Accelerator cable: too much slack

[MarknessMonster]

I've been working on the stock truck for a few weekends lately. Yesterday, the truck made a rare appearance on paved roads and at higher speeds (about 40 mph). I felt a weird "pop" on the accelerator pedal and assessed the problem.

There appears to be an excessive amount of slack in the accelerator cable (about 1/2-1"). The ball on the end of the cable at the interior cab side "walked" upwards/inwards and was caught in the linkage. The "pop" that was felt was the ball freeing from the linkage.

I've examined the cable and linkage, and cannot figure out how it can be adjusted to both eliminate the slack and provide a more responsive throttle. If any of you folks have dealt with this stock assembly due to experiencing a similar problem, I'd be appreciative of any tips to correct my setup. Thank you in advance.

[MarknessMonster]

Here are a few photos.





The following photo is posted to represent the distance between the accelerator pedal and the stop when the cable slack is pulled tight. There should be more clearance.

[MarknessMonster]

When the repair is made to the cable slack, I wonder if I'll be able to find a replacement for the cable boot on the carburetor side (as shown in the photo above). Any suggestions would also be helpful and appreciated.

[pghjeeper]

Kwai told me thats one of the parts that can be hard to find when we talked.

[brute4c]

Do any of these help you diagnose the problem with he under dash end of the cable...thats where I think the problem is:







The extra cable on the left in the first 2 pics with the spiral metal wrap is for the manual throttle.

[brute4c]

Well...I see the problem now...sorry, I am not feeling well...in fact, I have been in bed most of the day...anyway...

You can adjust the rod from th gas pedal to the bellcrank as follows:

h. Accelerator Pedal Adjustment.
(1) Remove accelerator rod to bellcrank lever attaching nut.
(2) Push accelerator rod to wide open throttle position and hold pedal against pedal stop located on floor panel.
(3) Push and hold down bellcrank lever to wide open position.
(4) Adjust swivel on accelerator rod until it freely enters hold in bellcrank lever.
(5) Release linkage and insure that the throttle lever returns to idle position.
(6) Install nut which secures accelerator rod to bellcrank lever.

The rest of the cable setup has no adjustment...here is a manual link that shows the gas pedal linkage well:
http://www.m715zone.com/vb/view.php?pg=20chap2-11
Image is near the bottom of that page.

The adjustment procedure I listed above is from that page also...up that page quite a bit.

[MarknessMonster]

Thanks for the pictures and the location of the pedal adjustment instructions in the manuals. I initially reviewed the manuals and located the diagrams, but did not find the adjustment instructions. I also searched all past threads and had previously viewed the pictures brute4c has posted above. These were the only "real life" photos found, and they confirmed that my linkage was set up correctly.

After posting the initial request, the adjustment was made to the swivel end of the accelerator rod. It did provide some additional throttle response, but did nothing for the slack in the cable. Currently, the accelerator rod is at maximum adjustment, or is at the bottom of the threads. The slack has likely been there for many, many years, and was only noticed while I fiddled around recently. The observation was likely due to repositioning the accelerator pedal while cleaning all the brake fluid that had settled around it. When everything was put back together, the ball on the end of the cable must have kinked in the linkage and "popped" after the truck was driven a bit. If the cable is supposed to have the slack, as shown in the photos above, then I feel comfortable about leaving it alone.

Lastly, with the adjustment at its limit, it appears the accelerator spring has too much tension or more specifically, is the wrong size (too short). If the spring would not recoil so far, the accelerator cable wouldn't return so far through the firewall. Unfortunately, I have no way to identify whether the spring is correct, but it looks like the one in the brute4c photos posted above. I'm curious to know if the modified throttle/cruise control cable is adjusted out in the brute4c photos above, as that accelerator cable appears to be very taut.

[brute4c]

That cable was put in because the old one broke...it was really new when the pics were taken.

The cable should NOT have the slack yours does...in fact, as the pedal is moved, the cable should start moving the carb linkage instantly or almost instantly...yours is stretched for sure.

The only things that come to mind are a new cable...I got mine from Memphis Equipment years ago...or see if you can shim the cable with washers or something to take up the slack.