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I put together a hand throttle as a weekend project. I really could have used one last time I went to Calico. I think I only stalled once, but I was definitely jarring the drivetrain a little too hard when I lost momentum. The whole foot shuffle thing on a steep incline aint easy! The Rubicon Express hand throttle kit was backordered for at least 3 weeks from RE. Quadratec had a few but they said it would take 7-10 business days. Experience tells me that means 3 weeks. I found all the parts I needed at a local bike shop, Ace Hardware and Lowe's. I spent about $35 for parts. I got an assortment of clips, springs and odds and ends because I wasn't sure what I would need.
I secured it to the shifter with double-sticky foam tape. About 5 wraps.
I used some sort of aluminum bike bracket to secure it to the throttle cable housing. It just snapped together. I preloaded it with a spring so I wouldn't have any trouble with a sticking throttle. I trapped a ball chain retainer between two cable narps(hehe, narp, narp). I ran a length of ball chain to the throttle body and secured it with an electrical lug and a wire snap clip.
Here's WOT. No binding, catching, rubbing, nothing!
I ran the cable against the shifter, through the boot and right out the bottom. I followed a section of wiring harness up the firewall and zip-tied it. It's clear of anything moving or hot.
I ran the ball chain a little long on purpose. I removed ball pieces until I found a comfortable compromise between low idle and high RPMs when I pull the lever. I can fine tune it with the adjusters on the ends.
There's only about 1/8" of slack in there. I was able to adjust it down pretty far. When I hit dirt, I can take away all the slack and even raise the idle RPM from inside the cab if I need to.
After a test drive, I realized the foam tape wasn't going to cut it. It flexed. I set the preload pretty heavy, so it takes some pull to use the lever. I maxed out the lever and the RPMs only went up a little. I fixed it with a section of heater hose. It was a VERY tight fit. I had to clamp it with vice grips before I could get the retaining bolt in. Much better! The base didn't budge when I pulled back. I drove it around through the hills using just the hand throttle. It's a little jumpy but it feels pretty good. This may solve the right-foot-falling-asleep issue on long drives. Ghetto cruise control I guess.
I secured it to the shifter with double-sticky foam tape. About 5 wraps.
I used some sort of aluminum bike bracket to secure it to the throttle cable housing. It just snapped together. I preloaded it with a spring so I wouldn't have any trouble with a sticking throttle. I trapped a ball chain retainer between two cable narps(hehe, narp, narp). I ran a length of ball chain to the throttle body and secured it with an electrical lug and a wire snap clip.
Here's WOT. No binding, catching, rubbing, nothing!
I ran the cable against the shifter, through the boot and right out the bottom. I followed a section of wiring harness up the firewall and zip-tied it. It's clear of anything moving or hot.
I ran the ball chain a little long on purpose. I removed ball pieces until I found a comfortable compromise between low idle and high RPMs when I pull the lever. I can fine tune it with the adjusters on the ends.
There's only about 1/8" of slack in there. I was able to adjust it down pretty far. When I hit dirt, I can take away all the slack and even raise the idle RPM from inside the cab if I need to.
After a test drive, I realized the foam tape wasn't going to cut it. It flexed. I set the preload pretty heavy, so it takes some pull to use the lever. I maxed out the lever and the RPMs only went up a little. I fixed it with a section of heater hose. It was a VERY tight fit. I had to clamp it with vice grips before I could get the retaining bolt in. Much better! The base didn't budge when I pulled back. I drove it around through the hills using just the hand throttle. It's a little jumpy but it feels pretty good. This may solve the right-foot-falling-asleep issue on long drives. Ghetto cruise control I guess.
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