Mercruiser 898 steering locked

[bigp1612]

Just got my 1977 Tiara 2000 with Mercruiser 898 alpha 1 from the shop and tested it out on a local lake. Everything seemed to work fine, but I had no steering whatsoever. It was locked, couldn't turn the wheel or the outdrive by hand. Steering was fine before I took into the shop which makes me think they just forgot to connect everything, whatever that may be I don't know. I wish I knew more about steering, but I had no chance of fixing it myself lol. Anything stand out that might be obvious and is something like this common?

 

[boat127]

Re: Mercruiser 898 steering locked

take a look in the engine bay at the transom see if te cable is disconnected from drive steering link

 

[starsnstripers]

Re: Mercruiser 898 steering locked

If it were disconnected the sterring wheel should still turn unless the cable froze up, which sounds like what happened. Take the pin out of the gimble steering arm at the inside of the transom and see if the steering wheel turns and you can eliminate either the gimble or steering cable / helm problem.

 

[boat127]

Re: Mercruiser 898 steering locked

something that old i'm sure the cable is orignal and needs replacement