Cheap arsed rear cable DIY

Have you done so much to the car today that it just doesn't fit into one section, or are you too damn lazy to split it all up? Either way, this is the section for you.

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Briano1234
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Cheap arsed rear cable DIY

Post by Briano1234 »

Well after my fiasco of the Cheap-arsed TMI cable that really sucked greatly i was going to buy a Genuine VW cable, 150.00 but I was thinking that there has to be an easier and cheaper method of making this cable...Then I found a cable in the wrecking yard that broke when I removed it, but it had a steel sheeth, so that got me a thinking....



What I have come up with is a piece of

1 4 foot Stainless brake line.
1 Lenght of Vinyl clad Staimless cable.
2 Swedge ferrules.
2 Eye bolts. Or Hook Bolts
2 Stainless Nuts.
2 Flat Washers

Basically you would Cut the brake line to the size of your hard plastic cover, then thread the wire through the Brake line, then make a small loop on the end and swedge it tight.

Then feed that loop through the top, and hook it on the Hook bolt, repeat for the other side....

The lenghts are what I don't know..... but it will be easy to hook or unhook, totaly be replaceable at minimum cost, and with the stainless steel wont rust, and you can then really smash it in with out having to worry about breaking the cable.


You make as small of an eye with the cablew on one end and swedge it that way it will feed through the top hole I was thinking of using 1/8 galvanized vinyl clad cable about 79 cents a foot you need roughly 14 feet so that is about 10 bucks, using the hook bolts will allow you to hold the eye that you made and you then can tighten it with the nut.

Eye bolts, nuts and ferrules are probably 5 bucks, the brake line is about 6 bucks so for about 25 dollars you have a better quality of a cable, that will be easy to replace over the years,


Image



What we need is the lenght of the cable from the top of the bolt to the top of the other bolt, then the Outside diameter of the hard plastic part, then the total lenght of the bolt.

If some one has one laying around then measure it for us and we all have a better than the 40 dollar TMI cable and less than the 149 dollar Genuine VW cable...


So feel free to use or abuse.
Briano

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Calimus
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Post by Calimus »

Nice idea Brian. Wish I had a setup I could measure.
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Post by PDX Cabby »

with your setup, nearly any length of cable would work... just wrap a tape measure around the car and add a foot or so. length adjustment could be made while you're securing everything...
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Post by theonlychuck »

that's similar to what i did, but my eye hooks had the same pitch and threads as the original (i planned it that way) so i didn't need washers, as pdx said, just make sure it's longer than needed, you can cut off the extra after the loop on either side. it's real simple and i made mine for around $5
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Briano1234
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Post by Briano1234 »

The outter diameter of the cable sheath is 3/16 or 5mm and 3 foot long or 1 meter -2.5 cm take your pick the overall measure of the cable lenght is 12 feet (tape wrapped around the top).


Also I found that the Cable tray on mine had expanded, that caused it not to hold the cable correctly at the rear. This was due to the fact that my cable tray had rusted severly, and I had to cut part of it out, and weld in new metal.

I pushed the cable back in to the tray with the top down and then used a block of Oak and a BFH to smack the cable tray into shape.

The easiest way to get the cable in the tray is to use a sharpie to mark the center of the cable. Then measure between the hinges to get the center and using a self ratcheting clamp to push the cable in to the tray and then hold with spring clamps and work from the center out.

No more clothes pins, or screw drivers jack that sucker in.
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