FROZEN CHOKE CABLE

PRTZMAN55 · Feb 12, 2014

Morning All.
does anyone have a idea as to thaw out choke and throttle cables.
its been very cold here and they are on a skid steer so removing them is not an option right now.
Some one told me to use a battery charger to losen
then up ????????
Any ideas access to remove is limited as major tear down would be required and on garage is available
Thanks
Harry

glennster · Feb 12, 2014

try a hair dryer. i used a heat gun on my snowblower this year and melted the liner on the cable. now its froze wide open.

the tractor vet · Feb 12, 2014

I did NOT say this . Borrow the wifes hair dryer ya just want to WARM it not MELT it like Glennster did . Then oil it up really good . I have the same problem with my snow blower and have had this happen on a couple tractors also . If it is just a spring steel style melting it is not a problem , but if it has the plastic outer coating then yep it will MELT. The plastic coated ones are not SUPPOSE to get water in them and freeze but they do . So oil the heck out of it with a light oil that will run down the cable . and keep it oiled .

PRTZMAN55 · Feb 12, 2014

Thanks for the ideas had not thought of that ,but what about a curling iron , only part of the cables are accesable as the run thru where it cant be reached easy with out tearing it apart and removing is not possible at least till it ever warms up Here in central PA it was -7 this am
thanks
Harry

glennster · Feb 12, 2014

the heat from the hair dryer should travel enough to melt the ice and get it moving. or if you have a torpedoe type heater, open the rear engine cover door and let it blow warm air around the engine. once it thaws out, spray wd-40 down the cable. it does a good job displacing water. if need be toss a tarp over the cab to keep some heat in the machine.

old · Feb 12, 2014

If there frozen due to humidity you might try pouring some HEET or rubber alcohol down the cable. Then after it frees up lube the cable real good

mkirsch · Feb 12, 2014

The battery charger thing is along the same idea as using a welder to thaw water pipes.

You connect the ground clamp to one end of the pipe, and the electrode holder to the other end, and turn the welder on. The electricity flowing through the pipe will cause it to warm up and melt the ice.

The key is using the right power setting so you don't melt the pipe!

Same deal with the battery charger. Positive at one end of the cable, negative at the other end. You probably want to put the charger on its lowest setting, and slowly increase the setting until the cable starts to heat. Too much heat, and you ruin the cable.

A curling iron won't do squat.

Mark in Upstate · Feb 12, 2014

Lube with PB Blaster or WD-40.

D7fever · Feb 12, 2014

dump dry gas on them to thaw them out, lube them with permanent antifreeze. had to do that with the cables on my fisher plow setup.

henryv11 · Feb 12, 2014

You have to make sure you are using a DC welder

FROZEN CHOKE CABLE

PRTZMAN55

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glennster

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the tractor vet

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PRTZMAN55

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glennster

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old

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mkirsch

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Mark in Upstate

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D7fever

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henryv11

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