Tight Bonnet Cable

[Jock The Rock]

Gday

Of the 4 Defenders I've been around 3 have had very tight bonnet cables at some stage. Mine did it the other day, and in the process of forcing it slightly :( broke the little plastic handle. My old mans has done the same, and another mate of mine had the same problem with his.

Is it just that the cable stretches or the latch itself is worn?

Somedays it's perfect, others it just doesn't want to open. When this happens I give the bonnet a bit of a whack and it usually comes after that.

I have pulled the cable out of my old mans while he is away and I'll be taking it in to have a new handle fitted, but saying that; I am thinking about removing the remnants of the original handle and cutting a thread onto the steel and bolting a handle on.

It's $60 for a new cable so I'm not real keen on just walking out and getting a new one

Has anyone else had the same problem?

Thanks

[dullbird]

mines a disco so possibly not relevant but I have just had the cable changed on mine.

the disco bonnet was getting harder and harder to open. when the car went into the garage my guy said to me you wanna get that cable changed its getting sticky and one day it will just snap on you without warning.

So Ian changed it...oh my god I don't know why we didn't do it sooner the bonnet cable can now been done literally with two fingers and no effort. So judging by my experience I would say cable

[triso]

Mine is the same and it's got half the handel broken off...I think it would be worth replacing with a home made steel/alloy one when it finelly breaks

Tristan

[Sprint]

the biggest part of the problem is that the cable and lock gets dust in it, as well as any lubricant that was in there dries out over time

best way to deal with it is to pull the cable out and drip some machine oil down one end, jiggling the inner cable back and forth to get the oil down inside it, keep going till it gets to the other end

then pull the bonnet lock out, chuck it in a tub of degreaser for a while, clean it right out and re oil/grease it

[lardy]

I am with Sprint...i cleaned it with copious amounts of WD40 wiped it dry and greased it by extending it and smearing heaps on seemed to do the trick thus far

[Jock The Rock]

Reckon I may do as the others have suggested. Although I don't think it's the cable, it seemed to slide pretty easily. I reckon the cable itself may have stretched

So I'll fix the handle run some oil down inside it, then pull the latch itself out douse it in Brake Cleaner then re grease/oil that up and see what happens :)

Hopefully I'll have a fix

[dullbird]

Reckon I may do as the others have suggested.
Although I don't think it's the cable, it seemed to slide pretty easily. I reckon the cable itself may have stretchedSo I'll fix the handle run some oil down inside it, then pull the latch itself out douse it in Brake Cleaner then re grease/oil that up and see what happens :)

Hopefully I'll have a fix

isn't that statement contradicting itself:D if the cable has stretched then surely its the cable :lol2:

[Jock The Rock]

My bad :wasntme:

What I meant was I don't think it's the oily build up in the cable itself. I reckon it's where the little adjuster connects to the latch itself, it may have slipped making it so the cable doesn't fully open the latch. And the latch being all cruddy probably doesn't help either

[Sprint]

something else i forgot to add is the reason bonnets open so easily when you have someone push down on the bonnet while you're pulling on the cable is that you're releasing any load that the bonnet is exerting on the catch, ice had it happen a few times where people have adjusted the bonnet support rubbers up a bit too far, and the cable simply stretches instead of forcing the catch to overcome the friction of the load and releasing it

[Jock The Rock]

That may also be part of the problem

My bonnet sits up fairly high for some reason, I can't adjust the rubbers down any further at the front.

The back of the bonnet sits on the wheelarches as it is. I think maybe the hinges were mounted just to low at the factory

[Grockle]

The puma models have been having bonnet latching issues over here, not being adjusted properly on the line.

[justinc]

60$$$ for a cable?? I think the last Genuine one I sold was about $30!!! I'll send you a new one if you like Jock. This is so common I keep D1 and Defender cables on the shelf, There is a difference in them from 1996/97 )TA chassis numbers) up wards but other than that it is straightforward. The bonnet plastic hinge bushes should be fitted so that the thickest part is facing downwards when the bonnet is closed, this should result it the bonnet being up slightly from the guard top.

JC

[cucinadio]

BONNET RELEASE CABLE (http://www.britishparts.co.uk/.sc/ms/dd/Defender--Body%20Fittings/1560/BONNET%20RELEASE%20CABLE)


cheers

[cucinadio]

60$$$ for a cable?? I think the last Genuine one I sold was about $30!!! I'll send you a new one if you like Jock. This is so common I keep D1 and Defender cables on the shelf, There is a difference in them from 1996/97 )TA chassis numbers) up wards but other than that it is straightforward. The bonnet plastic hinge bushes should be fitted so that the thickest part is facing downwards when the bonnet is closed, this should result it the bonnet being up slightly from the guard top.

JC


ill give you 20 for one inc postage :D

or maybe we can do a group buy......:Rolling:

cheers

[justinc]

ill give you 20 for one inc postage :D

or maybe we can do a group buy......:Rolling:

cheers

Didn't buy it from UK:eek:, I get genuine ones, from LR, and they are IMHO not expensive enough to want to fit an inferior one - twice:o

Group buy??? Thats Jocks department:p

JC

[Jock The Rock]

Thanks JC

I'm not too keen on fitting a new genuine one at this stage as I reckon the same thing will just happen all over again.

I'm going to see what the handle is like that the Wire Rope and Chain place said they could supply. If it's not up to scratch I might see what I can do and make up my own

If neither of these work then I'll send you a PM :)

As for group buys, never again. Some people on here aren't to good at keeping promises :bat:

[MinniTheMoocha]

Snapped the handle on mine and sliced my finger in the process!

Thought about fixing it or making my own but for the $$$ just bought a new one.

It works beautifully two years later.

[Jock The Rock]

Dropped mine into be fixed today

Going to cost me $20 and I get a new cable and handle. But still have the original outer coating and mount

I'm happy with that :)

[dullbird]

you know ours failed so often in the uk due to the Mud and water we trawled through that we just took it off :)

[Chucaro]

I have the same problem in my 1994 Defe and on my 1998 Disco
I replaced them and end of problems.
I inspected the old one on the Defe , cleaned the cable and lubricate the lot and no luck.
I belive that the skin or tube is the one that cased the problem.

Cheers

[PAT303]

I give all the latches,hinges,locks etc a good drenching in lanolin spray every once in a while and it fix's all the troubles.My bonnet opens with two fingers as it dries on and lubes until it's degreased off.I filled my door frames as well and the firewall and floor before refitting the mats. Pat

[Jock The Rock]

Fixed it :)

For $15 a hell of a lot cheaper than just getting a new one. I had a new handle and cable fitted to the sleeve. Only difference is it doesn't have the little bonnet open symbol on it, but I can live without that :p

Once I got it back I sat the sleeve in a vice, and poured Brake Cleaner down inside, gave it a good go over then flushed it with CRC. While doing this I noticed a split in the plastic sleeve, that had started to rust the inner coil; so I taped that up. I imagine that was part of the problem.

One of the parts that catchs is where the handle is clamped onto the cable, so I put a little bit of Nickle Coat on that.

Then I flushed the bonnet latch out thoroughly with Brake Cleaner as well, to get rid of the greasy build up of rubbish. That was then coated with Copper Coat

And all put back together

Turned out as good as new :)

It's pays to not always listen to the spare parts supplier who tells you getting it fixed will turn out more expensive than buying a new one off him :p. Saved myself $45 by doing it my way

[PAT303]

Your becoming a seasoned back yard mechanic Jock. Pat

[Jock The Rock]

Thanks :)