bgm1961

Hello all,

New to this forum... I'm in the process of winterizing my 2011 VX Cruiser and am stymied by the cable lubing steps. I have the cable luber tool and am comfortable with its use. But despite the simple paragraph in the owner’s manual that infers the tool is used for all the cables (Throttle, Shift, Steering) its apparent that’s not the case. It APPEARS to me that the throttle cable is the only cable suitable for the lubing tool. It looks like the other cables are actually rods and are better serviced with grease. Am I missing something?

The manual is also a tad misleading in that it makes it sound like the lubing tool can be used on the throttle cable without hassle, yet there’s no way to insert the tool on the cable without removing the handlebar housing as best as I can tell… I’ll be doing that tomorrow. But I’m still wondering how best to lube the Shift and Steering cables/rods?

Any advice would be appreciated! As a way of saying thank you, I posted a winterization checklist in a separate thread.

Thanks,
bgm1961

Ernest T

The cable luber is good for the throttle, and the trim cables, but like you said you do have to remove the handlebars and dissemble the cables to use it. For reverse, and steering you lube the joints and rods at the stern of the ski as they come through the transom and the joints at their attachment points (they are easy to pop off). It helps to get to everything back there if you remove the rubber splash curtains. If you pop out the access panel in the front storage compartment you can get to some of the steering mechanism, and the reverse arm and cable/rod. On your ski you may also be able to get to the reverse mechanism from the engine compartment. I use some grease on the rods and the ball joints.

Good Luck!

__________________
2008 Yamaha FX HO Cruiser
2010 Hurricane Sundeck 2100

bgm1961

Ernest, et al,

Thanks for the great info. With your advice, today I was able to lube all the cables in my VX Cruiser without much issue. The throttle cable lube went very well. It was satisfying to watch the lubricant ooze out the other end.

Now, if I followed your instructions correctly for the steering and reverse shift cables (rods), I simply applied grease in the area where the rod entered the sleeve on both ends and worked the rod back and forth. I "massaged" the grease into the sleeve as best I could. I also lubed the ball joints.

But I wondered if simply applying grease at the point where the rod enters the guide sleeve is enough? Perhaps for the first several seasons it may be. Though I suspect that after a while I would want to lube the entire length of the rod, since the entire length slides inside the sleeve... Yes? No?

So I was thinking that it should be "easy enough" to remove the quick release socket from the front end of each rod and pull the entire rod out of the sleeve, for lubing. Of course I didn't do that... mostly because if I did, I would very quickly enter the "I don't know what I'm doing" arena (though I'm probably in the parking lot now).

Still, I'm curious if it could/should be done at some point in time. If so, then I need to get myself educated on how to do it right for the future.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
bgm1961

Ernest T

I've pretty much always done it exactly like you did. I've never removed the entire cable or rod, but that would certainly be a consideration if you ride in salt water. I also have several friends that ride exclusively in salt water, but I don't ever remember them mentioning needing to completely remove the rods, but I think it might be a really good idea to do every couple of years.

So, I can't help you much there, but I think it would not be that hard to do. If you decide to try it, be sure to let us know how it goes.

__________________
2008 Yamaha FX HO Cruiser
2010 Hurricane Sundeck 2100

bgm1961

I don't ride in salt water, so less maintenamce required. Its good to hear that at least from your perspective, experienced operators don't bother to lube the entire length of the cables.

Thx!

bgm1961