Steering Issues

[neilholtz]

Good evening everyone. I want to start out by saying thanks for all of the great information that has been posted on these forums, they have given me a lot of guidance.
I have some steering issues with my 1979 Imperial Mod Tri-hull Open Bow. I have an 85HP Evinrude outboard that is also 1979. I read through all of the other posts that contain "steering issues" and they have got me to this point. First of all when I say steering issues I mean that the steering wheel is very very hard to turn, even with both hands. I started by disconnecting the steering cable from the engine. The motor turns left and right easily, but it made no improvement with the steering wheel. This leads me to believe that the cable needs replacing, but I wanted to make sure so I disconnected the cable from the steering column to see how easily the wheel would turn. When I looked under the dash I noticed that the cable cannot be disconnected like I did at the motor. The end of the cable runs into an arm/bar that states "Do not dismantle. Doing so can cause steering failure" It also says that it is Rack & Pinion Steering. There were 4 bolts that held the arm/bar in place, so I removed them and the arm/bar easily came off. The steering wheel now turns very easily, which is no surprise really considering that there is nothing causing resistance.
I purchased the boat (my first) used almost a year ago and only got to use it once last year (The steering was the same last year, but I didn't know any better although I was suspicious that something was wrong) The person that I bought the boat from said that he replaced the cable about 6 months prior to me purchasing it. Now to the point, here are my questions.
#1 Is it common for a steering cable to wear out this quickly using the boat in only fresh water? I have already thought that it's possible that he didn't change the cable at all, but it does look to be in pretty new.
I noticed that there is some slack where the cable runs along the right side of the boat back to the motor. I don't know the exact amount of slack but I would guess it's at least 6 to 8 inches.
#2 Is it typical to have that much slack in the cable, or is that what could be causing the stiff steering.
I am looking for any input you more experienced boaters may have.

Thank you very much
Neil

 

[5150abf]

Re: Steering Issues

No it isn't common for a cable to go bad that fast, I have been running mine for 6 years and it works as it did when new so i would suspect he said he changed it but didn't.

This sounds a little kooky but it works, take a big plastig bag, poke a hole in one corner and put the motor end of the cable through that and tape it really good.

Suspend that from a rafter in your garage, anything high will work, and fill the bag with some oil and let gravity do its thing.

I do this with cables on my motorcycle, same thing just on a bigger scale.

Of coarse you can order a new one too although I would get a no feed back rotary if you are buying new.

As for the slack, if you mean the cable isn't straight that won't really affect it, My cable was intended for a pontoon so it has a big 2 1/2' loop in it and it works fine.

 

[F_R]

Re: Steering Issues

neilholtz, your problem is very common and all outboard mechanics know all about it. Simply stated, the cable is tight where it goes through the hollow tilt tube on the motor. It is caused by lack of preventative maintenance. The cable must be removed and the tube cleaned out and re-lubricated on a regular basis. That would be yearly on a salt water rig.

Now that it has gotten tight, you need to do it NOW--before it gets so tight that you can't even get it apart. Believe me, when it gets that tight, you have a major problem on your hands. You will find that the tube has rusted inside and the rust needs to be cleaned out. Merely getting some lube in there won't get rid of the rust.

OK, OK, I realize that on many boats you can't get the cable out of the tube without removing the motor from the boat. So be it. It still has to be done. All you have to do is unbolt it from the boat and lift it up a bit with a hoist.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Steering Issues

suggest the purchase of one of these, work great. http://www.iboats.com/T_R_Marine_St...28731187--**********.112458975--view_id.40162

 

[neilholtz]

Re: Steering Issues

Thanks for the great advice everyone. I do want to clear one thing up though. The arm/bar that I am talking about is connected under the steering wheel, not at the motor. The end that is connected to the motor slides through the cylinder pretty easily, although I cannot completely remove it until I loosen the engine and slide it to the left (looking from the back to the front) because there isn't enough clearance. I am going to try the plastic bag & gravity trick and while that is doing it's thing I will make sure to do the maintenance at the engine too.

 

[F_R]

Re: Steering Issues

Thanks for the great advice everyone. I do want to clear one thing up though. The arm/bar that I am talking about is connected under the steering wheel, not at the motor. The end that is connected to the motor slides through the cylinder pretty easily, although I cannot completely remove it until I loosen the engine and slide it to the left (looking from the back to the front) because there isn't enough clearance. I am going to try the plastic bag & gravity trick and while that is doing it's thing I will make sure to do the maintenance at the engine too.

Well, if it slides through the motor tube easy, I mis-guessed.

 

[neilholtz]

Re: Steering Issues

Well, if it slides through the motor tube easy, I mis-guessed.

Although that may be the case, the preventative maintenance would not hurt.
I also didn't give you clear information in the original post. I should have stated where I exactly I was talking about. Nevertheless there is still a lot of great information here.

Thanks again
Neil

 

[krogie]

Re: Steering Issues

Plastic bag trick....that is awesome. so many great ideas come from this forum. i have a cable on my rig that is way to long ( original owner installed it and did not measure it correct ) as long as tge bends are long and swepping , even if in a coil under the deck you should not have a bind in it. lube her up and lets go from there.