Hi All,
I started a thread on this steering problem about 2 weeks ago and have not resolved as yet!! I have attached some pictures to better describe my problem.
I really think I don't fully understand what I have going on here. The problem is that my steering is frozen. I have disconnected the drag link from the ram, and the engine swings freely by hand. I have had this problem in the past and was always able to free the steering by soaking the ram on the port side of the engine (picture 2) with PB Blaster or Kroil, back off the large nut on the starboard side of the engine, (Picture 3-4) and inject penetrant. Some time I had to bang on the ram to start it to move and allow the penetrant to seep into the ram and tilt tube.
This time the above process is not working so I devised an injector (Picture 1) to force the penetrant into the ram, tilt tube and cable with air pressure. I have been doing this for several days. No luck so far. I even got out my air hammer to vibrate the ram. Hasn't budged so far. When I used the air hammer, I had the nut and cable backed off in picture 4.
As you can see in pictures 3 and 4, the cable and sheath operate just fine to starboard from the helm with the large nut completely backed off. Cable and outer sheath move in and out of the tilt tube together just fine! Ram on the port side (Picture 2) doesn't budge. This is telling me that it is the ram that is frozen in the tube. However, I am not sure exactly how the cable and ram work inside of the tube. Does the cable slide inside the ram?? I have not tried heat as of yet and I am reluctant to do that. I'm not sure where to apply the heat if heat is the best way. Give me some clues!! Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
Geek
I started a thread on this steering problem about 2 weeks ago and have not resolved as yet!! I have attached some pictures to better describe my problem.
I really think I don't fully understand what I have going on here. The problem is that my steering is frozen. I have disconnected the drag link from the ram, and the engine swings freely by hand. I have had this problem in the past and was always able to free the steering by soaking the ram on the port side of the engine (picture 2) with PB Blaster or Kroil, back off the large nut on the starboard side of the engine, (Picture 3-4) and inject penetrant. Some time I had to bang on the ram to start it to move and allow the penetrant to seep into the ram and tilt tube.
This time the above process is not working so I devised an injector (Picture 1) to force the penetrant into the ram, tilt tube and cable with air pressure. I have been doing this for several days. No luck so far. I even got out my air hammer to vibrate the ram. Hasn't budged so far. When I used the air hammer, I had the nut and cable backed off in picture 4.
As you can see in pictures 3 and 4, the cable and sheath operate just fine to starboard from the helm with the large nut completely backed off. Cable and outer sheath move in and out of the tilt tube together just fine! Ram on the port side (Picture 2) doesn't budge. This is telling me that it is the ram that is frozen in the tube. However, I am not sure exactly how the cable and ram work inside of the tube. Does the cable slide inside the ram?? I have not tried heat as of yet and I am reluctant to do that. I'm not sure where to apply the heat if heat is the best way. Give me some clues!! Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
Geek