Hello All,
My friends and I have entered in on our first boat project and purchased a 26' vessel with a 1977 OMC 235Hp and Stringer outdrive. The boat has been sitting for sometime and among the other issues, my big problem right now is the steering. It appears we have the OMC true course steering and it's locked up. We tried to ease the wheel back and forth to free it but it popped a cable due to binding somewhere. I removed the outdrive and intermediate housing and have found the steering shaft in the intermediate appears to be frozen. My question is how do you remove the steering shaft from the Intermediate housing? I tried using a sledge hammer and tie rod extractor wedged under the worm gear on the shaft but it moved only 1/4" before popping the circlip that holds the gear on. It looks like there's either a bearing or seal under the steering gear. I can't get the shaft ouot to even replace the cable as it has to attach to the worm gear that winds the cable somehow! How in the world do I get that shaft out from here? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
My friends and I have entered in on our first boat project and purchased a 26' vessel with a 1977 OMC 235Hp and Stringer outdrive. The boat has been sitting for sometime and among the other issues, my big problem right now is the steering. It appears we have the OMC true course steering and it's locked up. We tried to ease the wheel back and forth to free it but it popped a cable due to binding somewhere. I removed the outdrive and intermediate housing and have found the steering shaft in the intermediate appears to be frozen. My question is how do you remove the steering shaft from the Intermediate housing? I tried using a sledge hammer and tie rod extractor wedged under the worm gear on the shaft but it moved only 1/4" before popping the circlip that holds the gear on. It looks like there's either a bearing or seal under the steering gear. I can't get the shaft ouot to even replace the cable as it has to attach to the worm gear that winds the cable somehow! How in the world do I get that shaft out from here? Any help would be greatly appreciated!