Steering trouble 84 sled (More questions)

[Dave G]

My steering is binding a litle when I turn it all the way to the left. I isolated the problem to the linkage right at the motor. Is this a hard thing to take apart and clean, or am I going to have a bunch of guts jump out at me and not be able to put it all back together. I just replaced the reverse cable and was amazed on how much stuff was in the throttle box. Any help would help. Thanks.

See you all the siletz real soon.


After proofing it, it did not look right. I have a 84 alumaweld 19ft center consel and the engine is a 90 hp merc. There, a little more info.


More questions

Need more help on the steering. Mechanically, this thing does not make any sense to me. The rod that goes through the engine steering bracket is straight, but the steering cable is curved. So how does a straight rod go down a curved cable housing? Also, the rod at the end is not connected to the main steering rod, does that mean that the steering rod is broken? Or does the grease create a vacuum and pulls the engine when I turn it the other way?
But my main problem is that now the steering is totally seized and does not turn at all now. I was extra careful not to bend anything. I would like to get this fixed, so any advice would help.
When all else fails, what boat place would fix this?
For steering I have the main engine connected to my kicker, so I can just steer the kicker with the tiller.

[Boat Doc']

You need to remove the steering cable from the engine and clean any corrosion from the tube it goes into. You may have to drive it out from the other side, if so be careful about collapsing the hole on the end. When you get it cleaned up grease it real good and reassemble. There is nothing that will come apart as long as you remove the cable only.

[Dave G]

Thanks :cheers:

[Thunnus]

Get a nut w/ a zirc fitting so you can grease it regularly.

[Dave G]

Does anyone have any ideas? I worked on it again tonight and it will still not move.

[Beefcake]

I had a similar issue on one of my boats a while back. The prior owner had installed new steering cables, but it still bound up due to corrosion on the bar-thingy (see, I'm an expert). Anyway, a couple of shots of "Corrosion X" on the end of the bar broke it loose and kept it freed-up for several months with no incident. I believe the root cause is a damaged o-ring on the end of the tube that the bar slides through, but the corrosion X penetrating oil and greasing the fitting every once in a while seemed to be a semi-permanent fix.

[Boat Doc']

Remove the nut that holds the cable in at the motor and turn the wheel, if the cable moves you need to drive the cable out of the tilt tube of the engine, clean the cable and tube, grease the heck out of it and put it back together. If you remove the nut and the cable doesn't move then the cable needs replaced. In some cases if the cable is froze in the tilt tube and won't come out it may be necessary to replace the cable and the tilt tube. When removing the tilt tube the engine MUST be supported. We use air hammers to drive the cable from the tube. Good luck.

[Dave G]

Thanks, It looks like the cable is siezed, sounds like it needs to see the mechanic.

[Chrome Bumper]

Cables are cake. Unhook the motor from the cable and see how much drag the cable alone has and how hard it is to swing the motor by hand. I know the 3 cylinder OMC engine I have is notorius for freezing up where it is supposed to turn. Depending on the cable you use they run 50-100 on ebay.

If you take bolt cutters and cut a one foot section out of the center of the cable assembly you will find a multistrand cable inside a tube.

Might be sumthin you can fix with some penetrating oil and wiggling followed up with proper lubrication.

Yes, those control boxes are something, you sure don't wantta drop some bits while on the water.

[Chrome Bumper]

84' boat, thats 22 years old, might be time for fresh parts.

[Dave G]

Thanks, new parts is starting to be the thought.