How-to: Lubricate throttle cable

Posted by minig0d on R6Messagenet

HOWTO: lubricate throttle cable
This is a 2 beer project if you do it my way. Estimated time to complete is 30 minutes tops. This applies to the 05 but should be just about the same on all previous models....

What you will need:
- 4mm allen wrench
- Phillips screwdriver
- cable life lube (we won't use the tool)(http://www.protectall.com/cable_life.htm)
OR
any chain lube that also mentions cables on the bottle should work
OR
any 10w-30 motor oil (more difficult) (might help to have a syringe with this)
-eye protection

DO NOT USE WD40... wd40 doesn't last very long and when it starts to wear down it will leave your cable unprotected... people also say it attracts dirt to it which tends to be true with most lubricants... if you want to use WD40 to spray down into the cable first to clean it its a great solvent but I wouldn't use it as the final lubricant...

There are 2 ways to do this.... one is the halfass way and the other is the REALLY halfass way... I spent 3 hours today playing around with this and trying to find a shortcut and was unable to... so my best suggestion is to just follow the halfass way and be happy... I tried to use the cable life tool and it is unable to clamp onto the throttle tube at all (too small a diameter) so trying to do this the more complete way is a pretty big waste of time... To do this we will be interested in 2 areas of the bike... the area by the throttle and the area on the left side of the bike where the throttle cables attach... (if you want to do this the really halfass way you will just be worried about the throttle area)...

Use eye protection any time you work with aerosol lubricants or any chance you have of getting some in your eye. I promise if you spray hard enough into these tubes as illustrated below some will kick back at you... you don't want it in your eyes...

Step 1: on the bottom side of the big housing (that houses your big red ignition kill switch) you will see 2 phillips screws... one is toward the front the other towards the back... remove both of them... here are the best pictures I could take of the screws:
Looking from the rear of the bike up to the front:

Looking from the front of the bike to the rear:


Step 2: If you want to do this the REALLY halfass way skip down to step 8. On the left side of your bike you want to remove the piece of mid fairing. This is done by removing the 2 screws shown with small arrows and then slide the piece showing with a big arrow forwards and remove it: (it is also detailed in your owners manual so if you haven't done this before you may use that in addition to this for assistance)


Step 3: Remove the 3 screws shown here:


Step 4: If you look down through that hole created by the piece we removed in step 2 you will notice this one more screw and this ratcheting tie.... remove both of them:


Step 5: rotate the fairing piece out of the way as shown here to expose the lower end of the throttle cables.


Step 6: Place a few paper towels where shown to catch any excess lube that drips out the far end of the throttle tubes.


Step 7: Spray some lubricant along the ends of the cables that are exposed and on the track that the cables feed through on the gold colored wheel and wipe up any excess.

Step 8: Pull the top half (the part that has the red kill switch on it) off of the bottom and rotate it out of the way. Like this:


Step 9: Spray lubricant into the 2 throttle tubes (shown with arrows in step 8, where the throttle cable enters the tubes... turn the throttle grip by hand back and forth to help work the lube along the cable...

Step 10: Clean up any excess mess and reassemble in the reverse order of which was disassembled.

The consequences of not taking off the mid fairing to do this (the REALLY halfass way) is that all the excess lube that goes through the throttle tube will drip and land all over the engine making a big mess and the part of the cable and moving parts of the outer throttle assembly (including where the cable travels over the gold wheel) will not be lubricated)...

After doing this the throttle seems about 10% easier and snappier on my 05 with 2400 miles on it... on older bikes or higher mileage bikes the benefit would probably be more apparent in addition to the benefit as preventive maintenance... (no one wants a snapped throttle cable)...

The alternative to the cable spray of regular motor oil could be done in the same way as the above steps but instead of spraying into the tubes, to use a syringe to put the oil into the cable tubes.

This is called the half ass way because to properly do it involves removing the throttle cables from the throttle grip assembly and forcing lubricant through the tube such as with the "cable life" tool... however since this tool doesn't seem to fit onto our throttle cables at all... and since it is VERY hard to remove the throttle cables... I see no real benefit in doing so... To do this "properly" would probably take an hour and a half and be a 4 beer job... I don't think that is worth it for the increased benefit? (possibly 10% better lubrication of the throttle cables if that)

I take no responsibility for these instructions, for excessive beer consumption, or for anything else you do to mess your sh*t up... this is just how I did it and use at your own risk!

As corrected added screwdriver to the list and corrected bolts to screws. Thanks Mr. Smurf for the corrections

TY MiniGod (if you're even on here) for the write up,

I just did this today and w/o the write-up, I would've taken the entire throttle cable assembly apart only to find out that the cable-life tool doesn't fit. At a recent trackday, I noticed a few bikes that had sticky cables (mine included) yikes... Did this maintenance, and bam! it feels 10x snappier.

If you haven't already done so, and feel even a little resistance on the throttle, I strongly suggest you perform this maintenance.

Originally Posted by serpentracer

all you have to do is take the throttle grip off and you can pull the cables out to put the tool on them. you are not lubing anything really if you don't.

what about the warning that the tool is too big for the cable? And after doing it this way, there was actually a big change when rolling on the throttle and letting it snap back. So it was really lubing the cables.

Originally Posted by ultrar6

Im goin to have to do this soon on my 03 in addition to lubing my cluth cable, does anyone have a writeup for the clutch cable??

How-to: Lubricate clutch cable

table of contents sticked at the top of the sub-forum is your friend:
Table of Contents for "How To:"

definatly gonna do this tomorrow. My on/off throttle transitions seem sketchy latley and there seems to be a bit of resistance. Awesome write up thanks dude

when should you do this/clutch cables?

year/mileage

Depends on usage. the more you ride, the more you lube. If you have to ask, I'd do it just for peace of mind. Last thing you want is to have a stuck cable at "throttle on" on the track.