Got home this evening...got on the bike to go to the store and ...click....the throttle went limp. Took it apart and sho-nuff...the throttle cable broke about 2 inches down. The local dealer is closed so I thought I'd pass it by you guys....

Can you buy just the cable (without the housing) and the little crimp-on doodads, or do you have to buy the whole assembly? It would really be nice just to thread a new cable up through the housing and crimp on an end.

I see a fifty-dollar part in my future...

Thanks for any advice..

 

The throttle cable on my '98 FLHTCUI just snapped the other day about one mile from the house. I picked one up for about $20......cheap enough. Mine broke in the housing as well.

I had to have the fairing off to replace the cable......while I was in there, I discovered I had a loose bolt holding a ground wire. Makes me wonder if that was what was giving me electrical problems from a previous post.

 

Back in the day you could purchase something like what you described, however I haven't seen them around since the 80's. Good thing too as they didn't last too long. Looks like you need a complete cable

 

I've done that with car throttle cables. Sometimes it's hard to find 10' of throttle cable. I just use stainless wire cable and MIG weld stainless ends on that I make from some scrap. I've bought it at marine supply stores and stripped the plastic cover off, or bought bare wire from mcmaster-carr. I've also seen some at Lowes.

I'll add that the next time I do this, I'm going to pre-stretch the cable. I've noticed that they tend to stretch for a while then stop, so I'll pre-stretch them somehow. Maybe hang them up and hang a weight on them or something.

 

I remember them.... Brake and clutch cables would tend to break at the lever end and they were usually an easy fix by drilling out the end and cutting the ragged end of the cable. Stick the cable thru, peen and solder. Stainless steel wire is a great emergency fix. I've used it several times to get somewhere.

 

I just put SS braided push and pull cables on my bike last weekend, about 35 bucks apice from j&p. Guess I was lucky, think the old cables were close to being the originals, close to 15 years old.

 

Several years ago, I saw a cable repair kit. It had a set screw and it somehow clamps onto the end of the broken cable. I bought one of those kits then thinking I might need it....just never used it.

I'll dig into my stuff over the weekend.....perhaps I can find it. Amazing on how much stuff we collect over the years.

 

EVOrider, I've made some of those for the throttle body ends of my home made cables from a piece of brass and a screw. Other times I just MIG them.

Once, back in Shovelhead Days (Daze?), I had a Lectron carb with a 90 bend in the cable at the top of the carb under the tank. I liked that carb. Dead simple. Anyway, riding 2 up in heavy traffic in Boulder, Co on a trip, the cable frayed at the 90 and a piece of cable dropped down into the carb and locked the slide 1/3 open. Pull the clutch in and the motor went to redline. Let the clutch out and it chugged along, in heavy stop and go traffic. I pulled the clutch and hit the kill switch, coasted over some railroad tracks to a little shopping district, pulled the carb apart and put my spare throttle cable on. Of course, the spare cable I carried didn't fit and I had to grind down the lead end with my future wife's pink handle fingernail file and the sidewalk. Anyway, got it back together and off we went.

 

You can make your own cable...bicycle shops sell the braided cable and you can purchase the ferrule with a small set screw to lock onto the cable

 

That sounds great....where do you buy the little ferrule?