clutch cable..

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clutch cable..

Postby billybob » Mon Nov 30, 2015 1:22 pm

Hi again!

did a load of nice things to the Midas on my day off. Decided to replace all of the skanky metal brakets (some of the anchor points had got a little rusty). The car will definitely go through an MOT now and everything is running on song :)....well at least it was until I got home back on the drive last week.

The clutch cable snapped! Very lucky that it happened at home though. I am putting it down to just wear and tear of the cable which to be honest seems to be routed a bit strangely in the midas, the angle it bends out just after the bulk head looks too tight to me for a cable to pull nice and comfortably. Anyhow, the good news is that there is no excessive wear where it counts (as posted recently by justamin).

So I had a new cable when I got the car but it seems knackered which is a shame. Everything went swimmingly when fitting the part but when I tried to auto adjust it, the cable never got tight. The cheap and nasty plascitcky mechanism just slipped in both directions...I think its just a bad spare part, or perhaps one that was already broken given that I don't know the history of it.

Anyway, I have ordered a new one but is there a real knack to fitting these or is it as straightforward as the haynes manual suggests? The way I am looking to do it is fit it all up loose (except the pedal end) then shorten the cable on the adjuster, hook up the pedal end and then put the c-ring in place on the big spring. If I am right then it shuold be a case of depressing the pedal a few times to get rid of any remaining slack.

If I am honest I would far rather fit a manually adjusting cable as the mechanism looks so damn flimsy, has anyone seen or heard if a manual one exists?
I guess they moved away from the earlier hydraulic ones for cost (they were lovely and smooth on our old allegro at least anyway).

Thanks guys!
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Re: clutch cable..

Postby justamin » Mon Nov 30, 2015 5:25 pm

I think you have the right approach for fitting the new cable ( my Haynes manual was too old and only showed hydraulic ones!) The one I ordered off ebay was far to long although it did fit, so I refitted the old one which was actually in good condition. I'm still very wary of any further adjustment after having so much grief, so I am accepting a bit of a low biting point at the moment. Good luck with yours! Best regards, Pete
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Re: clutch cable..

Postby Hans Efde » Mon Nov 30, 2015 5:34 pm

Maybe it's possible to just have the steel cable remade at a local cable company (if you can't find a new good one at an Austin garage or Ebay). I have a rowing type bicycle that uses a Bowden cable system for steering. These wear out quickly and instead of ordering them in the USA (which costs around 100 euro incl. shipping) I found companies that specialize in this sort of stuff (as handbrake cables, cables for machines etc.). Last on was 50 euro including shipping.
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Re: clutch cable..

Postby billybob » Tue Dec 01, 2015 9:31 pm

new cable arrived today and it doesn't slip in both directions (unless the springy inner part is depressed) so it seems good. If I get back home in time I will try to fit it tomorrow and see how it goes....
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Re: clutch cable..

Postby billybob » Thu Dec 03, 2015 1:17 pm

it's fixed! and bite point is perfect. Clutch also lighter so the old cable must have been well and truly goosed just before snapping.
Another issue that I noticed though is that the reverse lights have stopped working :shock: queue new thread
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