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Hard Steering

Noochie1100

Noochie1100

New member
I have a 2006 Johnson 140 hp and the steering is real stiff. I took the cable loose and it is not the problem. The problem is in the yoke and bushings with hardened old grease. With steering cable completely removed I could hardly move the outboard back and forth by hand. It has only 1 grease fitting in the middle of the pivot shaft and I was able to get some new grease in and it pushed out some old grease out the bottom. It took extreme effort to get any grease in the fitting and the grease seems to want to come back out the fitting. I took the fitting off and grease has no problem going through it. Is there any way I could put something in the shaft through the grease fitting that would soften the old grease to free up the side to side travel of the engine without disassembling the yoke to clean?
 
If you get it hot enough, it may free it up, however it will free up because you melted the nylon bushings. Is this a salt water motor? It is likely the problem is not hardened grease, but corrosion of the swivel bracket around the nylon bushing that is squeezing the bushing tight around the pivot shaft. If that is the case, you have two choices--melt it or take it apart and clean it up.
 
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