Accelerator cable conduit repair on a 1964 PD4106....

[bwze]

After discussing in this post and this post about various issues with my coach. I decided this afternoon that I'd go ahead and try to pull the accelerator cable and inspect it for damage. What makes this job a little different, is that in jobs past, I've not expected anything to go wrong.....today, I prepared for the worse, and pretty close to worse happened.

I followed the instructions in DA BOOK for removing the cable. Disconnected all clevis pins and the cable clamp up front and then pulled her on out. From what I could tell the cable was in pretty good shape. I'm sure it's stretched over the years, but I saw no indication of fraying or kinks. A search on this board revealed that various folks had good luck with spraying a degreaser of sorts into the swivel tube and then blowing compressed air afterwards to remove old grease and what-not. So....away I go. A few squirts and a few hits with my air gun and no-go. Didn't see anything coming out at the front. I decided maybe I try to push the cable back in to the front to see if maybe something got stuck in the conduit. That's when the problem started to rear it's ugly, aggravating and down-right wrong head.

As I pushed the cable back in, everything was going fine. Then I started to hear something sliding against the cover for the chase that runs through the center of the bus at the bay ceiling. I figured the ole Murphy was at it again, so I started looking for a way to remove that cover. Only problem was my wet, grey and black tanks were in the way. Two hours later and few choice words and the tanks were out and cover removed to reveal what I suspected............a broken cable conduit.

If I've learned one thing from this whole bus adventure, it's prepare for the worse and expect even more. I'm attaching a photo of the conduit. The break was near a coupling so I disconnected it there and then cut the tubing a little past the break. I'd love to move on forward and break it loose at the next coupling and then just replace that whole section. Only problem is the next coupling is over the diesel tank, and I ain't about to attempt to take that out......just ain't happening.

Does anyone know a good fix for this? The conduit is not standard tubing size, if so I'd just replace that little section with another piece and be done with it.......

[Len Silva]

Can you braze it back together, or even silver solder it?  Looks close enough to the end that you could chase it with a drill bit after repair.

[bwze]

Too cramped of quarters....I'd be scared to try it with the other rubber in that same chase. I'm trying to find out what kind of tubing this is.....it measures .270 on the OD. It had to be standard at one time because the one end I was able to disconnect was flared.

[gus]

Someone a while back repaired a break like this with close fitting rubber tubing and hose clamps. He did it as a temporary fix but since it worked so well he left it as.

Seems like a good idea to me but the hose clamps will need to be re-tightened after the rubber sets unless you use constant torque clamps.

[Barn Owl]

How about putting the pieces back together with some thick walled heat shrink tubing? Self aligning and strong.

[Fred Mc]

I had the same problem in my bus but took it to a shop to get fixed. As I understand it they were able to get to it through the floor. Is there a hatch in the floor over the fuel tank?

Fred

[bwze]

Unfortunately not Fred.

Barn Owl, that's a good idea. And I just so happen to have some heavy duty heat shrink tubing. Thanks for the idea....

[bwze]

Just an FYI to bring this thread to a close. I ended up "sleeving" the cable conduit with 3/8" stainless tubing. I cut a piece about three inches longer on each end and then, per Barn Owl's suggestion, I used heat shrink tubing to seal her up. Worked like a charm. I pushed the cable back in and out she popped at the front.........

I didn't want to go this route, but I couldn't find a feasible replacement for this odd sized tubing.