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Steering cable seized

wynjim55

Regular Contributor
I bought a new cable earlier this year and haven't had any problems with it at all. For the last week we have had an unusually large amount of rainfall and today I found that the steering cable on my boat is seized. I last used the boat about 6 weeks ago so I was quite surprised (shocked) to find that it no longer works. I removed the cable to isolate the problem (cable or pivot bearings) and found that it is most definately the cable. How do I resurect this cable? Is there anything I can do? My boat is not kept under cover (inside a shed etc) but I have had it covered with a synthetic sheet (tarp in Australia) that has been doing a great job of keeping the rain out of most of the boat, or so I thought.
 
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It's a messy piece of work, but you can remove the inside part of the cable, clean and lube everything, and stick back together. It should then work like new IF it's not kincked.

Jeff
 
There are no kinks that I can see from the outside, it's a very straight forward path from the helm to the outboard in my boat. How do you disassemble the cable?
 
FIRST!!!!! NO HAMMERS!!!
The end of the cable will mushroom out and it will not come through the steering tube.
Get someone inside the boat. While you push on the motor, one way or the other have someone turn the wheel.
Maybe a small bit of heat.
Once it comes loose.Use white lithium or a spray oil.
Most greases when you add salt water will gunk up and make it hard to steer.
I keep a can of WD-40 in my boat and spray the steering arm and moving parts EVERY time I go out.
Use a white lithium based marine grease on your other grease fittings.
You can't disasemble the cable.J
 
It seems I got lucky. The recent week of rain must have been the cause because the fix was quite simple. I was able to spray a similar lubricant to WD40 along the outboard end of the cable which with gravity assistance made it way inside the sliding tube and loosened whatever was causing the binding. With a small but adequate number of light strikes to the cable end with a rubber mallet the obstruction was released. The steering wheel turned ever so slightly in one direction before a slightly forceful turn in the other direction had everything moving like new. Continual application of water disspersant seems to be the order of the day from now on.
 
Just a thought...By any chance did you grease the hinge on the upper part of the lower unit??? One or twice a year I put a couple a shots of grease on the side to side hinge and also to the up and down hinge...BF
 
I've had the same problem with the steering cable on my boat, and fixed it nearly the same way . The only thing that I did diffrent was to take a wooden dowell rod (3/8") amd cut a slot down the center about 4" long, placed some emery cloth in the slot, and roll, it to act as a flapper wheel in a drill and polish the inside of the tube after i had cleaned out all the grease. Then replaced everything with a grease coating, and grease all the pivit points and tube wiht good marine grease. When you grease the slide shaft on the steering cable make sure that the shaft is all the way retracted in the tube. That way you cannot cause a hyrodrlic lock in the tube. Replace the tube nut as there is a rubber seal in them that can go bad also. Never hit the tube rod with any type of hammer! Use a nylon rod or a brass rod as a punch if you ever do, and always put the WD 40 in the cable side of the tube, with the trailer blocked up, in order to keep the penatrant from going back up the cable unless it is causing the problem.

Have FUN boating and BE SAFE,

oldman570
 
Just a thought...By any chance did you grease the hinge on the upper part of the lower unit??? One or twice a year I put a couple a shots of grease on the side to side hinge and also to the up and down hinge...BF

I grease all the pivots every second or third outing, probably over kill but that is what I have got into the habbit of.
 
I've had the same problem with the steering cable on my boat, and fixed it nearly the same way . The only thing that I did diffrent was to take a wooden dowell rod (3/8") amd cut a slot down the center about 4" long, placed some emery cloth in the slot, and roll, it to act as a flapper wheel in a drill and polish the inside of the tube after i had cleaned out all the grease. Then replaced everything with a grease coating, and grease all the pivit points and tube wiht good marine grease. When you grease the slide shaft on the steering cable make sure that the shaft is all the way retracted in the tube. That way you cannot cause a hyrodrlic lock in the tube. Replace the tube nut as there is a rubber seal in them that can go bad also. Never hit the tube rod with any type of hammer! Use a nylon rod or a brass rod as a punch if you ever do, and always put the WD 40 in the cable side of the tube, with the trailer blocked up, in order to keep the penatrant from going back up the cable unless it is causing the problem.

Have FUN boating and BE SAFE,

oldman570


That sounds like a good way of sorting things out, I used a rag tied into a length of rope and used it like a rifle/gun barrel pull through. I don't think it cleaned it up as well as it could be using your method.
 
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FIRST!!!!! NO HAMMERS!!!
Most greases when you add salt water will gunk up and make it hard to steer.
I keep a can of WD-40 in my boat and spray the steering arm and moving parts EVERY time I go out.
Use a white lithium based marine grease on your other grease fittings.
You can't disasemble the cable.J


That sounds like a good preventative maintenance tip. When I bought the cable I was advised (by the sales bloke - should have known) never to lubricate the cable. It sounded crazy but I'm new to all this boating stuff, sounds like grease should never be used though.
 
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