Go BottomLoader control cables freezing up
 | BruceL
Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 3 Black River Falls, WI 
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2008-01-27 150805
I have a Grand L4310 which I purchased new, mainly for winter snow duty. It has a loader with the joystick control. I also run a snow blower on the back. The problem is that somehow moisture has gotten into the loader control cables and they freeze up when temps are cold enough. I've learned to keep an electric heat gun handy to warm up those cables if the tractor does sit out in the cold for a while. With a cab on the tractor for protection and looking at the way the cables are routed, I don't see an obvious place for moisture to get in there. Year round inside storage too. The rubber coated cables loop down and then back up to the valves. So there is a low spot with no way for moisture to get back out once in there. Does anyone know a solution for this?
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 | earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan 
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2008-01-27 150824
Moisture will form any time, any where there is a temperature differential and moisture laden air (typically air always has some level of moisture in it). Think of dew in the morning o the car and lawn or the morning "steam" vapors on the bathroom mirror (except Kenny--the odd weekend shower :) )
You might benefit by removing the cable or atleast the higher end of the cable and generously spray WD-40 down the cable. You might have to pull back the rubber shroud if any to get it in there. BTW, the name of WD-40 is actually the inventor's 40th try at a Water Displacing formula--hence WD-40. ....
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| randywatson
Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 109 texas
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2008-01-28 150854
any way to reroute to eliminat the low spot so any moisture will run out of the cable? ....
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 | Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2008-01-28 150857
The moisture won't run out, the cables are protected by rubber boots at both ends to keep out debris, etc., that stops the moisture from leaving.
We pack the boots themselves full of silicone or white lithium grease so there is no space left to fill trap any moisture to speak of, or any way for the little bit that does get under the boots from entering the cables.
As was stated, WD-40 will help, but keeping the moisture out in the first place is the best solution.
Best of luck. ....
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| BruceL
Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 3 Black River Falls, WI
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2008-01-28 150869
OK thanks for your input Murf. I was thinking along the lines you mention. If I do have to take the cables apart, I want to fill them up with something so that water can't condense in there again hopefully. Something of a more liquid nature would run down in the cable better. How about just plain antifreeze? There is no way to re-rout the cable, so there will always be that low spot. ....
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 | kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2008-01-29 150879
Is there no way to use air pressure to push the water out or use pressure to inject such as WD 40 displacing the water? kt ....
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| Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2008-01-29 150885
The real problem is not the water IN the cable, it is PREVENTING it from getting in.
The moisture is actually drawn in by a combination of circumstance and physics.
The one end is in a warm dry heated cab, the other end is in a very cold sloppy wet spot behind the front right wheel, and just to make matters worse, the steel inner part of the cable is connected to a hydraulic valve that gets very hot from the fluid running through it.
So, we have a warm steel part, exposed to cold wet snow and slush, as it cools down the difference in temperature, plus the fact that the top of the cable is warm and dry in the cab, actually causes the water to be drawn up into the cable.
The addition of WD-40 will only help in that the lubricated cable will not be as sticky, it will not stop the water from being drawn in as the warm steel cools. Only a physical barrier such as the boot being filled with a very light grease will actually prevent the water from migrating into the cable.
Best of luck. ....
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