Busy with an engine swap on a K75, I kept the original throttle bodies and accelerator cable.
Well, all together, the inner cable is too short when placed back, while it fits perfect when I took everything apart  
The original cable has the right number, 32731457378 .
Now for something completely different; (no, not the larch...) I have some spare cables, same number, all used, and all a bit longer inner cable.
I have 1 new, that one is also longer than the original cable of the K....
Did something schrink in there?



Hold on, there's more.
I had similar with a K100 before.
I took off the right handle to replace that with heated grips.
When I put everything back, also innercable became too short  

Anyone else had this strange bug?

(Just in case, I even let the cable run free, but still too short. Got a replacement fitted now, works perfect.)

That is strange.  It resonates with me because the accelerator cable on my K1100LT seems to be too short, or at least at the very margin of functionality.  I never changed it (yet) but I may in the future as moving the bars from lock to lock has the cable drawn very tight.  I've no idea as to why you've experienced these short cable issues, but it occurs to me that they may shrink with age -- just as I do! 

Have you aligned the marks on the throttle gears. How much too short??
Regards Martin.

MartinW wrote:Have you aligned the marks on the throttle gears. How much too short??
Regards Martin.

Never mind that one...
The inner cable, when hooked up properly at the throttle house, only the nipple shows half out of the support 11 ( <- link).
Screwed the support as short as possible.

Are you using the same support bracket at the throttle house? There are a few different ones that affect the length of the inner cable.

Arlina wrote:

MartinW wrote:Have you aligned the marks on the throttle gears. How much too short??

The inner cable, when hooked up properly at the throttle house, only the nipple shows half out of the support 11 ( <- link).
Screwed the support as short as possible.

Posting photos of the cable assembly at both the handlebar housing end and the throttle body bracket end might help clarify the situation.

My bet is on a different cable routing.

daveyson wrote:Are you using the same support bracket at the throttle house? There are a few different ones that affect the length of the inner cable.

I use the same.
Only exchanged the bare engine....

Laitch wrote:

Arlina wrote:

MartinW wrote:Have you aligned the marks on the throttle gears. How much too short??

The inner cable, when hooked up properly at the throttle house, only the nipple shows half out of the support 11 ( <- link).
Screwed the support as short as possible.

Posting photos of the cable assembly at both the handlebar housing end and the throttle body bracket end might help clarify the situation.

Will try tomorrow post some pics

Dai wrote:My bet is on a different cable routing.

Nope... Even only attached to the TB's still too short...

If you turn the cable 180 degrees,  it might fit closer into the quadrant, or it might not be fully into the quadrant.

Are you sure it's fully inserted into this?

Guys, hold it... The cable is really too short, it's about 5-6mm, but makes the throttles don't close.
Will get me a pic in an hour, just got me brekkie  

It's -1 C out here, heater is working in the shed now for me

The throttle rail end nipple hooks into the cam or ached groove and the outer hooks into the throttle cable housing, is there gunk in that arc'd cam where the cable inner lays? if it isn't fully bedded in there you can lose plenty of length

The innercable is 6mm shorter than the other ones I have here...

I had two different cables, the support brackets were different different to accommodate it. If you have another bracket, it might work.  Or try one of your longer cables on that bracket,  since your shorter one is too short.

I only swapped the bare engine, no bracket, inlet, cable, or what else...
Bike came in, it looked perfect, after the engine swap, cable too short.
Bracket isn't bend in the time during swap.

That's my   , I think I was visited by the holy bugger of K

When you say the inner cable is 6mm short, are you measuring the exposed portion or from end to end?

Is there a difference in the length of the outer sheath?  Is it possible the outer jacket has been stretched, or an end fitting disturbed?

Arlina wrote:The innercable is 6mm shorter than the other ones I have here...

Ahhh - if both ends of the outer cable still have a metal ferrule on, check that they are seated properly. I use the jaws of a vice for this game. Put the outer cable against the jaws, using them as a stop (like the bracket over the throttle bodies or where the cable enters the throttle housing) so that the inner is loose and runs between the jaws. You should be able to do this with the cable under the jaws, rather than to one side. Now grab the inner just under the barrel/nipple and pull, hard.

The ferrules are usually crimped on, but as the cable ages, it gets easier for the crimp to slide over the outer cable. One bit of abuse later and the ferrule has moved sufficiently that it feels tight to the fingers but it's not actually seated on the end of outer cable any more. If it's my bike, the ferrule meets the hacksaw and the bin because there's not a lot of force on that cable. If it's someone else's bike, I usually try to reseat it.

The outer cables ere the same length, the innercables difference is 6mm.
The ferrules are in place, for sure.

This strange thing happened to my former K11LT too, needed to replace the inlet manifolds, took the cables off,
removed the throttle housing (didn't touch anything) and placed everything back. Cable too short.....
Same as now, tried everything, keep the cable straight, check is it run smooyh... nothing.
Bought a new cable, same number as the old one, and surprise, the old innercable was shorter.
So this happened to me twice...

I don't understand where 6mm can go? The only thing plausible is the nipple was replaced at one end, have you elves in your shed Arlina??

Guess it's elves.....
Cables are original BMW

I hope they avail themselves to cleaning whilst you sleep. Anyway All the best for the coming year.

The shed only gets more dirty here  
Will finish the second swap on the bike today, first engine seems to have problems with the external parts.
Hard to turn it over. Will check it out later  
Throttle cable still good