1996 Mercury 115 steering cable stuck

[retroroy]

I picked up a clean looking aluminum Starcraft yesterday. I wasn't looking but it was cheap. Get it out of my driveway cheap.
Its a pretty clean boat with no salt issues, but its also got WV paperwork, which will mean a trip to the main DMV office and a month wait for the title but for now, I put it in the water for a quick test after borrowing a battery from my other boat. The steering was super stiff, and it wouldn't turn to port more than a few inches. I made a short run up and down in front of the ramp, (Not a soul in site at 2pm), and back to the trailer. While turning toward the trailer the steering cable snapped off flush at the motor while turning right but it drifted with the current to the dock and I hopped in and led it by hand to the trailer. Back home I tried to remove the old cable and nothing doing. The end that's stuck will not budge either way.
At this point I've pulled the motor and have it sitting on a heavy duty work stand. I've tried heating the tube, even pounding on it with a sledge hammer but it won't budge.
How hard is it to swap out the whole tube?
I have an older 90hp that appears to have the same tube but looking at it it don't look like its all that easy to get out of the aluminum bracket?

 

[Chris1956]

It may be too late now, as usually after hammering the ends flare out making removal real hard.

A good way to loosen it is with a pipe wrench and penetrating oil. Rock the stuck cable end front to back with the pipe wrench, while spraying it with the penetrating oil. If she moves at all, she should eventually loosen up. Clean and relube the tilt tube as you rock it.

The tilt tube should be loose in the transom brackets and triple clamp. You need to hang the motor and remove the big nuts, to remove the tilt tube.

 

[Texasmark]

It may be too late now, as usually after hammering the ends flare out making removal real hard.

A good way to loosen it is with a pipe wrench and penetrating oil. Rock the stuck cable end front to back with the pipe wrench, while spraying it with the penetrating oil. If she moves at all, she should eventually loosen up. Clean and relube the tilt tube as you rock it.

The tilt tube should be loose in the transom brackets and triple clamp. You need to hang the motor and remove the big nuts, to remove the tilt tube.

The Top of the crankshaft, above the flywheel nut, is threaded. An eye loop installed there will give you the best way to lift the engine. I have used a roll around engine hoist...like you would use to pull an engine out of a car which has worked well for this task.

 

[Faztbullet]

Hang it from the flywheel and replace it..takes about a hour.

Amazon.com

 

[retroroy]

I have a flywheel lifting tool/puller, I had it hanging from the top to mount it up on the stand its on now.
The cable end was broke off flush on the starboard side, and not much more than the bolt hole was showing on the other side. That end started to mushroom so I cut it off, and drilled into the end of the bar about an inch so I can hammer on a 1/2" drift and not the actual cable end but its not budged.
I tried turning it with a large adjustable wrench before I started beating on it but it just started to twist the end off. (The end of the steer cable had a head section on it with a neck behind the head where the bolt hole was. It had a relief area cut about 3/16" deep, that's were it was twisting. When i cut it I was hoping to find the rest of the cable end hollow but its solid beyond the reach of normal drill bit.

I tried heat, several type of penetrating oil, and a 10 lb hammer but its not budged. I have the motor hanging again and a good used tube in hand but the old tube won't budge. In fact, when the motor tilts, the ends of the tube are rotating in the casting rather than then the center being the hinged area. In other words, its seized in the steering bracket not the transom bracket ends.
The new/used tilt tube/pin is gunmetal black and came from a 90hp. The pin that's stuck in the good motor looks to be stainless or some sort of high chromium or nickle content steel. its magnetic but barely. The replacement tube is definitely magnetic.
What's odd is that its not rusty looking or corroded anywhere.
I was hoping this motor wasn't going to turn into a project but I can see that's where this is heading.
If I can come up with a way to make a guide fixture, I'll drill the pin and tube out if I have to, it may be less work than tearing this thing apart enough to use the mill or to replace the bracket.

 

[Chris1956]

If you remove the transom clamps, can you put a pipe wrench on the ends of the tilt tube? If you find a way to secure the engine (lay it on the ground?) you can hammer on the pipe wrench.

Have you tried heating the triple clamp, spraying it with penetrating oil, and letting it cool? That can cause the penetrating oil to be sucked into the joint, and it may loosen up. The heat also helps break the corrosion bond.

Most triple clamps also have a grease fitting. You could remove it and spray penetrating oil into it as well.