Lubrication of cowl flap cable

[Gfeldman]

I am a relatively new owner of a Phoenix and would like to know what lubricant owners have used to lubricate their cowl flap cable?

Was the knob removed from inside the cockpit and the other end of the cable near the flap disconnected or can this be done without disconnecting anything?

george 

 

 

 

[edwalker]

Hi, George -

I took care of mine just a few months ago. I took a Light Sport Inspection course this summer and learned about an interesting tool you can use to do this. The tool and the lubricant together cost about $10 at most reputable motorcycle shops. All you have to do is disassemble the lower cowling as you would for an oil change and apply the tool to the forward end of the cable. It took 15 minutes and now the cable is smooth as silk.

http://www.eaavideo.org/video.aspx?v=1567231599001

ed

 

 

[Steve Sliwa]

Thanks, this looks helpful.

[mikeschumann]

Ed:  Do you have an updated link the EAA video.  The link in your post is broken.

[edwalker]

This is the same video

http://www.eaavideo.org/detail/videos/hints-for-homebuilders/video/1567231599001/lubricating-control-cables

 

[mikeschumann]

I ended up buying a cable lube tool similar to this at my local Honda Motorcycle dealer:

https://www.amazon.com/GTSpeed-Universal-Motorcycle-Cable-Lubricator/dp/B009T3VUK8/ref=pd_ybh_a_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=FRC6TT29XNSVGM4H5VET

It was very easy to use.  However, the tool does leak quite a bit of oil on the sleeve end.  It takes quite a bit of WD-40 before it starts coming out at the knob end in the cockpit.

The lube process is really easy:

1.  Disconnect the cable from the cowl flap, using a 2.5mm allen wrench and a 5.5mm wrench or socket.
2.  Disconnect the landing light cable.
3.  Remove the lower cowling
4.  Attach the lube tool to the cable at the cowl flap end.  Note:  The cable and sleeve are easily accessible below the radiator.
5.  Wrap a rag around the cowl flap cable behind the panel so you can tell when the WD-40 comes out (and to prevent a mess in the cockpit).
6.  Inject the WD-40 into the lube tool until the oil is visible on the rag in the cockpit (it takes a lot).
7.  Reassemble.  Note:  The cable is attached to the cowl flap using a .50 metric stainless elastic stop nut.  I was amazed that I could get a new nut at my local ACE hardware store (they also had the allen wrench and the 5.5 mm socket).

This really needs to be done each time you do an annual to make sure that the cowl flap continues to operate properly.