hard steering problem

[jg]

A friend of mine has a 70's model starcraft (?) w/75 HP Evinrude. It has been in enclosed storage for many years. He is attempting to get it going but discovered he couldn't turn the motor. I took a look at it for him and the first thing we did was grease all the fittings. It did help to loosen up enough to be able to turn the wheel full in both directions, but it is still very tight. Can someone give me a few suggestions to further loosen up the steering? Does the cable itself require some sort of lube, maybe some WD 40 sprayed into the housing? Any help would be appreciated. He'd like to get the boat out on the water. BTW, it does run very well, didn't even have to change plugs or anything. Fired right up. Thanks.....................jg

 

[DJ]

Re: hard steering problem

jg,<br /><br />Simple to tell.<br /><br />1. Unhook the cable from the engine by removing the bolt on the tilt pin (under the bottom cowl in the front of the engine.) If the engine turns fine, it's the cable.<br /><br />2. You really cannot effectively lube a cable. If it's stiff it is a sign that there is corrosion inside the casing-not good. Always replace a stiff cable. You DO NOT want to have on of these break at speed.

 

[jg]

Re: hard steering problem

Thanks djohns19. I'll make sure this gets done before he, or more likely we, take the boat out to run. I never thought that the cable could break even though the steering is stiff enough to do so. Thanks again.........jg

 

[flashback]

Re: hard steering problem

Djohns is on the right track. replace the cables with new if it turns out that they are bad............good luck

 

[Craigw]

Re: hard steering problem

If your going to fix the steering cable by yourself "be careful" I did it and it broke at WOT I was fine but my wife broke her pelvis in 4 places (bedridden for 3 months) it was a 16 foot bass boat with a 75 johnson on the back. needless to say she is not a big boating fan today.

 

[SCO]

Re: hard steering problem

Fullboat, how did the boat react when the steering failed? Were you in a sharp turn? Did you save yourself by having your r hand on the throttle or did the kill switch save you? Did the cable break or was it the rack and pinion or something else? Thanks for telling of your experience in this.

 

[Craigw]

Re: hard steering problem

The boat turned very hard to starboard and went up on its side and I was thrown clear, the kill switch stoped the engine, my wife bounced around the inside and was knocked out before she hit the water, the cable just broke, Now she dosen't let me own a boat without dual cables.