Hard steering

[Driver50x]

Hello

I have a 1995 Alpha Gen 2. Recently the steering has gotten too stiff. I unhooked the steering cable, the cable and rack and pinion move very freely, they are only six years old. I’m pretty sure the problem is the gimbal pivot pins. I don’t see any grease zerks on them. Is there any way to lube them? Am I going to have to disassemble everything to lube or replace them?

 

[Bt Doctur]

hinge pins have nothing to do with steering.
If you unhooked the steering from the steering arm and the cable was now free, the problem is either:
a binding cable
a binding hyd ram
or rusted U joints

 

[Driver50x]

My boat has manual steering. With the steering cable unhooked the out drive is physically hard to move/steer to the left or right by hand. The steering wheel turns very easy with the cable unhooked, so I know the cable is not binding.

 

[alldodge]

Guess you are right, its the upper and lower hinge pin. Most likely the upper. Can move it several times by hand on the drive and hope it loosens up some, or take it apart and clean and grease.

 

[nola mike]

We're talking about the swivel pins presumably? I think of the hinge pins as up/down movement. No zerks on yours?

 

[Driver50x]

Yes. The swivel pins. I don’t see any zerks on them, unless I am going blind, which is possible, lol.

 

[flashback]

I have a 95 as well and no zerks on the swivels. My old mc1 had them.

 

[nola mike]

Whoops, that page is from a gen 1. Actually can't r remember if my '86 has them or not. Could probably drill and install a zerk on the Gen 1, since it originally came with one, not sure if that would be possible on a Gen 2?

 

[Driver50x]

The good news is I sprayed some lube on them last night and it feels about 50% better today. Maybe if I just keep spraying them that will be good enough.

 

[j cat]

The good news is I sprayed some lube on them last night and it feels about 50% better today. Maybe if I just keep spraying them that will be good enough.

the grease fittings are not on the bearings / bushings ..gimbal housing ...probably a mess ..

 

[j cat]

The good news is I sprayed some lube on them last night and it feels about 50% better today. Maybe if I just keep spraying them that will be good enough.

my 2000 silverado NEW had no u joint grease fittings .. so I changed the OEM U joints that have a grease fittings...8 yrs ago owned it now ..
my toyota 2016 truck had grease fittings on the drive shafts/slip joints .. I grease it every fall ..
new vehicles or boats new they did not grease the drive shaft gimbal bushing...creates a green new deal ...
some one did a video that drilled the grease port and setup a grease fitting ..