Morse MT3 engine control cable adjustment

RichardS

RichardS

N/A
Joined
5 Nov 2009
Messages
29,212
Location
Home UK Midlands / Boat Croatia
Visit site
Has anyone dismantled a Morse MT3 controller?

This is the manual: http://www.equipment.ath.cx/instrument_pdf/Morse MT3 Manual.pdf

I have two engines and a twin MT3 controller and would like to "balance" the two controllers so the engines rev equally when the two controllers are pushed up in unison. At the moment I am altering the effective cable length of the two contollers with the thread adjustments at the engine end of the cable but I'm wondering whether I can also do this at the MT3 end of the cable if I run out of adjustment.

I can't really tell by looking at the manual and I don't particularly want to dismantle the control if there is no meaningful adjustment in there.

Many thanks

Richard
 
Pretty sure there is no adjustment there. The cables are clamped at fixed points for the outers and there is no adjustment on the inners.
 
I have this morning changed my throttle cable after it snapped at the control end, I have never liked the Morse set up, there are no warnings if a cable is about to break. But to answer your op, I don't think there is any adjustment of the actual control set up.
 
Last edited:
If The splines that the handles fit on are not aligned with vertical but slightly offset this will always ensure that they are out of sync
 
chrishelen said:
I have this morning changed my throttle cable after it snapped at the control end, I have never liked the Morse set up, there are no warnings if a cable is about to break. But to answer your op, I don't think there is any adjustment of the actual control set up.
Click to expand...
There often is warning as the cable normally breaks as a result of miss adjustment in the lost motion set up so will be stiff when you try to compress the movement between neutral and idling
 
Many thanks to you all for such quick responses.

I will carry on adjusting at the engine end. As Scottie says, the first stage was to align the handle on the splines correctly as one was misaligned. That means removing the small Allen grub screw underneath the handle but, on one handle, the stainless steel grub screw was totally corroded into the alloy casting so the Allen key hex just stripped to form a circle so I had to drill that out!

Don't you just love boats! :)

Richard
 
scottie said:
There often is warning as the cable normally breaks as a result of miss adjustment in the lost motion set up so will be stiff when you try to compress the movement between neutral and idling
Click to expand...


I don't understand the above sorry, what miss adjustment and lost motion please?


Sorry to hijack Richard.
Tonight I re routed the new cable from the wheelhouse to the engine bay as I wasn't happy with the sharp bend upto the engine control...I had about 12 inches bend, I know the manual says min 8 inches, but I still wasn't happy, much larger sweep now, so hopefully it will last longer than the last one.
 
Last edited:
Two answers
It's big loops bad tight bends better because of scrub being worse than bending of inner piano wire
2nd when you move the control from neutral to idle (either way) you do not want to increase revs (except with outboards) so the control has to have a method of absorbing the initial movement of the throttle cable if thi is not set up correctly then you can bend the cable where the piano wire is swagged in the 3/16 rod end
Samuel Morse patented his lost motion devices and collect a fair amount from Mercury when they copied it I believe
 
scottie said:
Two answers
It's big loops bad tight bends better because of scrub being worse than bending of inner piano wire
2nd when you move the control from neutral to idle (either way) you do not want to increase revs (except with outboards) so the control has to have a method of absorbing the initial movement of the throttle cable if thi is not set up correctly then you can bend the cable where the piano wire is swagged in the 3/16 rod end
Samuel Morse patented his lost motion devices and collect a fair amount from Mercury when they copied it I believe
Click to expand...

Just reread your post Scottie, are you saying tight bends are better than big bends, and how do you set the cable up correctly?
 
Yes long straight and tight bends
follow the instructions for the control if you can find them
It is worth degreasing and then greasing the control
The stroke of the gear selection is adjusted by moving the terminal in the serrations put the control and gear in neutral remove the split pin from the terminal and check that the pin goes into the hole in the gears selecter with out adjusting it
Repeat with gear in forward and reverse .
Do the same with throttle watch what happens to the throttle connection when moving from neutral to idle there should be no inrease in revs before idle
The design of the unit Teleflex 10 or similar you have dates from either late 50s or early 60 and I doubt if any spares or instructions are still available
 
Excuse my extreme numtism..... but the manual says avoid bends of less than 8 inches in the control cable, so how can tight bends be better for the cable, I re routed mine yesterday to avoid a bend of 12 inches, and now I have a long sweep of about 24 inches in the engine room upto the fuel pump. Surely this is better for the cable?
 
About 10"
Measure along the curve that gives you the length that the cable is dragging
The shorter you can make that the more efficient the cable and lower the load
 
Last edited:
chrishelen said:
Excuse my extreme numtism..... but the manual says avoid bends of less than 8 inches in the control cable, so how can tight bends be better for the cable, I re routed mine yesterday to avoid a bend of 12 inches, and now I have a long sweep of about 24 inches in the engine room upto the fuel pump. Surely this is better for the cable?
Click to expand...

I agree. If dead straight is the very best, then as close as possible to dead straight must be the next best.

Richard
 
scottie said:
Straight is best but we are discussing bends
Click to expand...

But it just doesn't appear to make sense to say that the cable is best kept straight but if you do have to have a bend then a sharper bend is better than a gentler bend.

Do you have any references for this assertion as it is certainly not the way I have ever routed either flexible or rigid core Bowden cables?

Richard
 
scottie said:
45 years selling and installing them including complex multi station long run set ups
Click to expand...

As you've not provided any technical references to your "sharper bends are best" assertion, I've looked for one.

I can only find this one and, unfortunately, it seems to suggest the opposite:

http://www.drallim.com/drallim-share/pdf/DCB0010_Cable_brochure.pdf?pdf=DCB0010_Cable_brochure.pdf

Lost Motion will occur in every cable and will increase with higher loads, longer control cables and
more frequent and sharper bends. Every control cable needs to have these factors taken into
account and the above formulae used to design the correct cable and routing. Depending on the
material, bends should be kept to a minimum radius of 50mm to 200mm. Minimum bend radii can
be estimated by multiplying the core cable diameter by 100.

Richard
 
RichardS said:
As you've not provided any technical references to your "sharper bends are best" assertion, I've looked for one.

I can only find this one and, unfortunately, it seems to suggest the opposite:

http://www.drallim.com/drallim-share/pdf/DCB0010_Cable_brochure.pdf?pdf=DCB0010_Cable_brochure.pdf

Lost Motion will occur in every cable and will increase with higher loads, longer control cables and
more frequent and sharper bends. Every control cable needs to have these factors taken into
account and the above formulae used to design the correct cable and routing. Depending on the
material, bends should be kept to a minimum radius of 50mm to 200mm. Minimum bend radii can
be estimated by multiplying the core cable diameter by 100.

Richard
Click to expand...
I suggested 10" 225mm they actually specify less than 200mm
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top