Cleaning and lubing control cables

[narrow_monza]

What's the best way to clean and then lube NOS control cables.
They seem to be in good shape but are dirty and dry. I've heard bad things about WD40 but not sure if it applies here.

[double diamond]

There are a number of ways to lube cables. If you have one of the cable lubers for aerosol type lubricants, these work well. Obviously you have to use an aerosol lubricant with these. WD40 is too light an oil for this purpose. I’ve used chain lube with good results but you wouldn’t want to use the sticky type of chain lube. The aerosol grease chain lube works well. You can also fashion a funnel and tape it to the end of the cable, fill with oil and hang it from a hook. Work the outer cable back and forth on the inner to work the oil down the length of the cable. With this method you can use any number of lubricants from motor/gear oil to bicycle chain lube from a squeeze bottle. The NOS Ducati cables should be lubricated but if you have Teflon lined cables they should not be lubricated. As far as cleaning, you could used the aerosol cable luber with WD40 or contact cleaner to flush out the housing. The funnel method would be less effective.

[Nick]

The gamble racers in Japan use kerosene. I use Jet A.

[narrow_monza]

Thanks for the info.