CB400 SF 1992 - Throttle cable replacement - Out of my depth

[silverbak]

Hi guys,

I've been riding for 3 years now and wherever possible I've tried to do all the repairs on my bikes. So when my pull throttle cable snapped a couple of weeks ago I thought "no problem, order a new pair of cables off eBay and fit in an hour".

Well today being such a sunny day in East Sussex I thought it was time to do this :)

* I took the tank off.
* Loosened the throttle cables on the handlebar and inspected how they worked
* Proceeded to become absolutely mortified to find the throttle cradle (for want of a better description) is virtually out of reach!

I am so confused. I tried remove the cosmetic carb fairing and it doesn't seem to move.

I loosened the CDI and tried to pull the airbox back a bit but it shows no sign of budging easily - presumable it's those 4 screws holding it to the carb?

I've posted 3 pictures for everyone to see where I've got to:
https://imgur.com/a/gteFE#0

Can any of you advise what I should be doing next to change these ****ing cables? What do i have to do next?

I cannot even really see the objective here. Do I remove the airbox (how??), then the carb (how??) to be able to reach the throttle cradle enough to do the change??

I promise I searched around the net for hours and hit YouTube but all I ran into was posts and videos about bikes that were orders of magnitude easier to change the throttle cable on. Why did Honda make this so hard on the lovely CB400 SF?!???

Any and all advice, gratefully received

[tomigun]

Hi.For information reasons i have to mention that version R owners need the cables with codes Α)17910-ΜΥ9-750 & Β)17920-ΜΥ9-750.These cables are about 9cm shorter from project big one throttle cables αnd unfortunately honda stop produce these codes.So the only way for oem part is the pb1 throttle cables.



From my experience the most difficult but important thing about sf,is the correct set up of the curbs.So when my throttle cable was broken, about 5 mounths ago,i was looking for a way to fix the cables without remove the carbs and the air box.So i managed to do that with these tools.It took me about 2 hours.



The only thing i have remove was the gas tank.I was working from the right side and under the carbs (as we seat on the sf).You must be patient because it is delicate work.the goal is to move the small cylinder edge of the cable, in this cylindrical base between the curbs.Το do that you have to pass the cables from the right point (as it was before remove them).



And remember as we see the curbs,front=reset throttle cable,rear=opening throttle cable.
So as you can understand in this picture you see in the foreground the opening cable and behind the Reset cable.
PS:The reset cable is the hardest purt.I hope I helped .

[silverbak]

That does help, a lot, thank you.

I will by a couple of big forceps just as you suggest and see if I can manage to do this.

It's SUCH a fiddley design.

I had to order the cables of eBay - I pray once they are fitting that they are the right size!

[tomigun]

Give to the ebay seller the oem codes that i have post in the first two photos.It is importand to order the correct size.

[silverbak]

And remember as we see the curbs,front=reset throttle cable,rear=opening throttle cable.
So as you can understand in this picture you see in the foreground the opening cable and behind the Reset cable.
PS:The reset cable is the hardest purt.I hope I helped .

Can I just check this with you, do you mean in the picture the foreground is the reset cable and the rear is the opening cable?

[tomigun]

Let's go again,red arrow=openning throttle cable,yellow arrow=reset throttlecable.This is the airbox side of the carbs.

[silverbak]

Tomigun,

Today was D-day! Well it took about 5 minutes to use a pair of 12 inch curved forceps (eBay ~£4) to dislodge the old 'nub' and then a further hour of trial and error (and much cursing) until I finally was able to use the forceps to fluke the new cable nub into the holder. If anyone else reads this thread in the future, remember you have to come from 'below' not from above to get this job done.

I must point out that given the 'push' cable was in apparently 'okay' condition I decided not to change it this time. Given the position of it, I'm not sure changing the push cable with the forceps is realistic for me and my skill level and if that does break, I will probably have to take the airbox off to reach it (at a minimum.)

Overall the job took 3.5 hours, including reassembling the bike.

I'm feeling very proud. Tomigun, I'd like to thank you personally for your help and direction, as it gave me the confidence to 'give it a go' and it paid off.

I have lubed the cables on installation too ! :)

Again, thank you.

[tomigun]