Stiff steering (cable)

Wood Zeppelin · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2022 4:15 pm Post subject: Stiff steering (cable)

My 1996 16' Cruiser has stiff steering.

For about two years in a row, after a summer/fall season of use, the following spring I found the steering frozen up. I had to beat on it a bit to break it free, spray lube in there, work it back and forth, then add grease.

After that, I added this product that is a new end nut/seal with a grease zerk. After putting that on, this last spring it was not frozen. But it's still pretty stiff to turn the wheel...

Can it be loosened up in some way, or is replacement eminent?

srbaum · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2022 5:54 pm Post subject:

James,
99.9% of the time, the problem is that the steering cable has a rod at the end of it, that moves back and forth, inside of the tilt tube on the outboard. The tilt tube is steel and the steering cable rod is stainless steel. The lubrication between those two components bind, once the minor amount of grease gets old and the tilt tube begins to rust.
I have worked on hundreds of these and each is a PITA, because there is usually not a lot of room in the splash well to easily remove the steering cable rod, then clean the tilt tube with solvent then sandpaper. Lastly lubricate the components and put even thing back together.
PS, I have a special tool, just to clean tilt tubes...

clayhubler · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2022 7:36 pm Post subject:

Also check if the motor pivots freely with the cable disconnected. Port motor on my boat is hard to turn even when no steering cables or linkages are hooked up. I need to take it apart and clean and lube it, but haven't done so yet. I suspect that will fix it.