Can I leave spiral wrap off of shift cable?

[Fishermark]

I just installed a new shift cable, (Alpha 1, gen 1), and wonder about the purpose of the spiral wrap. I cannot see it serving any purpose other than making the cable harder to remove later. Is it supposed to be protection against the heat from the manifold? Protection against abrasion? It is easy to get to right now because I haven't installed my engine yet, but it will be tough getting my hands down there to remove the spiral wrap at a later date. Can I leave it off with no problems?

 

[merc200]

Re: Can I leave spiral wrap off of shift cable?

I installed a new lower shift cable last winter and went ahead and put the spiral wrap on. I think it's to keep the cable from rubbing on the hot exhaust tube going out the transom.

 

[hoot]

Re: Can I leave spiral wrap off of shift cable?

just to confuse the issue, i redid my bellows and did not replace the wrap. have run all this summer with no shifting problems. hard to see how that wrap could protect the cable from hot exhaust pipe.

 

[Fishermark]

Re: Can I leave spiral wrap off of shift cable?

Well, I went ahead and left it on... but I really don't see the value of it. (I may regret it when it comes time to take it back off. ) On the plus side, I got my engine back in and aligned, (THAT took forever!) It runs great, good to be back on the water.