Enter, the Hand Throttle.

Now, I don't like to consider myself "cheap", rather, resourceful.  I could have bought any number of aftermarket hand throttles but like most else on this Jeep I decided to make something.  

As a kid I spent a lot of time riding my bikes all over town and many had short, stubby gear shifts.  Thinking back I thought these could be a prime candidate for a hand throttle.  I just had to find one that didn't click in large increments, rather could be moved in very small clicks so RPM didn't jump by a large range when using it.

One evening a few years back during our town's spring cleanup, I drove around looking for old bikes in the trash.  I found many and with each I checked for gear shifts that had small increments of movement.  I found several good ones and unbolted them on the scene with a few choice tools.  I also grabbed the cables and fittings that brace the cables to the attach points on the bikes.  All useful junk.

I then took it all back home and went though what I had, finding the best gear shift and some good cable.

Mounting the gear shift, now referred to as a hand throttle, had to be easily accessible but not anywhere that it might be bumped inadvertently.  

Note: Mounting a hand throttle to the gear shift, although it may seem appealing, is out of the question and simple dangerous because you are constantly moving the gear shift around can easily bump the hand throttle, applying throttle when you least want to. 

Since the hand throttle is really bicycle's gear shift it had a round clamp that would have mounted to the handlebars of the bike.  Looking for a place to take advantage of that clamp to secure it I didn't have anything stock to mount it to.  I found that the best place to location the hand throttle ergonomically was somewhere around the base of the steering column where it was out of the way of being bumped yet within easy reach to operate.  I also didn't want to drill holes in my freshly painted dash.  I found that I could use the two right-side screw holes of the steering column base-plate and mount a short piece of pipe, which I could then mount the hand throttle to.  I raised pipe away from the dash using two short wooden post that was flat on one side and notched on the other.  The posts and pipe were then mounted to the steering column cover plate with longer screws.  See diagram below and pictures to the right.

Routing the Throttle Cable

Using a short piece of cable that came off a a bicycle, I routed the cable down under the dash and through the firewall to the existing throttle linkage.  I Used one of the bike's cable ends that hold a cable's fixed end in place and drilled out a hole in the carburetors throttle linkage bracket.  I then used an existing hole in the throttle lever, just above the existing throttle cable to attach the end of the cable.  I left a little slack in the line so it wouldn't hold the throttle back when idling.  I made sure there was no chance of the cable getting hung up on anything.  Again, see pictures to the right for a better idea.

Thoughts in the Hand Throttle

The hand throttle ended up being a great idea that gives me greater control over the Jeep in all kinds of situations.  Initially it was installed to bump the RPMs up a little higher than idle so the York Compressor could pump air efficiently.  It also comes in handy when I need to work the brake, clutch and throttle such as when pulling out off of a hill or tight situation.  Its also great for bumping the RPM up just above idle while rock crawling or on slow trails.  IN many ways its much like cruise control however I never using it on the road, only on the trail.  If you have an automatic transmission, I'd recommend some sort of disconnect in case the hand throttle got stuck open for some reason.  With a manual transmission, pushing in the clutch will do the job if ever necessary.

• Onboard Air Intro
    
• York Installation
    
• Bumper Air Tanks
    
• York Identification
    
• Hand Throttle