smearing it all over the inner cable. Then re-insert.

Since I started doing that, I have not needed to change a cable, and my cars live outside in the rain all the time.

[Al Weyman]

Someone else suggested dry cycle lube or something what ever that is??

[Dom]

I've never had a problem with my greased cables. Am on my second cable in 11 years and thats only because i changed cars!

[Dave Brand]

You could try motorcycle cable lubricant. It comes in a small aerosol & is best used with a cable oiler tool which clamps over the end of the cable.

(Not recommended if your cable is PTFE-lined)

[Tim Falce]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

I am sure I read somewhere maybe here don't use WD40 is that correct?

Great, one of mine partially seized last week so I sprayed some WD40 down the cable bore.

[Al Weyman]

I dunno why that advice was given Tim as I have done the same, it seemed the logical solution.

[Clive Brown]

Could it be that in the case of some cables which have a synthetic inner liner to the outer cable, WD40 and some other proprietary lubricants may degrade/dissolve that liner?

[BertMk2]

We had the handle snap off one of our pull cables at scrutineering once It drew blood too It was the scrutineers blood

[GORDON STREETER]

I run ZX1 down the cable with one of these http://www.team-zx1.com/Micro-Lube

[brickkicker]

I always tend to put copper grease down the length of the cable before I install it, then if I am going to leave it for a long time I will put some silicon around the entrance to the pull cable to try and stop any moisture getting into it.

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

We had the handle snap off one of our pull cables at scrutineering once It drew blood too It was the scrutineers blood

I saw a srute pull an extinguisher cable instead of the leccy kill, a lot of mess and swearing and the guy didn't get to race !

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

I saw a srute pull an extinguisher cable instead of the leccy kill, a lot of mess and swearing and the guy didn't get to race !

We leave the pins in the extinguishers at scrutineering for that very reason Pull the pins out just before leaving service for the first stage.

[gt917]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

I saw a srute pull an extinguisher cable instead of the leccy kill, a lot of mess and swearing and the guy didn't get to race !

Thats why you should ALWAYS keep the safety pin in until practice and race, and always have a little slack in the cable so that you or the scrutineer can see that the cable works and is not seized.

[Chris Y]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

We had the handle snap off one of our pull cables at scrutineering once It drew blood too It was the scrutineers blood

Isn't that supposed to bring you good luck? Like smearing cheetah blood on your engine makes you go faster?

(Disclaimer: I've never tried either of the above, and you probably shouldn't either. Cheetahs can be dangerous when injured, and scrutes doubly so )

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by Chris Y

Isn't that supposed to bring you good luck? Like smearing cheetah blood on your engine makes you go faster?

(Disclaimer: I've never tried either of the above, and you probably shouldn't either. Cheetahs can be dangerous when injured, and scrutes doubly so )

Well on the one hand it got us through scrutineering quicker (something along the lines of "go on sod off") but on the other we blew the engine to pieces half way through the event Not the best luck ever.

[touringlegend]

One of my fellow racers has the electrically activated extinguisher in his car. Last weekend the scrutineer asked him to do a test and the system was active..

At least it was the driver that done it!

[Al Weyman]

Well sods law struck again. The new cable functioned perfectly but the master rswitch failed on the track causing me not to qualify and then during the race to spin out and I couldnt get started again, are these things really required because they really are a pain?

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

are these things really required because they really are a pain?

Years ago I was first on the scene of a head on crash between a Merc and a small Pug, the Pug was concertinaed up with a couple completely trapped inside.
This was pre mobile phone days and on a not too busy road so I was on my own trying to do something when the Pug dashboard started to catch alight and no chance of getting the bonnet up to break the battery lead off.
As luck would have it a builders van pulled up and happened to have a massive crowbar in the back that we used to smash f*** out of the bonnet and battery.
I wish that that had had a pull switch fitted !

[chezza]

They enable the marshals to kill the electrics etc from the outside...say your trapped unconscious in the car, its on fire and the electrics are on meaning that the fuel pump is still going and pumping more fuel on to the fire. I'm certainly not going to reach inside the car to turn off the electrics to stand some chance of fighting the fire, but a pull switch on the outside could give us that chance.

[Tim Falce]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

are these things really required because they really are a pain?

I think they're there to stop us removing ourselves from the gene pool any quicker than necessary.

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Tim Falce

I think they're there to stop us removing ourselves from the gene pool any quicker than necessary.

Hmm. Thought provoking.

One might observe that. beyond a certain age (and based on some 'research' mentioned in the 'meejyah' today,) removing one's self from the gene pool might have some wider benefits to the continuation of development of the human race. Or not, depending on your point if view.

Thus such safety devices, it could be argued, should perhaps become optional at a certain point in life, that point estimated to be the most appropriate for achieving the objective (if applicable) of reliable human continuity.