Re: Exactly how do I thread the tiller cable?
Hard to tell you word for word without seeing/know what type of drum you have. On mine I had to pull the steering wheel and remove two friction/press pins through the steering shaft. Then the drum came right out. I took mine out and stretched 50 feet of cable straight out on the driveway. Found and marked the center point. Put each end of the cable through the drum/hub holes and pulled it through until the center of the cable was centered on the back/inside of the hub longitudinally (lengthwise). Then I wrapped each cable around the drum, one left, one right, until they filled the grooves on the drum with each cable going off in its own direction. I think it took three or four wraps. Then I taped the cable in place with duct tape, put the drum/shaft back in the dash, put in two new friction pins and re-installed the steering wheel. Then I ran each cable down it's own side of the boat gunwhales (right and left) through the pulleys and out the transom/splashwell access holes/ports. Then I centered my outboards (twins) straight ahead and had my daughter hold the steering wheel at dead center. Pulled each cable tight, went through the pulleys on the outboard steering adapter and then took each cable back through the eye of the tension spring. Pulled each cable tight enough to compress each spring, clamped the end of each cable back to itself (before the spring) and used two cable clamps to secure each cable tightly. Then I took the duct tape off the hub. If you can't get the hub off the dash, don't know how you are ever going to center the cable lying on your back under there...not much encouragement, I know, but I would advise taking the hub off so you can get it right...don't want to jerry-rig something and entrust yours and others lives to that kind of arrangement. The center of your cable must be centered lengthwise on the inside of the hub, each end of the cable goes through a hole at each end of the hub, each cable wraps around the hub in the direction opposite the other and they meet in the middle of the hub, each going off to the right or left side of the boat. Boggles my mind to think of doing this upside down and under a dash...be safe.
