'72 Johnson 85hp stiff steering

schill50

Cadet
Joined
Apr 14, 2003
Messages
10
Shortly after greasing the motor swivel, the motor became very stiff. When I first put the grease gun on it was very hard to pump. Maybe two pumps before I moved it around then if flowed freely. I disconnected the cable to the motor to check if that was the problem. Steering wheel turned freely, motor still very hard to turn manually. It has not been in the water yet this year. The motor was turning freely before the greasing. I also had just started it on muffs and let it run no more than thirty seconds if that. Prior to doing those two things it was fine. Any thoughts? Thank you
 

boobie

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
Messages
20,826
Re: '72 Johnson 85hp stiff steering

The last time I had a prob like that I went and got some PB Blaster and soaked the swivel brg from the top down and then kept working the mtr. Then more PB. And then let it sit. Did the same thing the next day and it finally freed up. Maybe this will help.
 

schill50

Cadet
Joined
Apr 14, 2003
Messages
10
Re: '72 Johnson 85hp stiff steering

The last time I had a prob like that I went and got some PB Blaster and soaked the swivel brg from the top down and then kept working the mtr. Then more PB. And then let it sit. Did the same thing the next day and it finally freed up. Maybe this will help.

Had to Google PB Blaster. I do not think it is a corrosion problem as the motor swiveled fine before I greased it. I was wondering if the addition of grease could have caused it to tighten up the way it did.
 
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