Are all shifter cables the same?
Shifter cable ends are the same. Although nowadays many cables come with both ends, one on each end, and you can cut off the one you’re not using. There are two basic types of cables; brake and shifter.
Can I use brake housing for shifter cables?
It’s really not recommended. Brake cable housings have a coiled metal spiral embedded in them, while compressionless shift cables have a series of tiny round wires running parallel along the length of housing. If you were to use brake cable housings on shift cables the result can be very poor shifting.
Are brake and gear cable housing the same?
While brake and gear inner cables are nominally similar, the housings are different – brake cables use conventional ‘helical’ housing which consists of a tightly-wrapped helix of steel wire lined on both inside and outside by a plastic coating.
Can a broken shifter cable cause a car to not go into gear?
If your car doesn’t seem to want to go into gear at all, it might not be a faulty transmission – It could just be a broken shifter cable. If the cable is broken, you’ll be able to move the shifter into any position, but the transmission will stay in the same gear.
What happens when the horizontal cable on a shift cable is broken?
If the horizontal cable is broken, you won’t be able to shift into any gear. If the vertical cable is broken, you’ll be able to get into 3rd and fourth, but all other gears will seem non-existent. If both cables are broken, you can swivel the shift and any which direction freely without any noise or resistance from the transmission.
How does the third shift cable work on a manual transmission?
Moving your shifter left or right pushes or pulls the other cable, moving the shifter assembly up and down. If you have a six-speed manual transmission, your vehicle may have a third shift cable that moves a lock-out lever.
Why does my shift cable keep breaking on my bike?
Instead, they begin to fail with individual strands of the wrapped wires that make up the cable breaking. It takes awhile for enough strands to fail for the cable to break. As this happens, the cable usually stretches. And, when a shift cable stretches, it gets harder to hit the gear when you shift.