Seized Bowden Cable

[jneale]

One of the brake cables on my 4 wheel boat trailer is seized. I have managed to free the other 3 cables by working them with WD40 and greasing up the ends (as far as possible,
but the last one is proving quite stubbon. This cable is 1.70 metres long and the inner does move about 2 or 3 inches with difficulty. I really need to get the oil/WD40 deeper into the sleeve to lubricate it further down.

Anybody got any ideas - would soaking it in a paraffin/oil mixture for a couple of days help ???

 

[sailorman]

remove the cable & hang it up to get the oil to run down the inner

 

[rotrax]

remove the cable & hang it up to get the oil to run down the inner

Sailormans idea is the one.

For motorcycle control cables we would cut the corner of a plastic bag, push the cable in and tape it tightly together.

Hang it up, with the lower end in a tub, put some light oil-we found TQF to be perfect-in the bag, above the cable end and leave overnight.

If that will not fix it, pay up and look big and get a new cable!

Good Luck.

 

[nedmin]

Paraffin with a bit of oil in,or failing that white spirit,once you've got it free,oil.

 

[Spi D]

The right solution would be new cables, prepared for the use by oiling and squeezing marine grease into the sleeve at the ends

If going to reuse the old cables I'd use proper penetrating lube instead of WD40 and then soak, leave to work, re-soak and repeat until things free up.

 

[Martin_J]

There are tools such as 'Cable oilers' that force oil down the tube... so long as the outer is not holed in any way, the oil gets forced to the far end..

Used them many moons ago but not recently..

e.g. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hydraulic-Motorcycle-Motorbike-Quad-Car-Professional-Quality-Cable-Oiler-/370733226619?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item56516c1a7b

 

[Neil]

The problem is usually that the inner cable has rusted and therefore swelled, jamming in the outer cable. If this is the case, trying to get oil in might be futile. I'd bite the bullet and replace. I've run some Corrosion Block into the new cable while also stuffing marine grease in at both ends. The wisdom of using a mild steel multi-strand cable in a marine environment always escaped me.

Once upon a time you could get cables with grease nipples in the middle of the outer.............

 

[Avocet]

The cables (assuming the trailer hitch and brakes are relatively common, e.g. knott, Bradley etc) are surprisingly cheap. Probably not worth messing about, to be honest. Also, I've heard tales of some penetrating oils attacking the plastic liners in some designs of cable and making things worse in the long run. That said, I have, in the past, found a length of plastic hose that's a good fit round the ferule at one or other end of the outer cable, secured it with a hose clip, filled it with some sort f penetrating oil and just left the assembly hanging vertically so that there is a permanent reservoir of oil that has no alternative but to go down between the inner and outer cables.

 

[William_H]

Other posters are probably right in that a new cable is indicated. A cable that jambs in the brake on position is not pretty for the brakes.
However if you really want to salvage the olod cable just keep working with the movement you have. each time you pull and push you move the oil and grease in the cable further along so eventually you can pull the inner right out. good luck olewill

 

[elton]

Flex it; bend it as far as you dare all along the length. Eventually the seizure will break loose.