Dave:
I forwarded your message to the technical mailing list and Patric Barry offers the following:
Oh wow! Just squirting WD40 on the cable isn’t going to work. Even if it did for a short while the engine heat would boil WD40 away.
What I do is use a very fine synthetic lube – you could use mouse milk which is readily available – and I loosen/remove the end out in the cowling and I slide a foot or two of clear plastic tube (the Home Depot cheap stuff) over the engine end of the cable and then use tie tapes and safety wire to crimp the tube end that is over the cable as tight as I can get it. Then I pour lubricant down the tube and I have someone work the cable back and forth from the cockpit. You would see the lube sucked into the cable and as the cable is worked the lube softens the crud (old lubricant) that is inside the cable sheath and expel it into the plastic tube. Some of the new lubricant will leak out so capture that with paper towels etc and keep feeding new lubricant in while your helper works it from the inside. All the cable binding is forward of the firewall since it is heat that dries out the old stuff. While doing this you will find the cable unbinds and works well. Clean up and reconnect and it will work well for some years until you have to do it again.
Regarding the lock device on the quadrant, it’s a pressure device with plates, like large washers (that’s an unprofessional expression but I can’t think of anything better right at the moment). I am unsure how to help you, other than to study the parts manual and visualize how it works. You turn the retention handle and it is supposed to tighten onto the lower portion of the actuator inside the quadrant. If the “washers” are worn then it won’t grip. I would rebuild it with replacement parts that are identified in the parts manual, and I do not recall a ball bearing in the locking device. The parts manual is reliable – the Tips might be opinion from submitters and may not be as reliable.
Pat Barry
