rusted steering tube

[ccgeedy]

I have a 86 Johnson 50vro and when I try to tilt the motor up it goes very slow. Spraying wd-40 in the joint where it meets the motor helps but is only a temporary fix. I have also tried grease into the grease fittings but no more will go in. Will replacing the steering tube correct this problem and what is the easiest way to perform this task. If replacing, I would rather not remove the motor but will if I must.<br /><br />Thanks for all the help.

 

[Hooty]

Re: rusted steering tube

I'm not sure where your talking about cc. Is the tilt tube rusty? <br /><br />c/6<br /><br />Hooty

 

[hondon]

Re: rusted steering tube

Chances are that the journals that surround that tilt tube have been swollen with guck,i.e. salt ,mud , incompatible grease,etc, you get the idea.The thing is ,you really should do something about this now or it will just get worse.Removing the tilt tube is no big deal if you have the room in the splashwell to remove the the steering ram. If not then you will have to unbolt the motor, pull it away from the transom, pull out the ram ,remove the big nuts from the tilt tube and carefully tap tap tap it out without mushrooming out anything or boogering up any threads.Clean it all up,the tube and the inner and outer journals,new bushings would be nice. Then put in the sparkly clean tilt tube with alot fo grease and repeat the whole thing in reverse.