I'm familiar with the steering arm issue. It is what it is. Super stupid on the part of motor manf's (Honda and Mercury that I have experience with personally). They used some type of steel (or cast iron?) to make the tube the motor steers on, and this rusts to nothing from the inside out, in an area of the motor that's very difficult to see or service. Further, the steering arm is part of this assembly. It rots away to nothing, posing a potential steering issue. So take your pick. The tube fails and the motor drops off the back of the boat, or you loose control of your steering. Motors are generally salties (run in salt water) and they don't need to be that old. Some early 2000's motors can already be questionable.....
This part should have been made from stainless or treated with a process that would offer MUCH better salt water protection...
Pain in the butt to change for sure, but 1500 seems pretty excessive. It sounds to me like he's telling you to take it somewhere else....
