Cracked/broken cable couplers

[Justin B.]

Anybody have any of these things break on 'em?  It's that cheesy little piece of plastic crap that the throttle and choke cables slip into where they "Y" from the singls to double.

This LS had a non functional choke, and when I took the coupler/splitter assembly apart I found the little plastic hootus in pieces.  I figured, no problem, I had a couple of these that came along with a spare set of carbs I bought a while back.  I took them apart and they were cracked as well!   Bummer...

Glad I bought a lathe...  I turned down some aluminum stock, drilled holed through in the appropriate spots, used a hacksaw to cut "slits" down to the holes I bored, and voila!  I bet this piece outlasts me.  

I immediately thought there might be a market for something like this until I looked at the clock and realized it took me about 2 hours to make it...    But, I think I will make some up for the rest of our bikes, just in case.

I suppose a guy (or gal) could make one without the lathe if they had a steady hand with a drill and could free-hand drill really straight.  I measured the old coupler (or piston as it's called in the HTK) at .507" so I turned some aluminum rod down to that but I don't see why 1/2" AL rod wouldn't work just as well.  The piece is also just a bit over 1/2" long.

[nhmaf]

Oh boy, Sue and I know the travails imparted by those dreaded little cable splitters/junctions !
If you could design and market an aluminum model that would be easier to service and
attach/detach cables, that might be a potential revenue generating business idea.  
Even if you didn't make them yourself, you might be able to sell the idea to one of the
guys on boxerworks who is already tinkering with "aftermarket" accessories.

Fortunately I haven't had to replace mine, fingers crossed !

Good for you, Justin !

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

I have not been inside my clutch junction since I put it together back in the mid-80's.

When I put together my conversion rig, I bought a "new" left side control casting.  Naturally, it came with the recess for the handlebar-mount choke lever.  I couldn't resist... but I do believe they have a blank to fill the spot, and the old way is MUCH more efficient, if it does give up a little in convenience.
When I sold the conversion, I down-graded several items with swapables from the R65  

Then there are they guys that dump the cables and springs altogether, and replace them with short lengths of heavy wire with loops on the ends to grab hold of...


So I might either want to buy one (more than the shifter thing), or just dump my cables and...


Besides, the top mounted choke lever is difficult to work with the cold-weather mitts on the bike, sometimes.

[Clutch]

hee hee, I just scared myself this morning trying to turn off the choke, and hit my horn button...not the first time either.

[Ed Miller]

The horn's supposed to do that, to let you know the choke is going off.

Or maybe your gloves are thick winter ones like mine?

 

[MrRiden]

Oh good one! I'm waiting for a new set of throttle cables to arrive but never thought to check the little ching gasa Y thingie. Just assumed that they were metallic like on the Brit stuff. Off to the bunker to check.
Rich

[Semper Gumby]

It's a "hootus".  I always wondered what they were called.  

Bill

[Clutch]

yeah Ed, winter gloves    I have to remind myself to take my hand off of the grip to move the choke lever instead of just trying to flip it off with my thumb.

[Justin B.]

Yes, Bill.  You will get the hang of all this technical terminology, someday!    You will also run into a number of other "thingys", "doo-hickeys", "thing-a-ma-jigs", and "gizmos".  [smiley=2vrolijk_08.gif] Now that I'm think about it, would more than one hootus be "hooti"?  I slept through most of my English classes...  

[Clutch]

I don't think "Thingy's and the Blowfish" is quite as good a name for a musical group, so there is definitely a place in the world for your term Justin.  Sorry for the discussion thread degradation.

[Semper Gumby]

English ot Latin?  I'll have to ask me sainted wife.....  Hootus Hootye Hootii

Apologies for continued thread degradation (cTD).

[suecanada]

Does anyone think that puffing some dry graphite into that cable splitter distributor might help keep it running smoother and thereby last longer? I replaced mine as the cable end wore out and didn't stay in the notch. I did melt some heat shrink tiny tubing layers onto that nipple end to make it bigger and it worked to keep it from slipping out. To tell you the truth I can't even remember if I have put the new piston in..maybe I am just waiting for my heat shrink solution to "melt down" on me. It is a royal pain to get anywhere NEAR that splitter/distributor. I hate it, hate it. Right Nhmaf???

IT is even worse than getting near the R65LS cockpit fairing. I need to rotate my handlebars back towards me....they were undone during my epic fork seal replacement job and ended up too far forward for my short arms. Well, I just hate to have to take off the nacelle just in case something more breaks.

BUT..take heart..working on the R65LS  is still better than some of the more basic jobs on my new F650GS. I have a dry-sump on that bike...hmmm...2 places to get old oil out of!! And I had to burp my liquid-cooled radiator while replacing the coolant to a decent Canadian winter's temp rating. Burping takes forever and it still wants to blow bubbles at me!! I bled the system too. So I still think the simpler machine (LS) has a lot going for it.

[Justin B.]

Sue,

"Splain to me what is the big deal about putting the splitter/coupler together.  :-? I have heard a great wailing and gnashing of teeth whenever this is mentioned.  Have I been lucky?  I have had two or three of these apart and although I admit it probably would be easier to get back together with three hands, the job doesn't hold a candle to getting that STINKING TIMING CHAIN MASTER LINK inserted...    Maybe it's a matter of technique.

Let me see if I can remember how I did it.  I first unhook the carb side cables from the carbs and then screw the adjuster all the way into the coupler body on the throttle side and slide the "piston" down into the body with the slit over the throttle cable.  Once it's shoved down in far enough the little ferrule on the end of the cable will pop down into it's hole.  You can then pull the piston out as far as it will go against the cable, tilting the piston 180 degrees away from the "slit" you want to install the next cable into.  Then take one of the carb side cables and push it down into the coupler, letting the cable fall into it's piston slit, and slightly angling the cable in the direction the piston is "cocked" toward.  Once the cable is pushed in far enough it will fall in and you can pull up on the cable to seat the ferrule into it's notch in the piston.  Repeat for the other cable...

It was a ton harder to explain than it was to do...  It probably would be a real bugger-bear if the cables weren't removed from the carbs.

But, getting back to your question about the graphite, I suppose it wouldn't hurt anything although I'm not sure if they really cause a problem - until they crack in half.  It might be interesting to clip a fish scale to the throttle end of the cable, measure, lube, then re-measure.  All of the cracked ones I've seen had one or more of the steel ferrules on the end of the cable noticeably decreased in size and rounded.  This could allow the ferrule to wear into the little slit for the cable and maybe act like a wedge causing it to spread, bind, and eventually crack.