Tuesday Tip: Cleaning Your Throttle Housing

elmo

• December 23 2008
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For some, one of the least desirable tasks is cleaning the throttle housing. It may seem like a tedious process that creates unnecessary frustration, but it’s not as complex as it may sound. With that being said, we met up with Red Bull Honda’s Craig Behl so he could show you five basic steps to maintaining your throttle housing with relative ease.

Tools required: 8mm T-handle, 8mm open-ended wrench, contact/rust cleaner, cleaning brush.

1. “Using a standard 8mm wrench, unscrew the two bolts that hold the two sides of the throttle housing together. Disconnect the throttle cables from the throttle tube and slide the tube off of the bar.”

2. ” With the throttle removed, take some contact cleaner and spray it on the right side of the handle bar. Once you’ve done that, remember to take a shop towel and wipe away any excess residue.”

3. “If you have any access to an air compressor, blow out as much of the dirt and contact cleaner as possible. It’s critical that you’re as thorough as possible. If you’re not, that can cause your throttle to stick while you’re riding and you may wind up suffering a pretty bad wreck.”

4. ” Once you’ve cleaned the throttle housing and the handlebar, spray a light coat of lube onto the handlebar and to the inside of the throttle housing. Be careful not to spray too much lube to the throttle pieces. If there is too much lubricant, it can seep under your grip an loosen its adhesion to the throttle tube.”

5. “With everything clean and properly lubed, slide the throttle housing back onto the hanldebar. Reconnect the throttle cable ends and attach the housing slides back over the bar. Once you’ve got everything where it should be, give the bike some gas (keeping the engine off, of course), making sure that it doesn’t stick and it springs back. It should be one, easy motion. If you’ve got that, you’re all set.”