steering problem

my wife and i bought a bought and redid the whole thing all the way down to the floor. got it out on the lake yesterday for the first time and it runs great but about an hour into our cruising the steering got really tight and hard to turn. the boat is a 1984 rinker V170 with the omc motor and stringer outdrive. model number of motor is 302sthcra and outdrive is 983486. when i looked under the steering column the steer cable was all bound up like it had to much slack in it and cause a huge mess while on the lake.. i dont know anything about these steering systems but am trying to find out how to get the slack out of the cable.. my question is how do i re wrap the cable and how do i get the slack out of the cable as well???????

Re: steering problem

What kind of steering does it have? Is it the OMC TruCourse steering that uses the double cableway with a drum at the rear and a drum at the steering? That would probably be the most common type for a small to medium sized boat. If that is what you have, you probably ought to get a manual to show you how to reload those drums.

I do not know why the cables, on that type of steering, would get loose unless someone messed with it before.

Re: steering problem

What is OMC Tru-Course steering?

all 84's had tru-course. To remove slack, you simply turn the plastic collar at the end of the assembly. The collar is called the "nut" in this pic
alternate giving the front, then rear, then front, then rear nut a turn each time

Re: steering problem

i tried the adjuster nut yesterday before we took it out on the lake and there was minimal slack in the cable, both the front and rear nuts are adjusted almost all the way out and it seemed fine for the first 45 mins and then all of a sudden the whole thing got loose and all tangled up. i was looking at it today and trying to figure out the best way to remove the back spool to check it! this is the first boat i have ever worked on and owned! doesnt look like its gonna be an easy fix??????

Re: steering problem

That is a mess, for sure! No clue why it did what it did. My tru-course is now 38 years old and with the exception of having to find a creative way to lubricate the cableways, it has worked flawlessly.

If it were mine, I would get ahold of the 'book', remove it all and get it out in plain view, come to understand how it functions and adjusts, then put it back together and re-install it.

Re: steering problem

To remove the rear spool, remove the outdrive from the trunnions - either consult the manual for cable removal or carefully support it as you move it off the trunnions so you don't damage the $700 cable, then pull the pin and slide the plastic drum cover off, turn the steering wheel until you see a slotted screw head come around on the rear drum, remove that screw, then slide the steering gear shaft rearward out the back of the intermediate housing. Watch the wave washers and nylon spacers that will fall when the shaft is slid rearward.
Then unbolt the bracket from the intermediate housing.