Dogbreath1956
04-30-2008, 07:28 PM
BLUF: DON'T USE CHAIN LUBE ON THROTTLE CABLES.
Recently (like 3 weeks ago) I was doing part of the 25,000 mile check and I lubed my throttle cables. Had a can of chain lube that I used on my bikes' chains and not thinking anything of it, I used it on my cables. Been riding each day without any trouble. Yesterday a fellow contractor and I were investigating a Yamaha FZ-1 which was parked next to me. My friend pointed out that both of the FZ-1 and I were using Cramp Busters and I proceeded to say "Yep" and depressed the 'buster. When the throttle returned, it was slooow. It snapped at the end but it was slooow. So I DID IT AGAIN, and it was still slow and seemed to have a lot of play. We proceeded to his bike (a FJ1300) and did the snap test. And it was not slow. So when I got home, I checked all my 3 other bikes (well, make that 2.25, one's a 50cc scooter my daughter uses) and decided I need to investigate more, so I read my service manual on how to adjust the cables and read 8-Ball's adventures in throttle cable adjusting. I was gonna do it today but knew Gordito had just Godzilla worked on and I wanted to get a eye ball on the play. He brought in Elvira instead but said she was in specs so I checked it out and decided that my problem was not the throttle adjustment but that the cable was "hanging". remembing that I had just lubed it, I googled cable lubing and found on thumpers.com that you should not use chain lube because it has sticky quality. Hmm.. It fact, from what I could see, I could use almost anything else can be use. So I used some generic WD40 to unstick it and it's working good now. Couldn't compare ingredients becasue (including Bel-Ray general purpose lube) because it's trade secret stuff. It's a thin lubricant and should also dispalce water so I don't think it gonna a problem. :huh:
Recently (like 3 weeks ago) I was doing part of the 25,000 mile check and I lubed my throttle cables. Had a can of chain lube that I used on my bikes' chains and not thinking anything of it, I used it on my cables. Been riding each day without any trouble. Yesterday a fellow contractor and I were investigating a Yamaha FZ-1 which was parked next to me. My friend pointed out that both of the FZ-1 and I were using Cramp Busters and I proceeded to say "Yep" and depressed the 'buster. When the throttle returned, it was slooow. It snapped at the end but it was slooow. So I DID IT AGAIN, and it was still slow and seemed to have a lot of play. We proceeded to his bike (a FJ1300) and did the snap test. And it was not slow. So when I got home, I checked all my 3 other bikes (well, make that 2.25, one's a 50cc scooter my daughter uses) and decided I need to investigate more, so I read my service manual on how to adjust the cables and read 8-Ball's adventures in throttle cable adjusting. I was gonna do it today but knew Gordito had just Godzilla worked on and I wanted to get a eye ball on the play. He brought in Elvira instead but said she was in specs so I checked it out and decided that my problem was not the throttle adjustment but that the cable was "hanging". remembing that I had just lubed it, I googled cable lubing and found on thumpers.com that you should not use chain lube because it has sticky quality. Hmm.. It fact, from what I could see, I could use almost anything else can be use. So I used some generic WD40 to unstick it and it's working good now. Couldn't compare ingredients becasue (including Bel-Ray general purpose lube) because it's trade secret stuff. It's a thin lubricant and should also dispalce water so I don't think it gonna a problem. :huh: