Installing the Roadless Gear
Thumb Throttle / Throttle Lock
Here's
a handy little device that is inexpensive and once you've installed
it, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it. It was designed
to solve two minor problems with trail driving. The first centers
around the fact that you have three pedals on your rig but God has
only seen fit to outfit you with two feet. We've all mastered the
art of working the clutch with one foot while rocking back and forth
between the brake and the gas with the other. While this works most
of the time it's inevitable that occasionally your foot slips and
you end up giving too much gas or too little brake. The second minor
problem is that sometimes you want to turn the idle RPMs on your vehicle
up for a short while. Maybe to generate a few more amps out of the
alternator while you are winching or using an on board welder. Maybe
it's cold outside and you want to warm your engine up alittle faster.
Up until now the only way to do this is to have somebody sit in the
vehicle and rest their foot on the accelerator pedal. But what if
you want to get out of the vehicle and maintain those RPMs high for
a while?
Well both these problems will be problems no longer once you install
the Roadless
Gear Thumb Throttle / Throttle Lock. The system consists of a
locking thumb lever that can be mounted to your shifter lever and
a cable that connects to the throttle of your engine. Once installed,
you can work the gas using your thumb, leaving both feet free for
other tasks. And you can lock the thumb lever in place to hold the
engine RPMs an any desired speed. So you can exit the vehicle without
the idle dropping back down to normal.
Installation is a breeze. First, mount the thumb lever to a convenient spot on your transmission or transfer case shifter lever It will take some playing with to find "just the right" position so that it feels comfortable for you to work the system from your normal driving position. Feel free to experiment with different locations before deciding on the final spot to mount it.
Next, route the cable into the engine compartment of your vehicle. Options here are through the firewall or even through the boot of your shifter lever (routed out the bottom of your cab compartment and following the top of the transmission into the engine compartment). You can route the cable under your boot or do what I did and poke a small hole in the rubber itself. I found if you "melt" a hole rather than cut it, the hole will be less likely to rip with age and stress. Use a 16d nail - hold it with a pair of vice grip pliers - heat it red hot with a torch or butane lighter - and gently poke a hole in the rubber boot where your cable will exit. Be sure not to make this hole any bigger than it needs to be to accept the cable.
One thing to keep in mind when routing the cable is to avoid tight turns anywhere in the routing. Doing so will cause excessive tension on the system and your throttle return spring may not have enough pull to pull the thumb lever down with you release it. If you have no choice in your routing - you can add an additional throttle return spring to your carb to give it more "pull" when releasing the thumb lever. Also note that if you have an extremely light throttle return spring currently you may need to upgrade to a heavier spring even with a good straight routing of the cable.
You have now reached the only "hard" part of the entire installation: connecting the cable to the throttle of your carb. And it's not really that hard. This will require alittle engineering on your part because each vehicle is different and each carb is different. I found installing this kit on a Samurai with a Weber carb was very simple.
Drill a small hole in the bracket that holds your stock throttle cable. This is where you will route the new cable through to attach to your carb. This hole should be as close to the stock throttle cable hole as possible and be only big enough for the internal wire of your new thumb throttle cable - the black shielding that protects the cable from dirt/grease should not fit through this hole. Then route the internal wire cable through the hole and pull it tight so that the black shielding is resting against the outside of your bracket.
Now Attach the wire to the throttle cable. On most carbs you can simply loosen the existing throttle cable mounting point, run the new cable through and tighten it down to hold both secure. Other carbs may require a bit more engineering to find a mounting point for the new cable. This will depend on your vehicle model and what type of carb you have installed. Most aftermarket carbs will be simple. Before tightening your connection - be sure the thumb lever is all the way down and you have pulled all the slack out of the system.
That's all there is to it - your thumb throttle / throttle lock is now installed. Working the thumb lever will now work the accelerator on the vehicle as well. There is a knob on top of the lever that you can use to adjust tension on the system. To lock it in place - simply work the lever until your engine is at the desired RPMs - then tighten the tension adjuster knob to hold the thumb lever in that position. Loosening the adjuster knob will release the tension and bring your idle back down to normal.
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