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Heater cable wont budge!
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TinCanFab
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 4:31 pm    Post subject: Heater cable wont budge! Reply with quote

I searched and found no info... I cannot get my old heater cable out. The passenger side tube is empty. The driver side has a broken end sticking out inside the cab by about 1/4". At the rear, no cable is coming out of the tube. I have used needle nose vise grips and tried rotating the cable, it just spins back to it's original position like a spring under tension. I can push the cable into the tube about 1/8" inch, than it feels bottomed out. I can pull extremely hard towards the dash and it doesn't budge whatsoever.

Has anyone had this problem? I'm thinking right below the valve area, it has been over twisted and coiled up inside the tube. Am I going to have to cut open the tube underneath?
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abritinthebay
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 4:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

photos might help
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TinCanFab
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 5:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

abritinthebay wrote:
photos might help


Well, I thought about that, but there's nothing to see. Just a piece of cable poking out where the knob goes.
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MrBusCo Premium Member
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 5:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Id try to get some leverage in there. Maybe put a piece of 2x4 against the seat stand and use a long screwdriver or prybar against it and then pry up against a vise-grip holding the cable, that is if it is out of the tube at all.
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TinCanFab
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 1:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, extra leverage won't help. Any other ideas? I might have to use a small tubing cutter and remove a small section of tube, so I pull pull it out from the rear. Crying or Very sad
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BarryL Premium Member
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 7:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Before you get savage I'd investigate a tad bit more. Can you straighten a coat hanger real straight and try to put it in from the rear until you feel it hit the broken end? Maybe chuck up the coat hanger is a slow drill motor and go in slow. All this will tell you is that in fact there is an end in there.

Can you see the entire tube? Is it crushed anywhere? I don't see how the cable would be twisted. The knob turns but that only activates and in-out puller thingy. Can you blow air from the front and see it come out the back dusty-rusty? Can you pour/squirt penetrant down there and let it do a soak?

Still you have to grab the cable somehow. So, once you determine if and where it ends you might try your tubing cutter idea to the rear.
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exciter
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 7:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I would try BarrL idea. Weve run across several plugged and stuck cables and tubes . What i usually do is squirt as much PB Blaster or what ever penetrating oil you have and let it soak for as long as possible and sometimes for days and keep adding fluid every so often. Then I use an 1/8" tig welding filler rod thats 36" long. I grind a point on the end then take a pair of pliers and come in about 3/8" from the point and bend it maybe 25 degrees? And chuck that baby in a hand drill and run it up the tube from the back. time and time again and it usually does the trick to loosen it up. Obviously this would only work if the blockage is no more than 36" from the back and i have noticed its usually in the bend close to the torsion housing.
Good luck and i hope you get her out.
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Tyler 5447
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 9:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I always had really good luck with tons of PB blaster on both ends. Then I would use a rubber tipped air nozzle with the air regulated down to about 10psi on the back side to see if anything came out. Put a rag over the whole in the cab so you don't have PB blaster blown every where. If 10 lbs didn't do anything I would slowly ramp the air pressure up. I also used to have a really narrow but stiff fish tape that worked really good at knocking stuff loose in cable tubes. I had a friend that modified the cable from a pipe snake to fit in the tube before and ran it in his drill. That worked on an accelerator cable that was really stuck.
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crukab
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 4:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tyler 5447 wrote:
I had a friend that modified the cable from a pipe snake to fit in the tube before and ran it in his drill. That worked on an accelerator cable that was really stuck.


This ^^^^^^^^^^^^
I thought someone once told me that Electricians have a pipe snake they use for stuck wires ??
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TinCanFab
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 9:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the tips guys. I will cap off the rear of the tube and fill it up with some PB and let it soak for a few days and try these ideas later. I'm not in a hurry to cut anything if I don't have to.
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will63
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 11:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tyler 5447 wrote:
I always had really good luck with tons of PB blaster on both ends. ...


+1

Had the same problem. With a ton of PB blaster or similar and quite some time + patience I got my heater cable out.

Good luck!
-will
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Mortimer Bondurant
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 4:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I didn't have a stuck cable but both left and right sides of the cable were absent and both tubes were clogged with rust. I put clear plastic tubes on the rear ends of the tubes and elevated them up higher than the front ends then filled them with parts cleaner and let them soak for days. Then I got a cable similar to one side of the heater cable itself and bent the end over about a half inch. Then I fed that cable up each tube from the rear while my son spun the cable's other end with a drill. Eventually we were able to ream both tubes out and feed a new heater cable through. Not your situation, but I'll bet it's rust that's got your cable stuck. So, I would recommend days of soaking. Maybe a dilute solution of Navel (sp?) Jelly would work too. Good luck and just keep going at it.
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CPO_05
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 6:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had the same issue, tried everything everyone here had said. Finally took a really close look at the tubes and found that one of them had a slight dent in it which wouldn't allow the end of the cable to pass through. I ended up cutting that small portion out (about a half inch) and replacing it with a small piece of fule line and some clamps. The new cable went through with ease and I have had no issues iwth it.
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TinCanFab
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 9:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

CPO_05 wrote:
I had the same issue, tried everything everyone here had said. Finally took a really close look at the tubes and found that one of them had a slight dent in it which wouldn't allow the end of the cable to pass through. I ended up cutting that small portion out (about a half inch) and replacing it with a small piece of fule line and some clamps. The new cable went through with ease and I have had no issues iwth it.


I'm going to check really close when I get a chance. I know there are no major kinks since I've been under this truck quite a bit.
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Check out my truck brought back from the dead... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=420762&highlight=sprayed+blood

They're never really ever finished 58 rag build...
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