Clutch Cables

Helpful information and requests for assitance and advice
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Rob Harknett
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Re: Clutch Cables

Post by Rob Harknett »

56G80S wrote:Personally, although I've read differently on this Forum about how it was done more like Leo's method at the factory, I prefer Rob's approach although I use a very small gas soldering torch as no electricity at the lock up. With that care needs to be taken not to get everything too hot and adversely affect the nature of the inner cable.

Johnny B
I just make do with what I've got. If I can. Never had electric soldering iron back in the 50's . New cables freely available then, but not the cash to buy them. If a cable just needed a nipple soldered back on, heated up an old type solder iron on Mums gas cooker.
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Rob Harknett
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Re: Clutch Cables

Post by Rob Harknett »

Harry44 wrote:The clutch cable I bought had too short an inner cable so I couldn't get it to hook on the lever inside the gearbox. But I managed to cut half an inch out of the outer cable so it would fit.

I remember doing this with broken throttle cables when doing roadside repairs, I was always amazed at people who could not understand how shortening the outer cable (as long as there is enough of it left to reach) gives you more inner cable to make a repair. :D
Assume you did check the clutch thrust rod adjuster. That can often be let off a bit. Although something you may not want to do for a roadside replacement. Unless you have tools to cut back the outer.
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Harry44
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Re: Clutch Cables

Post by Harry44 »

Rob Harknett wrote:
Harry44 wrote:The clutch cable I bought had too short an inner cable so I couldn't get it to hook on the lever inside the gearbox. But I managed to cut half an inch out of the outer cable so it would fit.

I remember doing this with broken throttle cables when doing roadside repairs, I was always amazed at people who could not understand how shortening the outer cable (as long as there is enough of it left to reach) gives you more inner cable to make a repair. :D
Assume you did check the clutch thrust rod adjuster. That can often be let off a bit. Although something you may not want to do for a roadside replacement. Unless you have tools to cut back the outer.
Yeah I tried that but the little lever then hit the end of the cable adjuster which had to be screwed all the way in as well.
si is does non opportunus vos postulo a maior pango
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GOLDSTAR
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Re: Clutch Cables

Post by GOLDSTAR »

I make all my own cables and nipples, I was however told years ago to allow the solder to cool naturally as dunking in cold water to cool can make the joint brittle. kind regards
g5wqian
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Re: Clutch Cables

Post by g5wqian »

a lot of the british AMC machines used same ends on cables but different lengths , so if you cant find one that fits try one from another model or make .
ie i could not find a long enough cable for my AJS twin using a burman gearbox , but found that a norton used a longer cable but with same ends , so i bought a norton cable for spare .

if you look on ebay you can view various cables for sale and see what lengths they are and maybe pick out one for the length you need .

as far as soldering nipples on i allways use silver solder , flux , and a butane blowlamp or oxy actylene torch , it is much stronger than lead/tin solder joints .

i have seen many cable nipples that were soldered by someone using a soldering iron who didnt know how to solder , nor did they have a big enough or hot enough iron .

allways use 60/40 lead/tin fluxed core solder though for nipples if you are doing any and not the modern lead free solder , it is rubbish .
you can buy tons of 60/40 solder with ease for about £3 for a small reel of it , and if you want solder paste to use as well then thats readily available .

if you want to you can also use BAKERS FLUID for soldering use but this is an acid type fluid so be carefull with it on your skin and dont get it in eyes , because it will sting quite heavily if you do .

there are plenty of solder irons available these days , a 100w one will set you back about a tenner incl post but dont buy one of those trigger type irons , get a normal type soldering iron .

if you need anything bigger than 100w then they are made for doing leaded windows or car radiators , but to be honest a gas iron will do the bigger jobs more easily ..


lots of aftermarket cables nowadays have nipples made of a zinc material that you cannot remove and resolder , you have to destroy them to get them off and then replace with a brass nipple , so if you need to replace or repair a broken cable end then it is best to buy some brass bar offcuts of suitable sizes from the likes of ebay and then a small set of drills etc , and it will be easy to make youre own ends .

or if you want to you can buy a selection of brass cable nipples from the same source .

the silver solder you can use will be the 55% type and 1mm thick rods , and the flux will be probably made by "easy flo" , you can buy small quantity kits on ebay to suit your needs and a blowlamp that uses cartridges is cheaply available for around £8 .

you can also use the smaller pencil type gas solder irons that are also blowtorches if you remove the solder iron bit , to do most cable nipples , these pencil irons are cheap and refillable using lighter gas .

you could keep a gas pencil iron in the toolkit , although i do find they need checking once in a while to make sure some gas is still in them , as they can leak a little off over time .

to cut the outer of a cable i use an angle grinder [4 1/2" type] with a thin 1mm cutting disc , easy to cut and doesnt mess the spiral up , or you can use a dremel type tool with a small disc on it to do same .

it wont cost much to build a little kit up to do the work on cables yourself if you want to buy "make your own" cables and then cut to length and solder the ends on yourself to suit your need .

i use my lathe to make my own nipples but thats only if i dont have any suitable nipples kicking about here already .

thats the beauty of having a father who collected bits and bobs for the last 60 years , i keep finding tins of things that are usefull , but not necessarily at the time i need them ha ha .

hope this is usefull to you .
regards
ian
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Harry44
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Re: Clutch Cables

Post by Harry44 »

si is does non opportunus vos postulo a maior pango
dodger
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Re: Clutch Cables

Post by dodger »

Be warned, I bought one of those cheap solder pots from China and on the third time of using it blew up tripping all the houshold fuses as it went.
Decent solder pots are not cheap, search ebay for solder pots and you will see what I mean, you get what you pay for.
Laurie
JimFitz
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Re: Clutch Cables

Post by JimFitz »

g5wqian wrote:a lot of the british AMC machines used same ends on cables but different lengths , so if you cant find one that fits try one from another model or make .
ie i could not find a long enough cable for my AJS twin using a burman gearbox , but found that a norton used a longer cable but with same ends , so i bought a norton cable for spare .

if you look on ebay you can view various cables for sale and see what lengths they are and maybe pick out one for the length you need .

as far as soldering nipples on i allways use silver solder , flux , and a butane blowlamp or oxy actylene torch , it is much stronger than lead/tin solder joints .

i have seen many cable nipples that were soldered by someone using a soldering iron who didnt know how to solder , nor did they have a big enough or hot enough iron .

allways use 60/40 lead/tin fluxed core solder though for nipples if you are doing any and not the modern lead free solder , it is rubbish .
you can buy tons of 60/40 solder with ease for about £3 for a small reel of it , and if you want solder paste to use as well then thats readily available .

if you want to you can also use BAKERS FLUID for soldering use but this is an acid type fluid so be carefull with it on your skin and dont get it in eyes , because it will sting quite heavily if you do .

there are plenty of solder irons available these days , a 100w one will set you back about a tenner incl post but dont buy one of those trigger type irons , get a normal type soldering iron .

if you need anything bigger than 100w then they are made for doing leaded windows or car radiators , but to be honest a gas iron will do the bigger jobs more easily ..


lots of aftermarket cables nowadays have nipples made of a zinc material that you cannot remove and resolder , you have to destroy them to get them off and then replace with a brass nipple , so if you need to replace or repair a broken cable end then it is best to buy some brass bar offcuts of suitable sizes from the likes of ebay and then a small set of drills etc , and it will be easy to make youre own ends .

or if you want to you can buy a selection of brass cable nipples from the same source .

the silver solder you can use will be the 55% type and 1mm thick rods , and the flux will be probably made by "easy flo" , you can buy small quantity kits on ebay to suit your needs and a blowlamp that uses cartridges is cheaply available for around £8 .

you can also use the smaller pencil type gas solder irons that are also blowtorches if you remove the solder iron bit , to do most cable nipples , these pencil irons are cheap and refillable using lighter gas .

you could keep a gas pencil iron in the toolkit , although i do find they need checking once in a while to make sure some gas is still in them , as they can leak a little off over time .

to cut the outer of a cable i use an angle grinder [4 1/2" type] with a thin 1mm cutting disc , easy to cut and doesnt mess the spiral up , or you can use a dremel type tool with a small disc on it to do same .

it wont cost much to build a little kit up to do the work on cables yourself if you want to buy "make your own" cables and then cut to length and solder the ends on yourself to suit your need .

i use my lathe to make my own nipples but thats only if i dont have any suitable nipples kicking about here already .

thats the beauty of having a father who collected bits and bobs for the last 60 years , i keep finding tins of things that are usefull , but not necessarily at the time i need them ha ha .

hope this is usefull to you .
regards
ian
Thanks Ian. Some great tips there.

My father died around 12 years ago and I still have crates full of tobacco tins, cigar boxes and jars with really useful stuff in them from when I cleared out his house - he never threw anything away!
I must get round to opening all the boxes and see what is in them. Only yesterday I found a box full of reamers and taps and dies.

Jim
Too old to Rock and Roll but too young to die.

1952 G80 rigid, 1960 G12 DL / Watsonian Monza, 1954 G80S.
matchbart
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Re: Clutch Cables

Post by matchbart »

I need a new clutch cable for my g3ls , i got thoroughly confused with the spares list, there are so many options and none of them say what they fit, just part numbers, so i took off the existing one and measured it, i will just get another with the same dimensions, off an earlier model.. fingers crossed
matchbart
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Location: north east

Re: Clutch Cables

Post by matchbart »

matchbart wrote:I need a new clutch cable for my g3ls , i got thoroughly confused with the spares list, there are so many options and none of them say what they fit, just part numbers, so i took off the existing one and measured it, i will just get another with the same dimensions, off an earlier model.. fingers crossed
ordered yesterday afternoon, arrived this morning and a perfect fit, instead of getting the correct one for the model i replaced with one for a cp gearbox with exactly the same outer/inner dimensions to the one i took off...
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