So I am upgrading an 11 or 12 year old Perfect Pass Cruise to a Wakeboard Pro. Today
 

So I am upgrading an 11 or 12 year old Perfect Pass Cruise to a Wakeboard Pro. Today I broke the servo black plastic knob trying to loosen it. I replaced the servo motor because it seemed to be frozen up, but now I guess I will have to order that knob from PP because I can't find anyone in town with one.

Anyway, the other issue I am having is at the throttle. Below I took pictures of what I am talking about. When I mess with the cable that attaches to the throttle mechanism, I can straighten it out. Then, I move the throttle at the helm and the mechanism causes the cable to shift a weird way where is attaches to the PP servo cable. It doesn't go back to being straight unless I physically move it to there. Is this normal? Is it going to cause me problems? I just bought the boat and have no idea if the PP was even working with this issue.

Its fine. When the power is on, the servo will draw in the slack in the cable and keep it tight. That's just how PP works, it lets out slack to close the throttle and draws it back in to open throttle.

I don't think it's fine. I think the L bracket is too tight against the plate. It should rotate freely.

Also, is it possible that you put the L bracket on the wrong hole on the throttle plate? It looks from your pictures that it should be on the hole that is one lower and a bit to the left. I am not familiar with that plate though, so I can't be sure.

I saw this post on planetnautique too but I'm just going to stick with this thread.

The L bracket could be free to rotate, you just can't tell from the photos. The L bracket is clamped to the servo cable so its always going to follow that cable. What Grant's concerned about is he is playing with the throttle while the engine is off, so if you notice the throttle body isn't opening at all, all that's happening is the throttle lever is pulling the servo cable in and out while the throttle body is not moving. This is because there's no power to the servo motor which keeps the cable tight when it has power running to it. If the servo were getting power, the throttle body would move with the throttle handle and that L bracket would then pivot along.

Hi Grant,

Chexi is right - the L-bracket should be able to 'swivel' on your throttle arm. Loosen it up just a bit.

Also, regarding the servo 'knob', you can get one at the link below. I believe PP glues the 'string' into the backside of the knob.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2102830


HTH!

And to Sean's point, if the L-bracket is already loose, and the PP cable is what is 'forcing' the angle, try to adjust the servo motor so that the cable gets a better angle. If that's not possible, you'll probably be fine with it as-is.

-Justin

That L bracket does move freely, if I remember from playing with it last night. I will be at the boat again later today and I will look at it again.

About that knob, if they have that at Radio shack today, I am going to be so EXCITED. This is exactly what I was looking for. I want to use it this weekend and a whole new cable from PP costs about $35.

THANK YOU!

Yes, if you are playing with the throttle with the power off, this is exactly what will happen. The servo needs power to wind the cable. If you move the throttle when there is no power, then the servo can't wind the cable.

Also, placement of the servo can be very important. If sometimes takes a while to find the right spot to prevent the cable from binding.

Be careful using the Radio Shack knob. If I remember correctly the original one that mounts on the servo uses a set screw to hold it in place. If that Radio Shack knob doesn't use a set screw I'd just buy the right one from PP. You don't want that knob to slip off while under way.

Epoxy would be your best bet to keep the string in the knob, FWIW.

you can drill out new knob and use the same set screw from the old knob. Make sure the drill out hole is exact. To big of a hole, no thread grip, to small and you will split that hard ABS plastic knob. You don't need to tap the new knob drill out.

Bought the new knob at Radio Shack. It is exactly the same knob except the set screw is a flathead instead of a hex. I epoxied the string back on, did a servo motor test and it tightened up and seemed to be just fine. I'm taking it out tomorrow so I that will be the true test.

Justin - THANK YOU for that knob find. I would not be going out this weekend if I couldn't get that knob locally!

So my epoxy knob fix failed unfortunately. Trying again with gluing it overnight, but we'll see. That servo motor is brutal on that cable/string.

Hey Grant,

What type epoxy did you use? A good 1 hr epoxy should be fine if you let it set long enough. Another idea is to tie a tiny knot at the end of the string and fit it in the back of the knob - that will help the epoxy hold it in the knob.

-Justin

I used 5 min epoxy. For some reason it didn't want to set up quickly at all. I thought about tieing a knot, but I was concerned about making the string too short. It already is a little shorter because I had to cut out the old knob. Do you know if it makes a difference of the length of that string?

Also, what about JB Weld? Is that any better than epoxy? I haven't had much experience with it, thought it might be worth using if this epoxy doesn't work.

I did more than a 1:1 ratio on the epoxy last night, with a little more hardner than resin. This is 5 min set epoxy, and I go out to the boat this morning and the epoxy is still a little soft on the surface ???

I use JB weld for most stuff that I need an epoxy adhesive for. JB weld is just epoxy, but a good strong one. Let it cure for 24-48 hours and mix it in exact proportions.Also taking some coarse sandpaper to the shaft or knob (whichever you're attaching to) will help the epoxy bond to be stronger.

If you had to cut the string out, I can see why you wouldn't want to tie a knot. Basically, the shorter the string, the less the amount your PP will be able to slow down. So, if you want to 'bury' the throttle on a pick up, but go 8 MPH, the PP servo may not be able to 'pay out' enough string to slow down to that speed. The remedy would be just to not push down the throttle as much.

In terms of epoxy, if it soft, you either haven't waited long enough to set or something went wrong. I've had decent luck with Henkel's epoxy, but Devcon's my favorite. Both used to be available at walmart, not sure what their offerings are now.

If it were me, I'd take cadunkle's advice and wait at least 24 hours, no matter how quickly it says it is at 'usable' strength. You're essentially pouring epoxy into a 'cup', and the middle of that cup is going to take longer to cure than the rest.

-Justin

Well I got through the weekend, epoxying that string back in the knob about 8 times LOL. But I made the weekend work, luckily. It actually didn't pull out at all during Sunday, about 4 or 5 hours out on the river. Now I have time this week to actually order the cable from Perfect Pass and do this the right way.

Thanks for all the advice... wouldn't have made the weekend without it, and would have broken a lot of hearts. haha