Got a cable oiler?

[Rex]

Got one of those hydraulic ones where both ends of the cylinder unscrew. I don't find it messy in the least, and it takes literally 5 minutes to assemble it around the cable, pump the oil through and disassemble.
Can't fault it.

[RogerSB]

In the '80's I bought one of those things that sounds like Rogers, but never had much luck with it.

Hi Dutch, When I first used mine I had oil pouring out of the bottom of the clamp and none down inside the cable.  I gave up and made a cone with some card wrapped with tape followed by blu-tack. It worked to a certain extent but I remember it being a terrible sticky mess to take off afterwards.

The next time I wanted to oil my cables I looked at the (as I thought was another useless gadget) and then I noticed that the rubber piece inside the metal clamp was actually graduated for 3 different size cables. After fitting my cable in the part that fitted snugly I tightened the clamp and gave it another try . . . and then it worked perfectly.

So the first time I used it,  with no instructions and in my ignorance, I tightened it with the cable in too large a cut out, so it wasn't clamping the cable tightly and the oil ran out the bottom.

[bsa-bill]

I tightened it with the cable in too large a cut out

AHA - I have one of these dating back to the sixties, found it in a box year (or two) ago, I tried it and wondered if the rubber bung bit had got hard as it leaked more oil than went into the cable, reading duTch s post I think it maybe came with two different sized rubber bungs, I only have one

[RogerSB]

Yes, I know it becomes like grease, but spraying through the cable while it's thin seems possible. No?

I'm sure you could easily spray it down inside a cable GB, but I would question if grease is the best thing to lubricate it with? I'm not too sure of that.  I've always thought a light oil like 3 in 1 is the best thing to use for clutch, brakes and throttle.

When I had a motor boat I wanted to fix a throttle lever in the cabin next to the wheel (instead of having to run back and forth to the throttle lever on the engine) and one of my pals, who was a mechanic and worked on buses, got me a cable where the inner cable was enclosed in a circle of stainless wires, and that was inside a normal outer. If I remember correctly it didn't need lubricating but I do remember it was super-smooth in operation. I've no idea what it was called.

[Gerry]

Hi Guys, I use WD40 until it comes out the end and then use a light oil straight after as the WD40 helps the lighter oil to travel through much faster than if the cable were dry. Works for me. Cheers. Gerry

[Greybeard]

My Motion Pro Cable Luber arrived this morning from Amazon.com. Total cost was £24.17, which includes Import fee and postage. I saw a YouTube video about this device. I was unable to find one in the UK so looked at Amazon.Com, (USA).

The gizmo appears to be very well made and strong. If the YouTube videos are to be believed it is a cleaner alternative to old-style oilers.

https://youtu.be/XbD6wnx3Jc4?t=481

https://youtu.be/eYgyyjiip6w?t=132

https://youtu.be/CnlGl09dlKo

https://youtu.be/Pvg7uUw15zI?t=19

The last image shows the clever rubber seal that has a spiral gap, allowing the thing to close the seal when assembled.