Your dinosaur uses Bowden cables to operate the eyes and mouth, and also the features of smaller hand held puppets such as mouth, eyes and wings.
A Bowden cable is terminated in a barrel end at the hand lever and a ring or loop end at the mechanism which then opens the mouth etc.
You will certainly need to replace these cables at some point during the life of your dinosaur. Partly this is because they eventually wear out and partly this is because they are often badly installed or simply damaged during manufacturing. To make replacement easier, Only Dinosaurs ship the dinosaurs with spare cables already fixed in place so that you only need to swap the ends over, which is easier said than done but certainly not impossible.
You'll find a video on my YouTube channel which shows how to fit the barrel end into the hand lever. That will give you an idea of what do at the easy end.
A very important point to note is that you cannot release the barrel end of the cable when the cable is taut. Both the mouth and eyes have springs which pull them into their resting position and that spring pulls the cable taut.
I made the video because, when the cable is loose, it will naturally fall out of the hand lever's clip and it's not obvious how to get it back in again.
To make it possible to replace the cable, you will need to get someone to hold the mouth open or the eyes closed from outside the dinosaur. You'll then find that the cable is loose enough that it will easily slip out of the hand lever. If you don't have anyone to help you, it's easy to wedge the mouth open and the eyes, because they have a wire loop around the edge of the eyelid, can be held together with a woodworking clamp or similar. Do be careful though, make sure your wedge/clamp won't fall off so that you don't hurt your hand when the spring snaps the cable taut again.
The head end of the cable is much trickier to replace. Luckily, the newest dinosaurs seem to be made with the head connections already in place, so you only need to follow the following procedure if both cables break, which is quite likely after two or three years.
If your spare cable breaks, you have to get a new cable and thread it through the dinosaur's neck. You cannot repair the cables once they are damaged but you can buy the parts and tools and make up new cables yourself. It's probably easier, if you don't have many dinosaurs, to get some spares from the manufacturer. I do make these cables up myself, so it's not difficult if you have the right parts and tools.
You'll need to open the access zip on the top of the dinosaur's head and you'll then be able to see the ends of the cables. Each one is terminated in a loop which is fixed onto the mechanism with a Clevis pin, fixed in place with a rusty, razor sharp cotter pin (split pin).
You'll also see that each cable is held in place through a bracket. You'll need to undo the nut on the cable slightly so that the cable then slides sideways out of the bracket. Pop your replacement cable in and tighten the nut.
You'll have to do the next part by touch as you can't get your hand in and also see what you're doing. Imagine trying to unload your dishwasher by reaching through your letterbox and that's pretty much what it's like.
First, bend the razor sharp ends of the cotter pin back together so that you can slide it out of the Clevis pin. Next, slide out the Clevis pin and make sure you don't drop it. The loop end of the cable is then loose. Locate the replacement cable and manoeuvre the replacement cable end into position. Slide the Clevis pin back in and slide the cotter pin through the hole. Finally, with your finger nail, open up the ends of the cotter pin to hold it in place. Preferably, throw the cotter pin away and replace it with a R clip.
All done!
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