HVAC Climate Control Spider & Cable

I broke the temp lever on my spider & I'm upgrading to the rare 1989 spider & cables. You can read about it HERE

I took some photos before installation that could help someone in the future. I still haven't learned how to make my uploaded photos large like Dogfish & Tim, so I apologize.


Attachment 837

Here are the ends of the upgraded cables. You can see they are completely different. The blue & black cables have circle ends that push down over the studs while the white cables have studs on the ends. I marked the notch in the cable because this signifies the spider end of the cable which is clear on the white cables but the blue & black both have the circle adapters on both ends so its easy to install them backwards like I did. So make note & save yourself some time if you do this. Also if you decide to make yourself a set of cables you'll need to cut a notch in the housing. It's important to secure the housing so the cable moves inside & does what its suppose to do at the other end. Here are the part numbers for these outta print, outta stock, outta site cables :

55909-28011
55908-28070
55907-28011
55906-28014

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Here is a top shot of the rare 1989 spider Toyota part # 55910-28150 - The studs on the temperate control lever are part of the update & make the updated spider easy to recognize from its older version.

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Here is the bottom of the updated spider. The circle shows the hole to connect the cables. The hole is much larger than the hole in the old version. The old cables don't work very well in that hole - believe me - I tried.

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Here is my spider with the A/C control, blower switch, front panel, & lever ends installed.


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This page from the manual helped me very little. But I still had it cut out so I could refer to it if needed.

About 4 years ago I bought a backup HVAC control and consequently all my Vans are now 89 with the updated control. The 89 controls I noticed never break. Has anyone yet ever had to replace the redesigned HVAC spider control? Even though I have a spare I don't think I will ever use it

My 89 (built Aug 88) has the 89 style spider & cable ends. I've never broke it but I don't force things when it gets bad. I always lube the cables then it's fine again for another year or two. If there were ever better/upgraded cables then they were already long gone before I tried to get them. Although my 89 cables have better ends they still stick just as bad as any other van I've owned (of any year). I sure wish I knew where I could some trouble free cables.........didn't know they ever existed.

I bought a back-up 89 spider a few years ago (Toyota said I got the very last one), I tried to get cables too but they said all were NLA (and had been for some time). If you got an extra set I'll buy them from you :)>:. Tim

I have an 89 and my spider is a bit bent but still together. One of the metal levers was badly bent when I bought the van due to one of the cables binding.

Seems like this would be a great project for a 3d printer - send a good one off to get scanned and reproduced. I'd be up for the project if someone had one to loan me.

I recently replaced mine with the updated spider & cables that I bought off Ebay for $30. I just got lucky on that one.

The major upgrade is the cables with a teflon coating. & the original cables didn't have any slack inside of the housing while the upgraded cables had a lot of extra room between the housing & cable.

The spider isn't much different - it just adapts the upgraded cables to the traditional spider design. If you look at my posting on the subject you can see the difference between the two cables & how they attach to the spider.

Since the cables are less likely to get jammed inside of the housing on the new cables the spider is less likely to be forced, twisted & broken.

After I replaced my cables & spider, I thought a little bit about how one could use traditional bicycle brake / derailleur cables. The toyota cables are held into place on the spider with plastic clips that snap down onto the cables. The housings have notches cut in them on the spider side. This allows the housing to stay in place & the cable to move when the lever is actuated. Otherwise the entire cable & housing moves & the lever doesn't produce the desired effect on the opposite end (opening a valve, etc). But I think one could use zip ties to hold them in place instead of the plastic clips. I haven't tried it but if my van needed cables & I couldn't find new ones - I think this is what I would try.

hi foreverly and tvt

as an addendum to this post (and also to this post), i was able to order the spider and three of the four cables yesterday from 1stToyotaParts, using the parts numbers you've posted here. the order was listed as completed and shipped today. i'll let you know if these are, in fact, the correct ones when they arrive. if they are correct, i'm going to order a second one, as i have two vans with broken spiders. the missing (and i suppose NLA) part was 55906-28014 cable. it looks like i have a little fab work ahead of me to get the old cable to work. i feel i'm up to the task, though. :yes:


also, thank you for posting these threads. i'm not exactly looking forward to the swap out, but i know you saved me a lot of headache since i'm sure i would've also put one in backwards (not realizing what the notches meant).


clay

ps- sadly, i had to pay the full price and not your discounted ebay one of $30. sigh. :cry:

Awesome! You might've done yourself a disservice by letting the cat out of the bag. Tim is a known hoarder & probably owns the rest of the inventory by now. :LOL2:

It's a pretty easy job as long as you have some daylight to work with. When you do the cable that goes under the floor boards run it from the inside then up through the dash to maintain the piece of foam on it.

You may get lucky & the NLA cable might be one of the easier ones to adapt.

Let us know how it goes!

i was wondering about how wise it was to announce the existence of those parts, but i figured i might as well pass the love along.



that said, you spooked me, and i just ordered the second one (in case the "hoarders" out there decide to strike)! :thmbup: i figure if they're not the right ones, i can always send them back, right?

Can probably always sell it to someone here.

:rol: That's interesting as I had checked these before, only to be told NLA! I'm no hoarder, if I find they're still available I'll probably only get 5 or 6 sets........Jeeze :slap:

follow up....

i received the spider and cables today, and they are the correct ones. maybe they found some in a warehouse somewhere, who knows. glad i ordered the second set, now all vans will have working climate controls. i'm going to start regularly checking the parts suppliers for that last cable (in the hope of some showing up from wherever these did), at least until i have to bite the bullet and convert the originals.

as a side note, i'm going to preemptively lube the cables on the third van to make sure i don't have to swap it out later. thanks, tim, for outlining the procedure for that!

So I am wondering if anyone has had this issue before. My A/C temperature selection lever is stuck in the middle, so the system just blows like-warm/cool-ish air. I want to fix it while I have the dash off, and I want to put the dash back in ASAP so if anyone has some pertinent info I would totally appreciate it.

Well I tried to attach the photo but it's not working where I am at the moment. Basically that lever that lets you slide through the the cold to hot air spectrum is attached to a flat metal piece that pivots and moves two cables. There's a cable with a blue sleeve and one with a black sleeve. It seems to me that the metal lever is able to pivot but it's the cables that must be seized/locked in the sleeves; that or whatever they move on the other end is stuck. anyway, I didn't wanna start tearing open anything down there until I had reason to believe I had to. Please let me know what you think!

Thanks bunches,

-Spencer

Here's a quote from another thread:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by timsrv

These vans are notorious for having problems with the heater controls. Toyota used poorly designed control cables. They are single strand metal wires inside plastic sleeves. As they wear the metal wire digs into the sleeve (typically at the bends) and begins to bind. This can be temporarily remedied by putting a penetrating lube inside the cable sleeves. WD-40 will work, but a higher quality lube like Tri-Flow will work better and last longer (probably 1 - 2 years). Eventually the same problem will reoccur. Toyota did redesign the front cables after the fact (sometime after 1989), but there are only a couple of these that are still available. Also, they will not work on the pre-89 heater control spiders..............and 89 spiders are NLA. Tim

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To find more information, use key words like "spider" "cables" and "HVAC". Tim

Thanks Tim! Technical words are super helpful on these searches

FYI, I'm still using my original cables/controls in my 86 and they work fine. I do however need to lube them every couple of years. When they stick, it's important not to force them. If you break the spider or bend the control levers you're screwed. Lubing them is another story (it's a PITA). When I do it I pull the glove box out and disassemble my center console, then I use a pair of off-set needle nose and a dental pick to release the cable locks.

Once a cable is released, I manouver it around to the glove box hole, then put the little red tube from my can of lube right up parallel with the wire and jam it against the sheath. Holding it in position, I use plastic wrap to tighly wrap the plastic tube to the cable end (seals the cable to the red tube). When it's ready, I spray the lube in there for a solid 5 seconds. Aterwards I work the wire back & forth to verify it's working, then hook it back to the control lever & lock to the spider. It's also not a bad idea to find the other end of the cables and verify lube is dripping out. Typically you only need to lube the 2 cables going to the temperature control lever (upper right). The other end of the heater valve cable (usually blue) is under the nose of the van (outside). Follow the heater hose and you'll find the other end of the cable hooked to the valve there.

If lubing this one didn't make it easy to operate, disconnect the valve from the cable and exercise each part individually (cable & valve). If the valve stays stiff, that's unfortunate because these are NLA :wall:. I stocked up on parts like this years ago, so I'm good for a while longer (I only have one valve left). If/when I run out, I'll need to find a generic replacement to do the job. Before that happens I'm hoping somebody else will do it and tell us about it (save everybody some time).

BTW, my way of lubing cables is truly a major PITA, but I've done it several times so I'm familiar with the process. Since you'll be doing it for the 1st time, I'd probably recommend you remove the dash pad (the more access, the easier the job). Disengauging the little plastic locks from the cables while contorting your body, with minimal access is a good way to test your patience. To release these, you need to get to the underside of them and pinch the little plastic locks while trying to lift the cable. Fun fun fun. Tim

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. It's also important to understand how the cable locking mechanism works if you're going to successfully unlock without breaking. I grabbed an extra spider (1989) and a new (revised) cable to show how things go together. Although the 89 spider and the revised cable are slightly different from yours, the way the cables lock into the spider has not changed. Tim

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23...pstlys5mku.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23...psyftfxiyg.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23...pst4or4lzi.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23...psfwe1npu0.jpg

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http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23...pstfkpwi9v.jpg

Great thread Tim. Thanks for the pictures. The spider on my 85 2WD with AC is broken. Any idea where I could source one? Mine came broken with the van. This is one of the last things I have left to fix.

I know the 89 spiders are NLA, but that's mostly because they were used to upgrade all the others (but you also had to get 89 cables to do that). Since that's no longer an option, you're stuck with the old style (and it's very possible they are still available). I checked the EPC and find that in 85 there's several options on that part. I checked one of the part numbers on ToyotaPartsDeal.com and found it still available (or so they say) and very, very, unrealistically inexpensive. Can't say which one (if any) will work with your set-up, but at those prices, it might be worth getting one of each.

As to your old cables, I'm guessing those are all NLA, but it doesn't hurt to check. If you can't get, you could still lube up the old ones. Tim

PS: you might be able to narrow down the one for your van by entering the VIN on www.ToyotaPartsDeal.com's website and using their fit calculator.

Just for reference, here's a vid of some maintenance and repair on my CC Spider as well- https://youtu.be/ndbL5MXMAp8. Hope the visual reference helps as well.

How hard of a job is this? Assuming I can find the right part, would this be fairly inexpensive to have a mechanic do? Is it something a semi-mechanically-literate person could handle? It's almost impossible to move mine now, has been very stiff for years.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Suzu

How hard of a job is this? Assuming I can find the right part, would this be fairly inexpensive to have a mechanic do? Is it something a semi-mechanically-literate person could handle? It's almost impossible to move mine now, has been very stiff for years.

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You won't find that part, it's been discontinued and no longer available for a decade or two. Most will try and lube it whilst the dash is apart to access the spider and cables. It's a miinimal success at best and you will have to keep lubing it over time.

Heres a good video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndbL5MXMAp8&t=177s

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Flecker

You won't find that part, it's been discontinued and no longer available for a decade or two. Most will try and lube it whilst the dash is apart to access the spider and cables. It's a miinimal success at best and you will have to keep lubing it over time.

Heres a good video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndbL5MXMAp8&t=177s

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Thank you! The video is great. I will have to watch the first part in slow-motion and write down everything I saw. Some of it looked a bit discontinuous.