Door lock Pull Cable

[wiggiesworld]

Re: Door lock Pull Cable

Out of interest, what interior door handles are people using? My car is missing them and there is a fairly long cable arrangement in the door cavity. The shape of the hole on the door looks very familiar as a sort of pointy rectangular shape.

These are what I have. I believe they came out the donor Sierra, certainly look like the one's I had in my 1.6 Sierra back in '92.
Cabrio_door_Handle_1.jpg

[kieran78]

Re: Door lock Pull Cable

Yes! Thats them. Thank you all, now to search for a set...

[wiggiesworld]

Re: Door lock Pull Cable

Yes! Thats them. Thank you all, now to search for a set...

I've seen plenty of them recently on ebay.

[chris_cussen]

Re: Door lock Pull Cable

So yesterday the Puma door pull arrived and it looked just the job. Except when I came to fit it the lug on the end that went into the interior door handle was a larger diameter than the one in the handle. So I had a happy hour filing it down to fit. The original failure was the lug snapping off the end of the cable, as you can see in the next photo, along with the Puma cable with the filed down lug.
IMG_0009.JPG
Now if you are paying attention you might notice something I did not. The lug on the Puma cable sticks out a bit further than the Sierra cable. So when I assembled it the handle stuck out and didn't have enough movement to open the door.
SO after all that filing I cut the lug off, and used my old friend 'chocolate' block connectors to cobble up a lug that was adjustable
IMG_0010.JPG
So here is the bodge. It was a bit fiddly getting the right length of inner cable to make everyting work properly so I'm going to order another Puma cable just in case I have another failure.
Phew. Seemed so easy at the beginning....

[dave_kitson]

Re: Door lock Pull Cable

Hi - The usual problem with the door handles is that the plastic ferule on the end of the cable (door end) splits and is impossible to mend. I suspect that the plastic gets more brittle over time, and as Sierras are now 30 years old, the slightest force will result in failure. The chances of finding a good cable is slim to say the least - when did you last see a Sierra on the road or in the scrapyard? Many Fiestas and Granadas of the era used the same set up, but early Sierras at least used a system of rods.
There is also the problem of different lengths of cable. For a start the LWB Cabrio needs longer cables than the SWB. Then the Sierra came as 2-door, 4-door and estate, all different lengths and different front and rear to boot! Fiesta and Granada likely different again! I think I may have responded to an earlier thread with more precise information, if you want to search for it. On balance you may be best going with your bodge, if it works. It may be useful for other owners too, as it won't be the last door cable to cause a problem. Cheers - Dave

[chris_cussen]

Re: Door lock Pull Cable

Thanks Dave.
The cables I orignally used were long enough and came from a Fiesta Mk1 2 door model.
Bad news it the Puma cable I bought seemed to be the only one in existance....
However the old cable with the lug snapped off was had some spare length, so I got some bicycle break cable and used the outer to made a slightly shorter spare. I used the bike cable because the original outer cable was brittle and had cracked.

[kahawi]

Re: Door lock Pull Cable

I’ve a LWB Hunter, and had early issues with both door lock cables. My interpretation of the problem: - Solid-core wire used, cable too short and a near right-angle bend at the lock end, making any movement very difficult.

Top.jpg

I purchased universal replacement bicycle cables from Wilko (for all of £1.50 each). Try to get the thickest inner cable you can. These are not solid wire like the Ford originals but come with outer and inner, which are flexible, the nipple at the handle end fits perfectly. On my Hunter, you can lock the doors by pushing the handle ‘in’ there is no lock switch, so you do need very stiff cable, due to the ‘loop’ left in the handle plastic enclosure.

Removing the lock end fittings from the solid wire, for re-use proved impossible, they are swaged in place and the inner wire could not easily be drilled out.
Plan ‘B’:- Locate some brass parts (from my old BA screw box set) the wire fittings at the lock end are not needed to be crucially accurate, so long as they slide/move within each other and the sheet steel pressing of the lock mechanism. Fortunately I have an old wood-turning lathe and a good set of drills and files. It proved quite easy to convert a couple of brass bolts by drilling and filing to match the required parts. Picture-4

Bot.jpg

Brass was a wise choice, since it can be soldered easily onto the bicycle cable. I used two different solders, normal electrical and lead-free plumbers - which melts at a higher temperature, enabling me to carefully adjust the position of the end fittings individually, some trial and error being needed.
As can be seen from the door photo Picture-3, I’ve lengthened the inner and outer cable as much as possible to give a smooth curve from the handle to the lock. The dimensions (French notches) in the first photo Picture-1 are probably the original sizes. Short of ripping the door panel off I can’t quite recall, but make the 606 length as long as possible, without looping out of the top of the door, as shown.

The completed lock cable is shown in Picture-2. The Wilko outer was slightly larger than the original, so the end fittings could be drilled out and ‘Super-Glue’ has held it all in place, with the help of some heat-shrink quite successfully so far.

Hope this helps someone,
Best regards
Colin Barrett

[dave_kitson]

Re: Door lock Pull Cable

Good information Colin - I hope I don't have to use it! Probably the best thing to use to join these would be silver solder. Not easy to find and can be pricey, but worth searching out. Dave