stiff steering issues

So we took the new to me boat out over the weekend (1993 Crownline, 5.7 Mercruiser), this was the first time out with this baot, have owned a different one for 7 years and have driven many. Anyway the first thing I noticed was the steering was really stiff, it was full of power steering fluid. After doing some research here on past threads I found that there was no way to lubricate and in fact it should'nt be lubricated. I was going to replace the cable. I removed the cable on the transom end and on that shaft part of the cable it looks like someone had tried to lubricate it, as it appears to be sticky with oil or something. My plan is to clean it all up inside the cylinder the cable goes into, and also the shaft, pry use laquer thinner or something, then I will reassemble and see what happends? thoghts?? Would using a dry graphite lub, like we use on automotive locks and such, be a good idea or not?

Re: stiff steering issues

Mine was all "gummed up" with crap in the tube. I sprayed some liquid wrench in the tube turned the wheel back and forth and its good as new. I dried it off with a rag and have not had a problem since!