Removing steering cable

[richas]

Hi,
I’ve made some progress to get the steering cable out but I seem to be stuck.
I have removed the cotter pin, and the pivot pin from the end of the cable and I’ve unscrewed the cable from the starboard side of the actuator. I can only get the cable out about two or 3 inches and it seems to be stuck. I’ve tried turning the outdrive back-and-forth to see if I can get it to move, but it seems to be stuck inside the actuator. I would appreciate if anybody has any thoughts on this.

Rich.

 

[richas]

I forgot to mention the boat, it’s a 2000 something Reinell 180, with Volvo penta cobra SX outdrive

 

[dubs283]

You need to allow the cable end to be fully retracted by turning the wheel hard to port. Sometimes the radius of the cable end makes it difficult to remove the cable easily, it really depends on the boat design and how much room is between the actuator cable mount and the hull/gunwhale

On few occasions I've had to unmount the power steering actuator to remove the cable end. This is a rare instance and most times it just requires brute force to remove the cable end from the actautor/guide tube

 

[richas]

You need to allow the cable end to be fully retracted by turning the wheel hard to port. Sometimes the radius of the cable end makes it difficult to remove the cable easily, it really depends on the boat design and how much room is between the actuator cable mount and the hull/gunwhale

On few occasions I've had to unmount the power steering actuator to remove the cable end. This is a rare instance and most times it just requires brute force to remove the cable end from the actautor/guide tube

Thank you for the advice. I’m gonna try again tomorrow when I have more brute force available.

By the way, the reason I’m doing this is because my steering was locked up solid which, unfortunately I didn’t know until I launched the boat, doh!
It is locked up, locked up, really solid. The cable moves back-and-forth with this steering wheel and I can push the stern drive back-and-forth on its pivot so my guess is the actuator is locked up for some reason. My guess is this won’t be cheap.
Rich

 

[brodmann]

Put some vice grips on the 3" that has slid out and twist and pull. Brute force is the key, but twisting while you pull will help.

 

[richas]

I’m having no luck getting this thing out. It feels like there’s a hard stop inside the actuator. I have removed the nut, obviously on the starboard side of the actuator, on the cable. And I have removed the stainless steel pin at the other end. The end of the cable on the port side is out of the casting that is attached to the pivot arm, but I just can’t get it out of the actuator section.

 

[dubs283]

Cut off wheel, preferably air actuated

Was hoping it didn't come to this but here we are

Bright side is the cable is already fubar, no worries on making it worse by destroying it

 

[richas]

I started pounding the cable out with a hammer and saw lots of powdered corrosion coming out the starboard side. Ended up just cutting the cable with a hacksaw. Leaving the rest of it in the actuator for now because I’m taking the actuator out to work on at home on my bench.


Thank you

 

[dubs283]

Oof, rough

Good luck, hopes nothing salvageable gets brokened