Omc steering is backwards

[Parker river rat]

I recently changed my upper and lower unit on account of overheating,i had bought one off a guy pretty cheap with the engine too. Turns out now my steering cable also broke. Its on my 1979 kayot,but the engine and outdrive/lower unit is a 1985 or 1986. anyways, i replaced the steering cable with the one off the boat i bought pretty cheap with the engine and lower unit. so you would think that the worm gear turns in the right direction that it needs to to turn correctly with the same cable, Not, so i cant figure it out. Is there something i did wrong, i dont think its all that difficult.

 

[Don S]

Re: Omc steering is backwards

You have the cable going into the wrong hole in the helm unit.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: Omc steering is backwards

there were RH and LH worm gear assemblies used in the 400 and 800 series uppers. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to why, or which models got which, but alas...
to correct it, simply swap the steering segment and worm gear out of your old upper gear case to the new one.

That said, a 1985/86 drive will not work properly in place of a 1979 drive. They look the same (almost), but 1979 lower unit was hydromechanical shift, and 1985 was full mechanical shift, which required an electrical system known as an ESA, or electronic shift assist module to aid in getting the lower unit clutch dogs to disengage when shifting to neutral.
you may find it shifts backwards too depending on what cable is on it.

all seems like the wrong way to correct an overheating issue to say the least.