Throttle Cable

[cpirrmann]

Hello all,
I have a question about the routing of my throttle cable. It appears to come through the firewall, around the right bottom of the crankcase and directly to the carb. There is a bracket on the cable sleeve, but there I can find nowhere on the surrounding structure, engine, etc. where it could go. Anyone have any ideas?

[Mark Julicher]

Re: Throttle Cable

If memory serves me, I believe you will find a hole tapped for a #5 bolt in the bottom of the lower right engine mount lug for the purpose of securing the throttle cable.

If memory does not serve me, someone else in the tribe will surely chime in with the correct answer.

[VictorBravo]

Re: Throttle Cable

If the original location is not available for some reason, I have seen standoffs and mounts attached to one of the oil tank studs on some airplanes. But there should be a mounting lug on the engine mount near the oil tank, as mentioned in the previous post.

Off-topic rant:

IMHO the throttle cable (and other engine ocntrols too) routing is an annoying issue on many airplanes like the Taylorcraft. It has to do with the lack of flexibility in the throttle control cable assembly, the angle and location and where it goes through the firewall. The carburetor control lever has very little friction, and since the butterfly is symmetrical about the axis it stands to reason (that means ASSUME) that there is very little resistance even with airflow going through it.

Which means that a more flexible cable (one that might NOT be able to lift an AT-6 off the ground and swing it around in circles) would make it a lot easier to hook up. Of course the more flexible cable would require one or two areas where it was inside a rigid tube for straight runs, but this would still be a lot easier, lighter and less problematic. Anyone with knowledge that contradicts this idea is more than welcome to explain if and how I'm wrong. The throttle cable on my airplane seems fit for a Mustang.

Although it would be an extreme example to make a point, I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that an R/C model airplane "Gold 'n' Rod throttle pushrod is more than strong enough to do the job (but the plastic would melt and it is far from certified). A motorcycle cable would likely be the right size and strength if it were legal to use.

[Robert Lees]

Re: Throttle Cable

A few pointers on throttle cables that might help:

The throttle cable passes through the firewall and then under the heat muff and then over the kidney tank, a rather convoluted route. I drilled a new hole about 1" above the original hole (immediately below the header tank), so that the cable can now pass comfortably over the heat muff.

Secondly, we added a weak spring between the carburettor butterfly arm and the nosebowl, so that in the unlikely event of a throttle cable break, the carb will swing to full throttle. Can be significantly helpful if you do lots of mountain flying, or as we do, over-water flying. And yes, we learned this because we had a throttle cable break!

Your friction nut needs to be serviceable, and care must be taken to ensure that the throttle does not unintentionally advance when you are swinging the prop.

I replaced my throttle cable some years ago with one from Aircraft Spruce, with full-swivel ball-joint at the butterfly arm, and teflon liner. It's very smooth.

Rob

[V Soars]

Re: Throttle Cable

We are restoreing a basket case and after sorting through all the parts, I find we are missing the throttle cable. Which cable did you purchase to replace the old one? I don't have a photo of the cable, so I don't know what it looks like! Thanks for the help.

Glenn G