quote:

Originally posted by dogill:
I have a custom built replacement on the way. The tech I spoke with was very knowledgable of motorhomes requiring these out of date, ARA mgf, CC cables and housings.

For future reference, the source was:
APT Instruments International, Inc. in Bloomington, MN.

Guess I get a break until the brown truck arrives.

What is the bestest cable lubercater?

Thanks fellers, hope this does the trick.

don in Dixie

Bloomington? Did you tell them you were a friend of Dave? There is a discount for Dave's friends there.

As for lube, I like a dry Moly spray. I last used Dow Corning 321 dry lube. I spray both the inner and outer and let it dry before assembling. Lubriplate is pretty good, too.

Insulate it from any heat source. I use flexible metal conduit. The aluminum conduit acts as a giant heat sink to carry away the heat.

Thanks for the tips, Sirs bill & olroy.

I'Be darn shor to luber good and the flex is a great idee too.

A discount wooda been nice but I shan't complain.

Actually, for me the speedo is a pretty useless instrument, in addition to the CC, but I do feel it necessary to maintain an accurate historical logbook.

don

[This message has been edited by dogill (edited March 31, 2005).]

Don, you're altogether too fast. From problem identification to solution in 34 hours, with time out for 10 posts & 7 replies on Barthmobile, including special ordering parts. Kinda suggests Dave's site is a pretty good resource.

Shucks, I woulda taken a week to decide I had a problem, let alone solve it. Too bad I didn't know of API Instruments when I was fighting my own speedo problem a year ago. Took me longer to figure out what I needed, track down a source, and cobble up a solution, than it'll take you to finish the job, including your wait time for the brown truck.

Yeah olroy,
This forum is Graaat! I wouldn't have attempted any of the repairs I've been able to make without you fellows on this forum. I am not mechanically inclined and almost too fat and short-winded to get under the coach. But, by doing so, I've prolly saved enough doe-rae-me on labor and parts to pay for a 2-3000 mile excursion, even at today's gas prices.

To be honest though, my speedo went on the blink about 500 miles and two months ago. At first it seemed a real simple fix (1 cable core) and I had a long list of higher priorities to work on. I finally changed out cable one a couple weeks ago and it didn't fix the prob as I kept believing the liars at the tranny shop telling me the tranny cable was good, when in fact, they never even looked at it. Had me surfing salvage yards for servos and regulators and asking a bunch of toopid questions on here.
Both you and Bill, telling me "bad cable most likely" the whole time but I'm thinking "No Way, both cables broke and the tranny shop guys inspected and OK'd the, hard to access cable". Hense forward, I will refuse to allow any mechanics to work on my rig without me in the pit with them. Most are very understanding if you tell them you're trying to learn a thing or two. I can now change out an alternator, a solenoid, and a starter. I've tooled up and I keep spares of all the important parts, 'cause you just never know where you'll be when your cell phone is out of range. I have a better appreciation of why pilots walk around their planes before takeoff.

BTW: one last item on my fixit list. Ha ha
The original Kitchen Aid counter top blender motor still works fine but I need the blades and canister for that frozen concoction that helps you hang on.

Can't help you on the blender, ol' buddy, don't have a built-in. But my wife has a gizmo with a little propellor on the end that she uses to grind up prunes for her poop cocktail, after they've soaked in orange juice for a week.

Don't know if it works on ice cubes, but thanks for the idea. I'll give it a try, but if it breaks her little hand blender, she might turn into a panthegator, the meanest animal in the world, a creature with a panther head on one end, and an alligator head on the other. I'd tell you what makes him so mean, but it's not fit for a family publication. (Just an old joke from the bayous, my friends)

You have a Nutone blender, http://www.seattle.net/~nutoneinfo/nutone/nucat/foodcnt1.htm

They are not being made anymore, you can however, get the jars and some repair kits. You can also regularly find them on ebay. They are actually a food processor and when you find the processor stuff it is usually in the $100 range because of the rarety. These are great blenders. You can turn rock into sand in these things. My wife makes that orange juice morning drink with crushed ice. Not a problem at all.

Nutone! dats correctomonda,
I just think of making Margritas and have instant memory lapse. The link you posted, is it old? It said blenders ($39) still available but not motors. Right? As an avid cook, I've never cared much for food processors anyway...to hard to clean and more junk taking valuable cabinet space.
Would that orange juice drink you mention be called the "Mimosa"? (OJ+champagne)
I have the original owners manual with model number and will take at looksee at Ebay.
thanks,
dog

[This message has been edited by dogill (edited March 31, 2005).]

[This message has been edited by dogill (edited March 31, 2005).]

Warning: Serious Thread Drift.

Since margaritas were mentioned, thought I'd share our Margarita recipe:

1/3 cup Tequila
1/3 cup Triple Sec
3 oz Minute Maid frozen limeade concentrate
3 oz Minute Maid frozen lemonade concentrate(we thaw and mix the two and keep the blend ready in the freezer)
3 tbsp fesh squeezed lime juice (don't even bother with Rose's or Realime)
3 cups ice cubes (this will vary slightly with the hardness of the cubes)

Blend only long enough to get desired texture. More ice makes it thicker (but weaker)if desired.

We have found the Champ blender to do the best job. It is pricey, but it can do so much. It makes better slushie drinks than anything else. And you gotta try a Kokomo. They are actually creamy. Heck, it even makes hot vegetable soup. Yep, it stirs and chops it so hard it actually heats up. And icy Mocha Frappacinos to die for.

Serious thread drift for sure but so much fun on a day like today when there's nothing better to do. (3 day monsoon in Dixie)

Retreived the Nutone manual from the Barth's files. Wow! I had no idea this thing doubled as a ShopSmith. Scarru the food processor but gotta find the coffee grinder #276, I think. The only thing wrong with the motor base unit is the pull-"ON" knob's nylon shaft is stripped. You can still pull it "ON" with fingers but gotta get it fixed right. DAVE: are parts kits available to address this little prob?

Thanks for the margarita recipe Bill, yum, yum. I beez a devout "Parothead".

Ron: When are you and Donna gonna be ready for a run to Orange Beach? Any word on when the FloraBama is reopening? We need to get sorrya**** and lowdown lazy.... blow out the cobwebs like we usta! :-)

[This message has been edited by dogill (edited March 31, 2005).]

A drop of 5-minute epoxy sometines does wonders for stripped plastic nuts - but only
sometimes. Don't use too much, and be sure to let it set up.

You were reading my mind ole'boy,

I found a bunch of Nutone stuff on Ebay, but alas, everything BUT a coffee grinder.

There is one package on auction containing just about every accessory, even a knife sharpener and sausage grinder (the guys at the deer camp would go nutzoid)- current bid of $49. I found the new "Parts Kit Switch" but its $55. Think must go the wonder glue route.

I bet the coffee grinder attachment will be rarer than hens teeth. Ya'll keep a shape eye out, please.

Dixie Dog
thread drift? at least we're still talking about stuff dat go round and round, real fast! :-)

New tranny cable received and installed. It works! I'm back in business.

Sorry Bill h, guess I won't get to use the special lube I went out and purchased. The shop sent it prelubed with high temp lithium grease.

The cruise control is still finicky but it has that history. I eased her up to 55 mph and engaged the CC. For a few seconds it held its setting, then accelerated to full bore.
I kept playing with it and it got a little better at maintaining set speed but would then decide, on its own, to haul bootie again.

Now I know there is a small cable running to the throttle and wonder if it may be sticking? Also wondering if I should try taking off the vacuum line and squirting some type of wet or dry lube into that yeng yang?

Isn't there some type of diaphram in the CC gadget that could have become dry or sticky from lack of use?

Any ideas Maestro?

dogill

Come on fellers,

Surely, someone has disected one of these things before. If not, I bet Bill H could explain the theory of operation. What are the mechanics at play in this CC unit? I'm trying to decide if lubrication would help.
The way its acting makes me think of the float bulb in a carb bowl sticking but I know dat ain't the same. Being vacuum actuated, I invision some sort of dried up, crusty bellows. Just wondering if a lube spray in the vacuum hole would hurt anything?

thx,
don

I would not advise shooting the diaphragm with lube. It would most likely dissolve the diaphragm
or plug something up. It would be wise, however, to be sure that the connections from the diaphragm to the thottle are not binding, that that cable is not hanging up on something as it actuates the throttle.

As I visualize your CC, you have 1 speedo cable from the tranny to a gizmo that has another speedo cable and some wires coming out of it.

That gizmo is the speed control which sends an electrical signal to a vacuum diaphragm that pulls a cable connected to the carburetor, and controls the throttle setting. I don't know how that speed control operates to control the speed, but the problem is more likely there, than in the vacuum diaphragm. That sounds like it's working correctly because it is operating the throttle, though not the way you want it to.

I have had 2 similar units on Mopars, not GMs, and both gave trouble. One quit completely. I replaced it with a junkyard unit, and the CC worked OK for awhile. I finally replaced it with an after market unit that took its signal from magnets on the driveshaft.

The other CC would hold speed about 15mph below the set speed. It, however, had a little Allen-head screw on top, that could be adjusted to control the set speed, and I eventually got it up to about 3mph below the set speed, so I no longer temped the gendarmes by speeding in order to set the CC at the speed limit.

I'd suggest checking all the wiring and connections between that speed control unit and wherever they go, and also all wiring coming into the diaphragm, from wherever. If all the wires are good, and the connections solid, and it still doesn't work, your next step would be a visit to a junkyard to try to replace that unit, or a visit to your local parts store. The latter is likely to be fruitless, I don't think that system has been used for 15 years, or more.

If all that fails, the next step would be an after market unit, which might be the simplest solution from the outset.

If you go to an after market unit, get rid of all the wiring to the original speed control unit. Your speedo should still work because, aside from the electrical stuff, I believe that CC control unit just has a set of gears that drive the speedo cable at the same speed as the input cable.

A more elegant solution would be to scrap that intermediate unit completely, and carry your speedo cable directly from the tranny to the speedo. That, however, would undoubtedly necessitate another new cable, with housing, and replacing that would not be fun. I done tried that, and failed.

My own cruise control didn't work at all when I picked up my Barth, though it does now. I don't know what I did to fix it. I fixed a bunch of seemingly unrelated stuff, and suddenly the CC was on line and working.

Good luck.

Okay olroy, you made some good points.
One in particuliar caught my eye.

I noticed the other day when I was putting the breather back on the carb, that the bottom of the breather was depressing a part of the throttle linkage (Pushing it down). It seemed the breather/carb needed some sort of gasket shim to let it ride higher on the carb so as not to be putting undue pressure on this linkage.

I think I might try marking the spot of contact and modifying the bottom of the breather pan. What'cha think?

don