Bought Boat and Steering is locked up

[Tinjum]

Steering Wheel is stiff and wont move besides slightly, I undid steering bar on motor and the motor moves freely, Think i need to take apart the steering gearbox or think i need to replace the cable?

 

[Scott Danforth]

get a replacement helm and cable.

 

[Chris1956]

Outboard steering cables often stick at the engine. Undo the large nut holding the cable to the tilt tube and then turn the wheel. If the wheel and cable insides move freely, you need to attend to the steering rod inside the tilt tube.

 

[Mc Tool]

get a replacement helm and cable.

See this is part of the reason dealers are loosing to the internet.
FFS Scott ,telling somebody asking for help to just replace the whole system before finding out what is actually wrong is just bollocks , shame on you .
Tinjum, I have just made myself a pusher ( not really a puller ) to push my steering cable end out of the tilt tube from whence it is stuck ( again , must check the o ring seal ). I would be happy to post pix if you want .
My set up is a pita ,I cant remove the cable from the tilt tube with the motor on the transom so I unbolt it and hang it off my engine crane ( dont need to disconnect wiring ).
Last time (3 years ago when I bought the boat ) I beat the cable out with a soft dead blow hammer ,this time I have the pusher and hopefully a bit more finesse.
Obviously there is water getting in some how which I will have to fix.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Steering cables and helms last about 15 years, then the cable wears through the inner liner of the sheath.

Any repair is just a bandaid

 

[redneck joe]

Yeah need boat details, year, tyle, pic under the helm, all of that.

 

[Mc Tool]

Psychic too Scott ?
No mention of age in op , nor any indication of actual usage.
If the cable has worn thru ( as you guess ) why does the helm need replaced ?
If the cable inner has worn thru ( how would you know ) simply loosen the cable outer at both ends and rotate about its axis ½ a turn and re-tighten ends and get another 15 years .
One thing I see a lot on US websites is a lot of peeps dont do any actual diagnosis just take a wild guess and throw parts at it until it works again ( or not ) without ever finding out what was actually wrong .

 

[redneck joe]

Steering cables and helms last about 15 years, then the cable wears through the inner liner of the sheath.

Any repair is just a bandaid

In dad's 1979 SRV searay with 140 johnson had a rack an pinion steering. A tooth broke out. I got to steer a v4 for about 10 miles...

 

[Scott Danforth]

Last two helms I swapped, not even a 3" bore hydraulic cylinder at 3000 psi could budge the core in the sheath. That is 21,000# of force. Rust is strong

 

[Mc Tool]

Last two helms I swapped, not even a 3" bore hydraulic cylinder at 3000 psi could budge the core in the sheath. That is 21,000# of force. Rust is strong

Yeah well your not wrong about that , I just went out and give it another whack with a copper hammer and it feels welded in there.
I forgot to get a pic of my pusher .....maybe tomorrow .

 

[Tinjum]

See this is part of the reason dealers are loosing to the internet.
FFS Scott ,telling somebody asking for help to just replace the whole system before finding out what is actually wrong is just bollocks , shame on you .
Tinjum, I have just made myself a pusher ( not really a puller ) to push my steering cable end out of the tilt tube from whence it is stuck ( again , must check the o ring seal ). I would be happy to post pix if you want .
My set up is a pita ,I cant remove the cable from the tilt tube with the motor on the transom so I unbolt it and hang it off my engine crane ( dont need to disconnect wiring ).
Last time (3 years ago when I bought the boat ) I beat the cable out with a soft dead blow hammer ,this time I have the pusher and hopefully a bit more finesse.
Obviously there is water getting in some how which I will have to fix.

Would absolutely love some pics, also dont have room to take cable out of tilt tube without taking motor off. Although, have unscrewed it, a little stiff but does move freely when not on tight.

 

[jimmbo]

Huge Quantities of Penetrating Oil, and some Heat may be needed to remove it. A Passage Brush should also be run through the Tilt Tube to clean it out. Sometimes the Tilt Tube will also need to be replaced

 

[Mc Tool]

Huge Quantities of Penetrating Oil, and some Heat may be needed to remove it. A Passage Brush should also be run through the Tilt Tube to clean it out. Sometimes the Tilt Tube will also need to be replaced

Yeah I think I will get a new tilt tube this time round
I ruined 2 x 20 bore shotgun bore brushes cleaning it out last time and used it twice ,sat for a winter in a shed and now seized again
Huh , the tilt tube nuts /thread is ⅞" unc , I thought it would be metric coz everything else is.