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Yea, you're right, it's not a cable. You might be able to unmangle it (I was fortunate). But as others have said, that's apparently a weak point. I experienced what you describe when I first got mine. After some attention, it now works properly. Good luck in there.
Throttle linkage issues are pretty much to be expected. Its a very complex system and unless you understand what is going on its very easy to do more harm than good. There also are some parts that wear out and if misadjusted parts can bend. Remove the engine cover and find where the throttle linkage road that goes from one side of the engine to other and spray your favorite penetrating lubricant on the rod where it goes through the block. Make sure its not binding. The other problem spot is the plate with the splined shaft that goes through the firewall and runs through accelerator pedal. That rod goes through a nylon bushing. If the bushing is worn out or that plate is bent it can mess up the linkage. The accelerator is not directly attached to the rest of the linkage. If the cab is lifted it can not be attached as otherwise it would cause problems. So it moves a roller that runs on a curved plate that is attached to the rest of the linkage. If the shaft is bent or the bushing is worn out, the relationship between the roller and the curved plate changes and if someone doesnt notice that they can end up adjusting other things that do not need adjusting (been there done that). if the rod that drives the hand throttle is bent or the nylon bushing is missing than the hand throttle can bind up the rest of the linkage.
Just part of the potential dues for buying a 25 year old vehicle that has sat for long periods of time. The first SEE i looked at was a state vehicle that had been transferred from the Fed, the throttle linkage was bound up and parts were disconnected. The seller got it started and like a good seller his response just a minor adjustment. It was obvious that someone did not understand what was going on and made a mess of it.
It might be worth trying Aerokroil from kanolabs.com. Best stuff in a can I've ever found to get rusted parts to let go.
Its rite of passage for a SEE. Initially it feels totally foreign and definitely is not intuitive. Obviously you do not want to have the SEE facing uphill and facing it downhill helps. Of course if you just cant get it, you can rotate the boom and use the outrigger to push it in place. Once you do get it practice a bit to do it again. It might be one out of five the first time but its happens more often with practice/ I must admit I am still in the 3 to 4 out of five stage.
That could be because you're running high rpms. Once I learned to do the digging at 1,100 to 1,500 (unless full force is necessary), operation in general got much smoother.
Use a come along or winch to a high point on a tree. Soldier A pulls the level to the implement Raise position while Soldier B winches. Go slowly because of the restriction in the circuit. The advantage of this over cracking the lines is you are not introducing air into the system, so by releasing the lever, it will hold in place. Of course if you loosened the lines, you could remove and drill out the restrictor.
There is a serious lack of trees in my part of the desert. I do have some elm, but they are so weak. I'm not sure they will work. Could I use a hi-lift somewhere instead? Like from the ROPS?
