Every once in a while a request comes up for information on how to lubricate control cables.

You need a foot and a half of 3/8 ID reinforced plastic hose from Lowes, a tire valve, three hose clamps, a tire pump or small 12 volt air compressor with a gage, and MMO.

Shave the tire valve down and clamp it in one end of the hose.

1. Remove the fittings from one end of the cable.

2. Put 3 inches of Marvel Mystery Oil in the hose for every 20 feet of cable length.

3. Double clamp oil filled hose over cable.

4. Apply and maintain 50 PSI of air to the tire chuck. DO NOT EXCEED 50 PSI.

5. It will take 10 to 30 minutes for oil to appear at the other end. then your done. Have rags to catch the oil if your in a sensitive area.

I suggest safety glasses just in case somethings blows apart, but I have never had a problem. My save rate on cables is about 75%. I did all my cables every 2 years as PM but I was not on salt water.




OLD HOUSEBOATER38356.8454976852

Old Houseboater, first I would listen to you before a manufacturer any day but thought I would double check with you before using this neat cable oiler you have devised. I have a 1984 Gibson 44 Standard with flybridge. It may have the original cables for all I know. About 1100 hours on the engines. Your solution seems great but I went on the Morse website and they say about their new cables "do not lubricate core wire(moving wire inside the casing)". That may be so they can sell more replacement cables! So my question is what is the downside if any to putting Marvel Mystery Oil inside these cable housings?

If it doesn't free them up you have wasted 10 bucks and about 3 hours work. The beer doesn't count because you would have drank it any way. Let us know how you make out.

OH - This may be a silly question, but what is going to happen when the cables are loosened at the helm stations. I always worry about things I cannot see and I wait for all kinds of springs to pop out and go overboard. Will I be changing any pre-load or settings when these are loosened. Should the upper station be done first or will doing one station take care of the entire cable system.

You will have to excuse my being a little tentative about this, but I usually hurt myself with a screwdriver when I attempt these things. Cost of professional (?) shops does not fit in with the budget to well so I must do what I can. Thanks

"Sailer2",  I am about to do this myself and have dual control stations. I went to Google and put in a search for "Morse controls" which found their website where I found a nice diagram of how flybridge controls are attached to main helm station. Do not be intimidated by the exploded diagram that is also there. I assume that the easiest way to do this is to start at the highest point on the flybridge. I will disconnect the control cables ONLY one at the time. I will clamp the hose with MMO onto that cable end and put a rag around the other end under the main helm while still leaving it connected. Then I will pump up the pressure and maintain it until my First Mate tells me that we are getting oil on the rag. Then I will disconnect the pump(which is a bicycle pump with a pressure gauge) but do not take the clamp loose from the loose cable end until you use your fingernail to press the Schraeder valve and release the pressure inside that hose. Remember that until you do that you still have 50 lbs. of pressure inside that short hose and possibly some residual MMO that would blow out around those clamps when you released them. Then reconnect the cable and start on the next one. This way you never mix up your cables and you are only taking one end loose on each one. Then you have to go down to the main helm and do the same thing all the way back to the engine and transmission. Or you could pump these lines from the engine room forward if that is more convenient. I do not see much chance for injury as you were concerned unless you fail to tighten those clamps and the rag should catch such a blowout anyway.  

The cables leading from the upper station are usually the ones that are sticking because they are exposed to the weather more.

If you count the turns on the connector fitting when you unscrew it from the cable you won't lose any adjustments. Try not to lose the litty bitty cotter pins. Do one cable at a time.

Okay, thanks for the heads up on the connector fitting and cotter pins. Won't get to this until the warm weather gets here but I will let you know what happens.

I hereby certify that Old Houseboater is a genius. I just finished using this cable oiler to oil 5 of my 8 control cables. The other 3 will have to wait until I have more time. It was as simple as pie and just required patience to monitor the bicycle pump and patience of my First Mate to holler "THAR SHE BLOWS" when the oil came through on the other end. Actually a more accurate de_script_ion would be "thar she seeps". I started with the 4 flybridge cables since they were only about 20 feet. Some went faster than others and we kept in touch via walkie talkie to avoid shouting. My wife read the paper and kept vigil. There was no muss or fuss. Once the valve did blow out of the tube but there was no MMO left inside as it was already in the cable. The MMO disappears very early in the pumping and the rest is just forcing it through by maintaining the pressure. I sure wish I had a small compressor I could just set on 50 lbs. I amazed everyone on my dock. You should have patented this thing. Thanks a million.