Hi all;

Some of you may remember last year I had a problem with my deflector and rotation cables freezing. Well in effort to try and stop or maybe minimize that this year I have tried something new. Last year after it became frozen nothing really helped. WD40 or silicon, anti freeze, etc..  Tried everything aside from taking it all off and bringing it into the house to dry out. It was never really a huge problem as it would resolve itself after about 5 minutes of the engine running.  Deflector cable would warm from the engine and the rotation cable I think would do the same. But more so vibrations probably broke it up.  I don't recommend bending the cable to break it up as it will snap the plastic around it making it worse in the future.  Tape over that part now on mine.. lol.

The following I did now, hoping that all the water inside would have evaporated over the summer. More and likely so, but was tempted to bring it inside and hang them up for a few days. Probably be the best idea to do that and then feed some wd 40 down them.  Last year snowman didn't recommend putting anything down there as it would mess with the grease that the factory put in.  So if you haven't put anything down in it, maybe you shouldn't.  I had already done so when I read that from him.

Any case, here is what I am trying for this winter.  I am trying out the sandwich bag theory.. lol.  Basically what I have done is removed all the cables from where ever they end and put baggies over all of them and put them back in place with the back over it. Then I cable tied it on the bottom to help keep the bag on and the water from blowing up in it.  The only place I had to break the bag seal was on the deflector cable under the control area. This cable is held on by a eyelet. So it order to put the eyelet over the rod, I had to put a hole in one side of the baggie.  Once i got it on, I put plumbers putty around the hole I made in the bag.

I took some pictures to hopefully make more sense of it for you.  I know it doesn't look pretty, but if it works, I am fine with that. I may tidy it up more later, currently working on other things. This is just to give a idea and maybe others can improve on it. Hopefully it works, I will let you know.



Cheers
Goofie Newfie

I use a Vaccum line rubber plug to seal the ends of the cables with a nylon wire tie...

This is kinda like the idea that cycles use on throttle/ clutch and brake cables to prevent moisture from entering the housing.   This prevents corrosion and freezing..

Friiy

Hi, you know the new generation of snowblower are made with cheap parts like those bicycle cable that freeze in the cold, like Borat said in another topic if those cable are not stainless steel you are going true some rusty problems, but hoping that you're system will work. Just let us know in the middle of the winter  how things went.

Do you think using some of the Wurth HHS 2000 Lubricant might help?

It says it works well in really low temps.

The vacuum plug sounds interesting, have to keep a eye out for that and maybe give it a try.  Denis, i am unsure if my cables are stainless or not, I would hope ariens is not going the cheap route on that. Have to look into that tho, they are definitely thicker then a bicycle cable.  I will keep you up to speed on the sandwich bag theory.. :)

That oil looks to be decent, if your cables freezing, would be worth a try. But my feeling is if you haven't got a lot of oil in there, they will freeze if you get a lot of snow in your area. Specially if the wind it blowing it back at you. Need to cover the entrance with plugs, baggies or something. Whatever it be, must not interfere with the cable from moving in and out.

Cheers
Goofie Newfie