I'm in the middle of doing a handle bar job. And yes, the cables (throttle and idle) are long enough. Well, at least they fit. Putting on new grips and got to the cable adjustment. The throttle cable went smoothly. But when I try to adjust the idle cable (at the grip) I never get the throttle returning to the original position. As I tighten, it gets harder to roll the throttle (as I'd expect), but when I release the throttle, it doesn't return. I just had the bike serviced prior to this, so all the cables should be good and lubed. And I didn't mess them up in replacing the grip. Seems like the spring that should be pulling on the idle cable, isn't. I even tightened the adjuster all the way to where it started to come apart. So I backed it off, opened up the switch cover and made sure everything was ok in there - including the friction shoe. Everything looks good and the grip rotates freely when the cables aren't tightened.

Help! Without the throttle rolling off, I'm a little worried about even riding this thing to a shop... I've got to believe it's something simple, however. Gonna try to put on the old throttle grip and see if that works again. If not, then clearly I messed something up! But what? Any ideas?

Thanks.

Oh, it's a 2007 Road King Custom.

 

i was going to say the adjustment at the grip but you said you tried that already, dumb question but did you pull the cables out of the housing and possible put them in the wrong holes ?? that's the only thing i can think of

 

Nope. They are in the right spots. I just disassembled it and reassembled it for the third time. The clutch cable adjusts well. The idle, not. But I notice that the throttle DOES release (the idle cable functions) when the idle cable adjust is completely loose. When I tighten it, it stops. So I'm wondering if perhaps the cable is, in fact, too short? If so, maybe when I tighten it, it stretches the spring too far past its' elasticity point. So it doesn't snap back. But loose, the spring functions normally. Does this make sense? Is this the type of behavior I'd see if the cable really needed to be a +2 or so?

 

Sorry I don't have more to help with…it's been a number of years since I messed with the throttle/idle cables on my 05 RK. But…as I recall the adjustment was not intuitive, didn't really seem logical to me. You might try adjusting the cable to the max in both directions, a little at a time, and see if you don't run across the 'sweet' spot.

Sorry. That's all I got.

Alan

 

Make sure that you did not accidentally tighten the daisy wheel that pushes against the friction shoe. Try loosening the two screws on the housing covers (a smidge) and see if that makes a difference. If that works, that means that something is not aligned properly inside. My gut tells me that the internal wiring loom is pressing against the throttle sleeve in some fashion. It is easy to have happen. Ask me how I know.....

 

Make sure the new grip is not installed too far in on the handle bar causing the grip end to bind on the end of the bar.

 

Agree, it's not as intuitive at it seems it should be. It's also easy to create tension which creates bind, holding the throttle open.

Here's what I would suggest doing.

Slack both cables completely (shorten the sheaths).

Working only on the throttle opening side, expand the sheath until the throttle fully opens. As in just hits the throttle blade stop as the throttle grip hits its motion limit. Lock this cable set.

Now work the idle cable. You want just a bit of slack. 1/8" at the throttle grip as I recall. Measure this play at the idle or throttle closed position. This slack is critical to letting the throttle snap closed under spring tension. If you do not have it, the throttle will bind. The tighter you make this, the worse it binds.

 

+1.....spot on!

 

Another possibility is the grip itself. What grips are you using?

Avon ran a batch of Custom Contour grips with incorrect tolerances not too long ago. The inner grip diameters were too small, causing the throttle-side to bind!

Please post the correction action required when you find it. It will be very helpful.

 

As mentioned previous. With both cables in the slack position start with the throttle cable. You want it tight enough to where the grip does not turn very much before starting to move the throttle wheel. If you go too tight it will move the throttle wheel off the idle stop. I like mine on the idle stop with a very small amount of play. Check full throttle makes the wheel go to the other stop. There should be two stops. No throttle (idle) and full throttle. Tighten your jamb nut on the throttle cable at this point. Once you get to this point with the idle cable completely slack, what does the throttle do when you twist to full throttle and then let go? It should snap back due to the spring loaded throttle wheel. If it does not, then you have to find out if the grip is binding on the bar or in the switch housing..if it DOES snap back like it is supposed to then go slowly with the idle cable getting a little tighter at a time until it starts to bind, then reverse it until it again snaps back and then it is adjusted properly. Make sure that your cable ends are fully seated in the seats at the throttle body end.

The idea is that the throttle cable (pull cable) will open the throttle up when you twist the grip and the spring tension on the throttle wheel will close it upon letting go of the grip. The idle cable (sometimes called the push cable) is there so in the event of something happening and the throttle binds in the open position, you can manually roll the grip back to idle and that cable will close the throttle to avoid a stuck throttle/accident situation..