1964 Tilt wheel turn signal Bowden Cable

[Logan Robb]

Hello! 

I am searching for the Bowden Cable for a 64 Tilt wheel. Upon further investigation of my turn signal issue, I have determined the issue to be the Bowden Cable, not the Bell Crank as previously suspected. 

Can these be repaired? I know they are hard to come by….

Thanks! 

Logan 

[Kurt]

I assume yours has the plastic sleeve instead of the spiral steel sleeve? My plastic sleeve broke right at the turn signal switch end. I was able to reattach it with wire shrink wrap & epoxy but it eventually broke off again. The bowden cable is under constant spring pressure. I thought Russ replied on your previous post that he repairs them with the  stell sleeve? Anyway, hold out til you find a steel sleeve cable to be done with it once & for all.

https://6364cadillac.ning.com/forum/topics/turn-signal-cable?commen...

[Logan Robb]

I actually have the steel sleeve cable. I am fairly certain the wire has broken inside the Bowden Cable. 

The TS lever moves the switch one way, but not the other. And I verified at the Bell Crank that the wire is attached and the Bell Crank is intact when I had the steering wheel off.

Ill have to look at my previous post, maybe Russ can repair the wire inside the cable too? 

[Kurt]

Ah, I see. The cable is doing the "push" function where the 2 broken ends meet but can't do the "pull" function because it's broken. If that is the case, you should be able to detach the wire loop from the switch end & pull it with no resistance.

[Logan Robb]

Yes. That should be the case. Now I need to figure out how to remove the entirety of the Bowden cable. 

removing the steering wheel was not hard at all, I hope the same can be said for the cable….

[Kurt]

I'm assuming you saw Jason's video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lkmu9tG8TUY&t=7s

I replaced mine about 9 years ago and don't remember it being difficult at all, so it was either easy or so horrible that I blocked out the memory, but I think the 1st one : )

Just take good pics of the routing & position of everything before you disassemble anything & you should be fine.

[Logan Robb]

Jason or Russ, 

Can either of you speak to how long the bowden cable is from ring to ring? It appears there are some available online-I just don't know if these are the correct options?

I have not removed mine yet-so I can always measure that one. Thought I'd order the one I need to have on hand before I remove steering wheel again. 

I'll post a link to the one I have found below and hopefully someone can advise from there

Logan

[Logan Robb]

https://www.opgi.com/chassis-suspension/steering-components/tilt-co...

[Logan Robb]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/270530647685?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkri...

[Jason Edge]

I don't have one to measure. Like you, mine is installed on my car and any I get in go quickly out the door as I have a growing backlog on my Wait List. I will try to remember to get a measurement the n next time I get one in. 

[Kurt]

I dug up my old one, sometimes it pays not to throw things away : )

The internal wire is intact and measure approximately 18" loop to loop. The plastic outer sheath had separated from the "L" tab but no material is missing so the measurement on it should be fairly accurate. The sheath tab to tab is approximately 16"

I'm curious if the bowden cables you found would work? Looks like it is a little longer but still about 2" difference between the internal wire & attaching tabs. The turn signal switch has a lot of adjustment margin too. 

The ebay one says "Breathe easy. Returns accepted." I say take the leap & let us know if it works : )

[Logan Robb]

So the eBay listing is the only one that shows the measurements. I took a chance for $45 and might be able to modify it or move the adjustment of the switch all the way out. 

Looks to be about an inch too long all around. 

[Logan Robb]

I received the new replacement Bowden Cable in the mail today

I purchased the eBay listing from the link above. The item is very high quality and moves freely even when the ends of the cable are curved around to be facing the same direction (180 deg). 

I took some measurements and confirmed that the eBay listing is apprx. 1" too long for the internal cable "loop to loop" as well as the mounting brackets on the sheet. I am going to set aside an afternoon and attempt to modify this part once I can compare to an original when I pull it from my 64 Fleetwood. Just to get more precise measurements. 

From the factory, this new part I ordered appears to have just been cut with a grinding tool. Cutting the sheath to length should not be an issue as long as you don't cut thru the internal wire. 

Since the loops will need to be adjusted as well, I am thinking maybe just snip one loop off, pull the wire out and THEN cut the sheet. 1 loop on one side will need to be reformed anyway, so this may be the best course to not cut too deep into the sheath and cut the wire too short. 

Reforming the loop on the one end is going to be my biggest struggle I feel. Getting the diameter correct for the loop is going to be tricky.

Preliminary thoughts are to use a round stick of some kind and wrap the wire around that way. I am not confident in my ability to make it precise enough to function properly. 

As for the mounting brackets, they appear to be identical to everything I have seem. They are also crimp fit on to the outer sheath, so those should be easy to pop on and off. I may put just a dab of glue on them once modifications are complete to make sure they won't come off, but that seem really just extra precaution at this point. 

Ill keep the thread updated as I know these cables are nearly unobtanium in hopes someone else is able to buy a $50 part and with a little work, make it work as designed for our cars. 

Logan