2012 90hp Mercury Steering cable

[hightide185]

I have 2012 90hp Mercury four stroke. This weekend the steering cable broke. However when I look under the helm there are two cables coming out of the box. A larger black cable that runs to the push rod on the outside of the motor. That cable is fine.

There is a smaller diameter gray sheath cable that runs from the steering box to the inside of motor cover and that is the one that broke.

I'm struggling to find out how to replace that cable and what is it called?
Any help is appreciated

 

[alldodge]

Your talking about something that we cannot see, providing pics along with any part numbers or names you see may help

 

[hightide185]

Here are a few pics. I think I figured it out but i could use some advice. Do I just loosen the bolts where the cable enters the steering box?

 

[alldodge]

When replacing mine, I removed the helm, removed the nut holding the jacket and rotated helm until the inner cable came completely out. Took new cable feed into helm in reverse order

The gray sheath is a protection cover to keep grease from getting over other things under the helm

 

[kd4pbs]

There is only one steering cable. What you see as a gray cable sheath running inside of the engine cowling is not the part shown in your photos... somewhere along the way you mixed that up. That's probably your shifter or throttle cable, as is evidenced by the "cable" in the second photo being white, not gray.
The mass amount of metal spiral looking thing spewing out of the white tube is what goes into the black cable and connects to your engine.
Usually there's just a short black stub that the "slack" end of the steering cable feeds in to when turning the wheel full to port, and inside that black stub is this white tube. Something back at the engine either broke or came loose and allowed someone to force the black sheath off the stub and unwind lots of the inner cable that is pulled and pushed within the cable sheath.
This should make things a bit clearer.

 

[alldodge]

@kd4pbs look a little closer, and note hightide said

This weekend the steering cable broke.

 

[hightide185]

Thanks all, that helps. To remove the cable do I simply loosen the bolts where the cable enters and exits the steering box?

 

[alldodge]

If your talking about the helm steering box then no.
You remove the nut holding the cable jacket and remove the cable. If your talking about disconnecting the cable at the motor end then yes

 

[hightide185]

I’m talking about the steering box. With that in mind, I would remove the two bolts hold the top jacket and not worry about the bottom jacket? do I understand that correctly. I do appreciate the help.

 

[kd4pbs]

@kd4pbs look a little closer, and note hightide said

Yep. Got that. And I see the helm end of the cable spewed out of the tail end of the non-engine end slack take up tube of the helm so far that it removed the outer sheath and the end cap, the part high tide refers to as the bottom end. Since we don’t have any pics of the engine end where it attaches to the engine, we don’t know exactly what happened at the engine end. Did it break there or come unfastened from the end?

 

[hightide185]

i didn’t take the engine side part yet but Everything i
Pat the engine side looks ok; however, I didn’t take it apart. I was assuming (I know don’t assume) I’d loosen the nut on that side engine when I was ready to pull the old cable out. Do I need a new tail piece as well?

 

[kd4pbs]

Just find where it went when the cable inner piece popped it off when the wheel was turned way past the normal full stop to port and see if you can just clamp it back into where it normally lives. Otherwise, that is not likely something that can be found available by itself. Perhaps contact Teleflex and see what they say.

 

[hightide185]

Got it. Thank you for all your help. This was very very informative and a helpful teaching. I do appreciate it.