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Changing my bucket cable and findings.

Britboater

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2016
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AR
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When my boat was around two years old I started to notice the shift levers getting stiff, upon investigation it was the starboard bucket cable. My boat is used in the Gulf but never moored overnight, always on a lift and intensely washed after every use, so a little bemused why, after only 70 hours this was happening.

Moving forward, yesterday I finally got round to changing the offending cable, a quick search on this site answered a few questions and the photos @Julian posted helped with identifying all the parts involved.
Genuine cable purchased so I didn’t run into any unforeseen circumstances as I was changing this cable on my lift ;).

First noteworthy item, the retaining plastic nut above the pump was loose, not finger loose but very free. When undone and I pulled it away, I realised then, the rubber plug needs to be compressed to seal, then on further inspection I could see the silicone on the inside had not stuck to the hull and a pool of water underneath. I don’t get a lot of water in the hull after an outing but I do and it always annoys me as to why, so this obviously contributed to some of it.
Checking the port cable nut and that was not tight either, so I corrected that immediately.

Looking at the old cable, which I’ve always lubricated regularly, I noticed after sliding the rubber boot off, the articulating part was really corroded.

A366A9A8-B89F-4B83-A53A-3CA542E12F48.jpeg

My thoughts are this is maybe where water can enter further up the outer cable and thus corrode the inner, causing failure. On the new cable and my original port cable I have now packed grease into this knuckle and replaced the rubber boot.

I fed the cable from the rear, attaching it to the old one with Duck tape, with assistance it was introduced into the engine bay with little problems. The cable then goes into the gas tank area, under the helm floor and into the void under the throttle. I tried to remove the four bolts that hold down the gas tank lid, no way, three of the four totally seized :mad:. Just hope I never ever need to get in there. Luckily, with some blasphemy I got the new cable through.
Assembly of the throttle unit has been covered before and fairly straight forward, my shift is now silky smooth again and another job well done.
It does however bring me to wonder how the E series boats will get on with this problem. I’d imagine the buckets are actuated via a servo, when a cable stifferns it’s a total failure, at least with a manual you can feel the resistance and know what’s happening, just a thought.
 

Gym

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Replaced my 12 year old cables beginning of last season. I'm also a salty dog but didn't see any corrosion. Yours was kind of shocking and, as you mentioned, the loose plastic nut likely contributed to your cable's premature demise.

I also only had one sticky cable but replaced both as the hardest part of cable replacement is accessing the cables. Good that you were able to do that on the lift without dropping any of the small parts in the water. Thanks again to @Julian for the guidance on this project.
 

markallan

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I have cables on order and will be doing this job next weekend.
 

captain911

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Replaced my 12 year old cables beginning of last season. I'm also a salty dog but didn't see any corrosion. Yours was kind of shocking and, as you mentioned, the loose plastic nut likely contributed to your cable's premature demise.

I also only had one sticky cable but replaced both as the hardest part of cable replacement is accessing the cables. Good that you were able to do that on the lift without dropping any of the small parts in the water. Thanks again to @Julian for the guidance on this project.
I have an 89 Jetstar 1250. How did you access the throttle assembly cable connection. I haven’t been able to reach it.
 

84rzv500r

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I keep a spare set of steering cables, a spare set of shifter cables and a spare throttle cable... in the shed.. I've tried a bunch of things including a homemade gadget to push gear oil in the top by disconnecting and using air pressure... what has worked best has been drilling a 1/8 hole in the steering cable sheath... in the bilge near the through hull and forcing gear oil in the cable then putting a wrap of high voltage rubber tape over the hole and secure with vinyl elec tape or a zip tie....... i havent had any issues with this method on the steering cables in a couple years now I use and old fashion pump oiler with a rubber tip... I'll prolly end up making a vampire clamp and use a zerk fitting when I get a chance... the shifter cables drain well on my boat so the normal application of some water proof grease on them and the exposed steering cables every couple weeks seem to keep them good... I pressure lubed the new throttle cables with a motorcycle cable luber with SuperLube PTFE prior to installation...
 

Hoppy

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I keep a spare set of steering cables, a spare set of shifter cables and a spare throttle cable... in the shed.. I've tried a bunch of things including a homemade gadget to push gear oil in the top by disconnecting and using air pressure... what has worked best has been drilling a 1/8 hole in the steering cable sheath... in the bilge near the through hull and forcing gear oil in the cable then putting a wrap of high voltage rubber tape over the hole and secure with vinyl elec tape or a zip tie....... i havent had any issues with this method on the steering cables in a couple years now I use and old fashion pump oiler with a rubber tip... I'll prolly end up making a vampire clamp and use a zerk fitting when I get a chance... the shifter cables drain well on my boat so the normal application of some water proof grease on them and the exposed steering cables every couple weeks seem to keep them good... I pressure lubed the new throttle cables with a motorcycle cable luber with SuperLube PTFE prior to installation...
Where and how did you drill a hole in the steering cable sheath without damaging the cable? I might need a picture.
 

84rzv500r

Jetboaters Captain
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well i am an artist with an drill with a 1/8 cobalt bit... 🤣 on the topside of the cable in the bilge about 18" back from the through hull... its just what Im gonna do... I try to do stuff that is Reliable Available Maintainable Process driven RAMP...

I just wrote down what was stored in my head for the vampire clamp.... next to how many cases of beer I have in the pantry... 🍺🍺🍺

not to scale obviously

attachment - 2023-02-14T195554.540.jpg
 

Hoppy

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well i am an artist with an drill with a 1/8 cobalt bit... 🤣 on the topside of the cable in the bilge about 18" back from the through hull... its just what Im gonna do... I try to do stuff that is Reliable Available Maintainable Process driven RAMP...

I just wrote down what was stored in my head for the vampire clamp.... next to how many cases of beer I have in the pantry... 🍺🍺🍺

not to scale obviously

View attachment 194286
That's a creative solution, do you pull the clean out tray to access your oil hole/grease zerk or have you added some maintenance port to access the bilge. I read a fourm where someone had put two 5" screw out maintenance ports in the clean out tray on his ls2000, lx2000, lx210 or ar210. I'm not sure if it was jetboaters.net or yamahajetboaters I read about it. I gess with grease zerks you could put an extension hose on your vampire clamp and put the grease zerk anywhere handy.
 
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