New member looking for help please. My son picked up an RM85 recently to mess around with on our property. Admitedly we are not mechanical guru's but we do have plenty of other toys that we do general maintenance on (quads,SxS,seadoos,boat). Have never had to replace a cable till now and this throttle cable is driving me insane.

The throttle end broke off a week after buying it, after riding it a total of under 30 min. We researched it, found the right replacement, also ordered cable luber and a can of lube. Held it up to old one and its a perfect match. Carefully took old cable out, taking pictures along the way and paying attention to routing. Ran the new cable the same way, took care to install the same way at both ends. BUT, its as if the cable is at least an inch too long. Has more extra play then you can adjust for. Therefore cant even get resistance at the throttle - its just too loose. We have scoured the internet, looked up the service manual, watched youtube videos, rechecked all connections and routing, messed with the slide positioning within the top of the carb took it back off and rechecked that it matches the old one EXACTLY, and are at a complete dead end.

One last note: When we have it installed at the carb and routed all the way to the throttle, when you manually pull on the cable till you get tension and then pull more (simulating twisting the throttle), we only get about 1/4" travel. Ya can hear the slide moving but again, the cable only travels 1/4" to 1/2" which doesnt seem right either. Is it time to bring it to a shop to finish the job? Really dont want to wait weeks for that, let alone the cost for a little beater bike. Any thoughts?