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How To Install a Twist Throttle on a Can-Am OutlanderMay 15/09 Written by Reidler Well, after having a twist throttle on my DS250, and loving it, I decided to finally put one on my Outlander 800XT. I have been contemplating it for a while, but was hesitant because the 800 has so much power and I wasn't sure how ride-able it would be. So I decided to buy a Terry Cable "Dual-Gasser" twist/thumb throttle. With this unit you have both type of throttles in one unit. The thumb portion works all the time, and if you don't want the twist part you can lock it out with the push of a small pin on the bottom side. Very cool unit indeed. It's well built too. I got mine from a seller on e-Bay for about 125.00. One thing to note however is that the twist portion of the throttle goes from idle to full on in about a quarter of a turn. If your not used to a twist throttle this may take some getting used to. I personally like it. So lets get down to the nitty gritty. I'll state the obvious here that I am not responsible for any mods you may do to your machine after reading this post. I am showing this for informational purposes only and will not be held responsible for any damage that may be caused to man or machine because of it. You could also take some ideas from here and apply them to a different type of machine if it serves the purpose. My family and I own 3 quads and I have changed all of them over to twist throttles! By the way, this mod is completely reversible if you ever want to sell your machine. OK, first thing you need to do is remove the brush guard that covers the handle bars, so you can start taking off the original throttle setup. You can click on a thumbnail to open a larger photo in a new window.  Now that that's out of the way, you can remove the original throttle assembly. There are 3 hex head screws on the bottom side. Undo all 3 screws completely and remove the lower half of the throttle assembly and lay it aside. Now take the top half and lay it aside as well. This part of the casting will have to be relocated elsewhere on the bars since there will no longer be room for it and the Dual-gasser. There are two zap straps that hold the cables to the lower handlebars as well that you will need to cut.  Now that all that's out of the way you need to remove the grip from the bars. This was the hardest part of the whole job for me. On the Outlanders the grip is actually glued on (my DS250 was just held on with friction). The best way to do it is to slide a small flat blade screwdriver down the bars (from the inside out), cutting the glue as you go. You can stretch it and pull it somewhat as well, as its pretty tough material. In order to make things a little easier I sprayed some wd 40 inside the grip as I pushed the screwdriver in. The little cap on the end was sorta glued in as well. make sure you release the screw inside it before you start working on it. Once you get the grip off you need to clean off all the excess glue with a knife or other tool so the Dual-Gasser will turn freely on the bars. Now you should be left with this...  Now you can test fit the Dual-Gasser on the bars and see if it is turning freely or not. Once your happy with the fit, line up the tube with the end of the bars and then go ahead and evenly tighten the four hex head screws on the bottom side (I also used a little grease on the end of the bar just to make sure it turned freely). Now take the cover off of the Dual-Gasser in order to get ready and hook up the stock throttle cable.  Since the adjusting nut on the Outlander has the same threads as the Dual-Gasser (isn't that convenient!), you can remove the nut that comes with the Dual-Gasser and discard or keep for later or W.H.Y. Now remove the stock cable and adjusting nut from the stock assembly so you are left with this...  Now thread the stock cable all the way in so you can hook up the cable lug. there's not enough room beside the swing arm to install the cable so you have to remove the swing arm bolt and lift the swing arm to hook it up. like so... (make sure you don't lose the little spring that's in there as well).  Once you get the cable hooked up you can go ahead and put the swing arm back on and reinstall the swing arm bolt. You should now be ready to put the cap back on.  Now reinstall the cap, adjust the cable so there is just a small amount of free play in the linkage, and slide the rubber boot over the nut assembly like so...  The Dual-Gasser should now be working. Check it for full movement and make sure it's not sticky or binding. You don't want to have your throttle sticking on! Now you can go ahead and push the rubber grip back on (wipe out any WD40 that may still be inside from earlier removal). Just remember to push the grip on from the outside in so that it wants to bunch up as it goes. The grip will have to be stretched a little further in order to now fit the larger throttle sleeve. Finish up this step by reinstalling the little cap in the end of the bars. Make one more check for binding and stickyness. Now your probably wondering what to do with the 4x4 switch, right? I decided to mount it on the other side of the handlebars under the winch switch. There was enough room here to keep the stock casting and still have it look like a somewhat factory location. I also flipped the switch upside down so that moving the switch up (like a light switch) turned on my 4x4. Makes more sense to me then the way the factory has it. Another benefit of having the switch on the left hand side of the bars is that now I can flip off 4x4 while I'm still moving. By feathering the throttle just right I can unload the drivetrain (as in, coast along) while turning of 4x4 at the same time. Any truckers out there who shift without a clutch will know what I mean. Anyway, this is where you'll be putting your fabrication skills to the test. You need to make a bracket that comes from the mirror mount bolt and folds down to hold the stock switch casting. You can use the two factory bolt holes to connect it. The stock bolts are now too long so you'll need to get some new ones that are shorter (the thread is 10/32). Here's a couple of pics of the one I made from 3/16" aluminum (of course!).   Here's a picture of the bracket bolted to the back of the housing. The switch looked pretty well sealed so I just left the back of the housing open. If I have troubles with water later then I can silicone seal the area.  Now before you bolt all that together you should reinstall your brush guard. First reroute all your cables as necessary and re zap strap them so your bars move freely without stretching anything. Youll have to cut out part of it on the right hand side to make room for the new cable location. look closely in the pic below...  Now you can go ahead and finish installing your bracket and winch switch with the mirror mount bolt as shown below...  With any luck you should have now be finished and be ready to go riding! Here's how mine looks.  I haven't taken it on any long rides yet, but I did take it out on the back forty for a test ride and it works flawlessly. My Outlander has 27" Mudlite XTR's and ITP beadlocks with approx. 2" of offset. Bump steer is a big issue with my machine. With the thumb throttle I was never able to get a good grip on the bars and as a result have had the bars ripped out of my hands a couple of times. Now with the twist throttle I can securely hold on to the bars with full fingers and thumb strength. No more sore thumbs for me, and if I want to I can easily switch back to using the thumb throttle any time! That's it. hope it helps anyone thinking of making the switch. By the way, no job is correct unless there are some parts left over!!!  |
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