it's secured to the clamp assembly, you push it in and it allows you to pull the clamp assembly along with the cables up through the top, but in my case I had to loosen the steering cables at the quadrant and move the chain off the sprocket to have room to pull it up. You should replace your throttle cable while your at it. The cables are fairly inexpensive and it will save you from doing it again since they last for a few decades of use. I had a real tough time removing the control housing, the housing that the shifter and throttle handles go through. The screws are steel and the housing they screw into is aluminum so of course after 29 years they were seized up. I got two out but the other two I had to cut the heads off to remove the housing. Then a few days of PB Blaster and using vices grips on the exposed shafts I kept working them back and forth until finally they freed up and I got them out. I bought hex head bolts to replace them and liberally applied anti seize compound (available at auto part stores) to the threads when I reassembled. You might want to run a tap through the holes to clean out any corrosion or contaminants before putting it back together.