OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Four Stroke Lawn Mower Frames How far can you bend a Bowden cable?

I am trying to fit a Bowden (throttle) cable to an old 1960 Rover Economy mower, but am now scratching my head and thought I should ask for advice before proceeding.

There are two screws still in the handlebars, which suggests it had a plastic Conwire throttle lever on there originally. The problem is the cable clamp and connection to the carby linkage is all completely backwards. In fact it is more than being a full 180 degree turn.

I know lots of the modern Rover mowers have the engines reversed on the base, which means the throttle cables have to take a 90 degree bend to reach around to the carby. Rover came up with a simple telescopic guide fastened to the top of the cowl, which allows the cable to take the bend. But in the case of the much older Economy mower, it would have to take a very tight turn indeed, right around the back of the engine, and back towards the handlebars again, and then another 5 to 10 degree bend, in order to reach the cable clamp.

Before I waste my time trying to do the impossible, I thought I would ask first if anybody has any experience with a cable connection which goes near full circle like this one? Also what are the limitations of the Bowden throttle cables? How far can you physically turn them around before they will stop working? Every bend will put extra friction on the cable and make it more difficult to operate. Also, the old Bowden cables did tend to be very stiff. They were definitely not as flexible as the modern day cables.

I've run plenty of oil down through the cable overnight. I use the end off an old silicon tube and connect this to the cable using a 1/4" rubber fuel hose. You turn the silicon nozzle upside down, fill it up with light oil, and hang the lot off a post or something out in the yard. Over night the gravity gradually lets the oil trickle right down through the cable. I also sometimes reverse the cable and re-fill the nozzle with oil the next morning and leave for a few more hours, so you know it has really soaked through the whole cable. Then wipe off the outside of the cable with a rag and you're right to go!

So I had a fiddle with a cable yesterday. If I use a slightly more modern (and more flexible) cable, I might just be able to get it to fit.

It doesn't seem to matter whether I go right around the cowl or come across from the other side past the breather, there is still a fairly sharp bend down to the controls. But in both cases the bend should not be so sharp as to stop the lever from working. I will give it a try.

The previous owner was running it as a manual, without any lever. But it did have a Conwire lever on the handlebars originally, which is what sparked my interest in attaching a cable.

Well this is embarrassing! I only realized yesterday that I am missing a Bowden clamp off my carby.

I had to make up a replacement.

So it looks like you can attach the cable to either side of these carbys, depending on which way around the engine is positioned on a base.

That missing part had caused me a lot of confusion.

Anyway, problem solved!

G'day vint-mow
I must say, I enjoy your posts - and your honesty in the resolution here.
Your topic title may be read as a challenge

Reading between the lines, I think I understand what has happened here.
A great anecdote - and lesson - about these great cables.
That's my angle, anyway.

The Bowden Cable will be with us for some time.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowden_cable

Hi Jack, It only occurred to me that a lot of people may not even know what a Bowden cable is these days? The name has gone out of fashion to some extent. Most people refer to them simply as "throttle cables" now. So your link to Bowden cables is timely I feel.

I also have a habit of ranting on about Conwire controls at times and few people understand what I'm on about. Those little plastic controls were used on just about everything that had a throttle in the 1960s, and had become the cheaper alternative to the older type of chrome levers. They were however a bit weak and prone to cracking and breaking. The clamp also had a bad habit of letting go and was difficult to tighten without damaging the plastic around it. But you still find a lot of them on old mowers today and many still work.