96 Sailfish CC Steering Issues

[96Sailfish]

Hello I am new to the forums and boats!

I recently bought a 96 Sailfish CC w/ a 115 Yahama. I am totally new to boats and have noticed the steering is quite stiff. The previous owner said he put new grease in the the nipples in the back and said a bunch of black grease had come out when he put the new stuff in. I have tried to put wd40 on the steering wheel column because I noticed it has rust on the rod that connects to the steering wheel and under the console to the metal box that is also there. This helped loosen the steering wheel somewhat but it still requires some muscle to turn. The wheel seems to be easier to turn as the engine has almost turned all the way but gets tight in the middle of the tilt tube.
I have ran a search to find other threads that have the same problem. Each one says to disconnect the motor from the steering cable and see if the motor turns freely. But how do I do this, what do I disconnect? Also then if the motor moves freely they usually ask to remove the tilt tube and clean that out, I found a video that shows how to do this. Then I am supposed to take the cables out of the tubes and oil/clean those? This part confuses me, where are the tubes that house the cables and how do I remove those?

Thanks

 

[96Sailfish]

Re: 96 Sailfish CC Steering Issues

can anyone help me?

 

[96Sailfish]

Re: 96 Sailfish CC Steering Issues

Today, I worked on the boat. I removed the arm from the steering rod and the motor moved freely. I was able to remove the nut that holds the steering cable to the motor and remove the steering cable completely from the tube. The tubes had old grease in them and I removed it and put PB blaster in the tubes and tried to work it in as much as possible and get as much of the old grease out of the tubes as possible. Cleaned all the tubes. The steering wheel was moving much better, it was moving to the point where I wouldnt complain about it too much. Still not super smooth but much better. Now I reassembled the rods and put everything back together. Connected the motor back to the steering rod and it became stiff again at the wheel!! I disconnected the motor from the steering cable again and the wheel was back to turning smoother.
What is wrong? Why is it when I connect the motor to the cable the wheel becomes stiff?
In general when the motor is connected to the cable and I try to turn the wheel the steering is mainly stiff if I make a complete turn and try to turn back the other way it takes some muscle to turn the motor back the other way and then the steering gets easier again.