Today I installed a new steering cable on my outboard. My boat has a splashwell that did not allow enough horizontal room to pull the old steering rod out of the tube and install the new one. Ugh, gotta remove the engine. You might know but every strong back in the neighborhood was not available leaving my wife and me to do this. My outboard is 40HP, not incredible weight but enough to make one think twice before lifting alone. For anyone stuck with a similar project and not a lot of muscular help, here is how we accomplished the project:<br /><br />As you look at the stern of the boat from outside the boat, the engine has four bolts holding it to the transon, one at the 2 o'clock position, one at 4, one at 7 and one at 11. I completely removed the bolts at the 2 and 7 o'clock positions. I braced the engine by stacking 4x4s and 2x4s under the skeg to absorb the engine weight. Then I loosened the nut on the bolt at 11 o'clock by around 3/16 to 1/4 inch. With my wife holding the engine steady I completely removed the bolt at the 4 o'clock position.<br /><br />With the engine weight now on the 11 o'clock bolt and on the lumber under the skeg we were ready to make the switch. (By the way, I had pre-installed the new steering link so it was there in the splashwell ready to go.) I grabbed the lower unit and rotated the engine counter-clockwise with most of the engine weight on the 11 o'clock bolt. This gave us the horizontal room to pull the old steering rod out of the tube. My wife was able to pull the old steering rod out and insert the new rod in the tube.<br /><br />With one bolt still in place it was fairly easy to line the engine up to the other bolt holes and re-install the 2, 4 and 7 o'clock bolts. By the way, don't forget to re-silicone the bolts as they are re-installed. The entire switch probably took 45 minutes from the first wrench turn to the last. Maybe somebody will find this helpful.
<br />Backlash