Lube the cables as they are installed in the center tunnel or leave them dry? Lube them inside the cable jacketing at the rear part of the cable? They are under friction and I would think they would work smoother and last longer if greased up.

Whats the wisdom? There are never any installation instructions for these cables or the bushings.

I've tried both ways and even went so far as to use a motorcycle cable oiler and could feel no difference. The oil on the bare inner cable tended to attract and hold dirt and everything else that gets inside the tunnel so I'd say no lube. We don't lube the ones on my race car or on my daughter's stock 1974. Every cable I have had fail was due to the inner rubbing where the swagged ends go on the outer cable and they seperated causing fraying. I imagine others will have different opinions??!!

As a side note, I replace the race car cables every year and the stock ones every two years or when the car goes on the lift. Much easier than having one break in traffic.......

Dirt is your enemy. When the dirt is trapped on the cable it will accelerate wear on the cable. In a perfect world (where we don't live), it would make sense to lubricate friction surfaces.

I do not lubricate cables.

You may contact the cable manufacturers and get their opinion/official response to your question.




just my $0.02

terry cables are dry lubed... and are not meant to be lubed by the user

I have emailed Terry cables, no response yet, but I did locate this from the factory manual:

yeah, but did you notice how clean that 914 looks? i doubt it had ever seen any dust at the time those pictures were taken ...

Andy

The factory cable isn't teflon coated.

I've had good success using a motorcycle oiler and a thin lube. I've had a couple of cables start to bind in the housing and this has fixed them. Haven't had trouble with a cable since.

Matt

I know our revered founder is strongly in the "hell no" camp on this issue, for exactly the reasons the John'es mentioned.