Old cable/pulley steering

trek2300

Recruit
Joined
Mar 26, 2008
Messages
4
I bought a 1962 Starcraft yesterday with an 18 hp Johnson Seahorse. My question deals with the cable/pulley steering. I want to replace the cables and possibly the pulleys and I'm not interested in Teleflex or the like. My question is what type of cable to use. My choices are down to two: 5/32" vinyl coated clothesline or 3/32-3/16" vinyl coated cable. I've also considered plain galvanized cable (no vinyl). Obviously, the cable has to be flexible enough to work. I'd like to replace the pulleys but can't find them as wide as what's there without spending big bucks (can you tell I'm cheap?). Any ideas, suggestions, successes/failures, websites, etc would be appreciated. Thanks!
 

Chinewalker

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Aug 19, 2001
Messages
8,902
Re: Old cable/pulley steering

Definitely go with the vinyl coated cable. Plain galvinized will chew up the pulleys...
- Scott
 

John_S

Rear Admiral
Joined
Jun 21, 2004
Messages
4,269
Re: Old cable/pulley steering

Welcome to iBoats.

Center the engine and take plenty of pictures of the current configuration. Take pics of the stearn corners, engine connection, and especially of how it is wrapped on the spindle of the steering wheel.
 

i386

Captain
Joined
Aug 24, 2004
Messages
3,548
Re: Old cable/pulley steering

I saw a diagram on here somewhere showing how to rig up a pulley system.
 

oops!

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Oct 18, 2007
Messages
12,932
Re: Old cable/pulley steering

arrrrggggg ....

memorys of drifting in the water for an hour at a time trying to fix the durn thing.....i kept special tools just for that purpose.....

good luck
 

Woodnaut

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 4, 2007
Messages
634
Re: Old cable/pulley steering

Chinewalker is right - definitely go with the vinyl coated cable. Also, there should be a pair of tension springs in the system - either at the outboard or where the is cable terminated to the boat at each end. I had an old 14' homebuilt with a 25hp Gale that used a cable and pulley system. Classic! Keep shopping the internet - your bound to find some pulleys somewhere. As I recall, 2" diameter is about right.
 

trek2300

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Joined
Mar 26, 2008
Messages
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Re: Old cable/pulley steering

Actually, I don't see any springs. Are these mandatory? What purpose do they serve? I'm asking as I don't know, not trying to be a smarty pants. I was thinking of duct taping the old and new together and undoing the old. Is this a guaranteed screw up?
 

Bondo

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Staff member
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
70,468
Re: Old cable/pulley steering

I was thinking of duct taping the old and new together and undoing the old. Is this a guaranteed screw up?

Ayuh,......

Those cable systems are Not strung from 1 end to the other,...
They start in the center, at the helm,+ each side is strung where it's gotta go....
The Springs are to keep tension on it, so it doesn't unravel off the helm.....
 

tashasdaddy

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Nov 11, 2005
Messages
51,019
Re: Old cable/pulley steering

i'm running 2 boats on cable pulley i love it.

here are the directions i copied of the original 1950's directions.
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=200994

MVC-324S.jpg


let me see if i can get you more pics.
 

tmcalavy

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 29, 2001
Messages
4,005
Re: Old cable/pulley steering

Try some of the places on the Links page at www.aomci.org, they should have everything you need, you only need four pulleys (if they are damaged or frozen). I redid my cable-n-pulley system on my boat restoration by just searching the forum for those words...took a while to read it all, but if I can do it, well, nuff said.
 

John_S

Rear Admiral
Joined
Jun 21, 2004
Messages
4,269
Re: Old cable/pulley steering

"I don't see any springs"

On my '67 Starcraft they were in the corners of the stearn. As Bondo said they are there to keep tension on the cable so the cable doesn't come off the pulleys.

The vynel cracks and starts to peel off after a few years, usually at a pulley. Pulleys also crack and chip on the edges. Once the sheathing comes off, easy for cable to come off pulley, and jam. This seemed to always happen during a turn. :( When in good repair, they work well and have a wider swing and tighter turning distance than a teleflex.

If you couldn't tell after many years, converted it to teleflex steering.
 

tashasdaddy

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Nov 11, 2005
Messages
51,019
Re: Old cable/pulley steering

for $9.00 i will restring every couple of years. mine take 50 feet of cable.
 

Woodnaut

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 4, 2007
Messages
634
Re: Old cable/pulley steering

Below is a small sketch of the system. The link posted above by Tashasd. is a good one and also has a good picture of cable wound on a steering drum. The old rig I had was wound a little different on the drum as shown below. These systems are simple - just be sure you rig it so the the boat turns left when you want it to go left, and so on. :eek:
 

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tashasdaddy

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
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Re: Old cable/pulley steering

yes one of my boats was done that way, the other one goes down both sides.
 

John_S

Rear Admiral
Joined
Jun 21, 2004
Messages
4,269
Re: Old cable/pulley steering

Thats how my Starcraft was run. I always had fun stringing the steering column. Let off on the tension and could end up with a wad. Part of the fun was arching my back over the seat to see and reach under the dash. But, boats are always fun to work on.
 

tmcalavy

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 29, 2001
Messages
4,005
Re: Old cable/pulley steering

Yeah, with your neck at approximately 43 degrees, one leg on the gunwhale and the other straight up to keep the balance point just so on the back of your skull...then the teenager creeps up the side of the boat, bangs on the side and yells Hey Dad! That's how I got that funny bump on the top of my forehead, although I tell everyone an elaborate story about gold and Comanches.
 

reelfishin

Captain
Joined
Mar 19, 2007
Messages
3,043
Re: Old cable/pulley steering

I have two boats that steer with a pulley system, but they differ a bit from the sketch above. I had a third that had a similar cable system but it now has a Teleflex system.

On mine, the cable ends both terminate at the steering drum or pulley. The one boat uses a larger diameter steering pulley with only one full wrap of the cable on each end, the other is a smaller, wider, smooth drum with each end of the cable wrapped half way across the width of the drum.

The cable leaves the drum, heads rearward around a corner pulley, heading back to another corner pulley which is spring tethered, then to the motor where it's attached via a stainless steel plate with two holes, which the cable threads through, the plate is then bolted to the motor via an eye bolt.
The cable passes through the motor attachment plate, then heads around the opposite rear corner pulley, which also has a spring tether mount, then back forward around one more pulley which redirects it back to the steering drum where the end terminates after a wrap or two around the drum.

It works fine, but I've had problems keeping the individual plastic pulleys free. They tend to seize up rather often, even with constant lube. The parts are common to many sailboats, so they are still available. I did finally stumble across some coated stainless steel cable which will most likely outlast me. I found it in a flea market, so I can't say where to find it, it was most likely meant to be clothes line.

I've also got a stick steer boat that is done this same way, but it only uses two rear pulleys at the corners, all other cable guides are just metal eyes or plastic grommets in the hull itself.
With any cable system, the diameter of the steering drum and number of wraps the cable makes around it determines both how fast and how far the motor can turn. The corner pulleys being sprung mounted keep the cable tight at all times, thus preventing it from slipping off the pulleys at any point.

I modified Woodnaut's sketch a bit to show how mine are routed, both are late 50s to early 60s boats. The steering wheel is on different sides on either of my boats, but the layout is the same only in a mirror image.
 

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tmcalavy

Rear Admiral
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Aug 29, 2001
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Re: Old cable/pulley steering

Stand behind the outboard, or where it will be on the transom...measure from outboard to gunwhale, up gunwhale to dash or console, over to steering wheel. repeat for the other side, then add in 5-6 feet...that'll do it and leave enough to whip the chihuahua if you need to. After you get the cable, stretch it out and mark the mid-point, make the wraps around the steering drum at the mid point, tape the wraps so they don't come off, install the drum and wheel at the helm, run the cables from the drum to the pulleys on back to the outboard, through the outboard pulleys, back to/through the spring anchors and then bring the cable back towards the outboard and lock it with clamps to the cable going to the spring anchors. Oh yeah, have someone hold/center the steering wheel while you are adjusting the tension...draw up enough tension on each cable so that the tensioning spring gives/draws out some. Make sure your clamps are tight, recheck them often...retension as necessary. Clear as mud? Looking at one already done makes it a lot easier, if you have access to another's boat.
 
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