frozen steering on my1970 50 hp mercury thunderbolt

[jay_krever]

please help, i am very new to boating. i recently stumbled into ownership of a 1965 dorsett belmont. the motor seems to run great but the steering is frozen. the cable appears to be locked inside the tilt tube. also the control arm wont budge. when i disconnect the control arm the motor turns easily. i have read on other posts that heating works, but i have had no luck woth that either. has anyone else had this problem before or ideas on how to fix, i could really use advise. thanks

[blue90HP50]

Jay, take steering arm loose, put a bolt in the end hole and tap the end with wooden block and hammer until it is out. Then, soak a knit rag with PB Blast or other similar product, pack the tube full of soaked rags, seal the ends and let set for a few days. I then used a 5/16 or 3/8 inch wooden dowel from hardware store, slotted one end, insert and wrap a strip of emory cloth around the dowel. Remove rags and save. Use an electric drill to spin the dowell rod and hence the emory cloth thru the tube, applying PB Blast as needed. There are special wire brushes for this as well. It may take several days of soaking and "sanding" to clean out the rust. Good Luck
I have a running '70 50HP that runs after sitting 27 years(sentamental).

Blue

[jay_krever]

blue, first thanks for your reply. i tried to bang the cable out with a 2x4 and a hammer, and the cable wouldnt budge. i have tried heat, pb, and wd40 and nothing seems to loosen it. looking like i have to take it to a boat mechanic. any suggestions before i do that?

[blue90HP50]

Jay: I failed to mention to unscrew the nut that holds the steering cable to the swivel tube. Hope you did that. Have a buddy pull on the cable housing while you use the 2x4 and hammer to tap the steering rod. It takes a while to accomplish this. If successful, and after getting started "grinding" the rust out, get you a piece of 1/2 inch CPVC pipe (hardware store), it's about the same diameter as the I/S diameter of the tube. When you can insert and move the CPVC pipe freely with no scarring on it, you are just about ready to final-grind and clean the tube and re-insert your steering cable. Be sure to use appropriate grease on rod and in tube. The above is my solution to the problem I had, hope it works for you.

Blue

[mcdgary]

I’m assuming you have a Teleflex cable steering system. First think of the cable as if it has been detached from the helm and the motor’s tilt tube. The steel cable is inside (free to move forward and aft and can be rotated) a plastic type casing. Up at the helm a few inches is outside of the casing in order to connect the steel cable to the steering wheel with the end of the casing made such that it can be clamped inside the helm steering box which is rigidly bolted to the boat. Thus, the cable running inside the casing goes in and out relative to the boat with the casing stationary. The opposite end (at the tilt tube) the casing terminates with a metal fitting which in part has a stainless 7/16” tube about 7-8” long. The cable runs thru this tube, comes out beyond the end of the tube and is attached inside the 5/8” tubular rod that has at its end a part with a hole for the steering arm (about 8-9” long with a 90 deg. bend with a stud at this end that goes into the 5/8” rod and secured with a 9/16” nut. The metal fitting at this end is such that the part near the end of the casing is larger than 5/8” thus stopping the casing on the outside of the tile tube. A large nut fits over this and screws onto the outer threaded part of the tilt tube. Thus the casing with its 7/16” tubular rod at the end is secured at both ends – helm and motor. Thus the steel cable is like in a tunnel (casing and 7/16” tubular rod end.) Actually, this smaller tubular rod is like a guide for the flexible cable where the cable is being pushed and pulled (turn right, turn left.) The outer 5/8” rod slides easily over the greased inner 7/16” tubular rod and the inside of the greased tilt tube.
With a new rod stretched out on the floor and not connected at either end you can pull and push the cable and I even turn the cable inside the casing. Recently I overhauled an old 12 footer (from an EZY Glide Stik steering system, similar to the Teleflex.) On the boat at first it was “frozen.” Where it was “frozen” I did not know, the resistance was slightly with the 5/8” and tilt tube, but this was not the real problem. I used every kind of mechanical advantage I could dream up and finally got it moving little by little. Once I pulled it completely thru the tilt tube and disconnected at the helm I tried to get oil and/or liquid wrench into it; it’s a tight fit and was not too successful. But, I kept working it back and forth, etc. and finally adapted my drill to the 5/8” rod end and got to where I was spinning it up real well.
Here are the potential problem areas: cable inside the casing can be corroded or crud buildup, corrosion or crud between the 5/8” and 7/16” rods, and 5/8” rod frozen with tilt tube. My main problem and probably yours is the cable fore and aft of the 7/16” tubular rod is rusted, which is a major problem and hard to cleanup. I’m attaching a pic of the cable I repaired. It was used on my 14 foot boat and is now for sale, because it was too long once I move my controls rearward on the boat. I bought a new 7’ one for about $150.