centering the steering wheel

[sfy]

i have a 2003 party barge that we put a 115 merc on. when the previous motor,also a merc, was on the boat,the wheel was straight. when we had the 115 installed by a local dealer the wheel was straight,but they did not drop the motor all the way down on the transom. it was 2 holes above the bottom. after talking to some people at Tracker they told us that Tracker recommends all motors on their boats be all the way down.

after having the motor lowered, the steering wheel is way off center. not sure why or how it happened. the people who lowered it did not remove the cable from the outboard when it got lowered.

how would i go about re-centering the steering wheel?
and is it as simple as that, or is it possible i need to replace the cable?

 

[5150abf]

Re: centering the steering wheel

If you have a Teleflex rotary you can unlock the cable from under the dash and run it out(turn to the left) then turn your wheel however much you need to make it straight then put the cable back in, may take a time or two to get right.

 

[83Evinrude]

Re: centering the steering wheel

You can also pull the wheel and recenter.

Mine has a plastic cover over the wheel (three screws from the back of the wheel). Then there is a big nut holding it on the steering shaft. Put your knees on the back side of the wheel, pull up and give the end of the shaft a good whack at the same time (re-install the nut flush with the end of the shaft to protect it).

The wheel and shaft are key'd so there is about three positions to choose from. On mine, one of these was straight with the outdrive.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: centering the steering wheel

Some of the steering link rods have an adjustment for small changes. Altrnatively, if you have rack and pinon steering, you can set the motor straight, disconnect the rack from the pinon, turn the wheel straight, and then reconnect.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: centering the steering wheel

steering wheels have Key Way, some cannot be recentered, you have to adjust the cable, into the helm, or the tilt tube thru the motor.