Rotary steering question

[fichrman2]

Once again the neighbors "pals" have managed to break the boat I forever get to piece back together for him. It seems as though the steering cable became bound while he was out of town for several weeks and in their attempts to free said bound cable (duh can you say grease it first) they cranked the wheel as hard as possible.

Today after freeing the cable properly today I noticed it popping from the rotary device under the wheel. Can these units be repaired or is just a matter of replacing it ??

Thanks in advance,
Andy

 

[Kymasabe]

Re: Rotary steering question

Most rotary helms can't be repaired. The good news is that replacing the cable and helm is not difficult or terribly expensive. My suggestion is to pull the cable and remove the helm (which will probably be some Teleflex model) and replace the entire thing with a new UFlex helm and cable. I bought my complete helm and cable kit for $125 locally.
Once the cable is out, you should clean the tilt tube on the outboard. You can buy cheesy tube cleaning brushes...or, if you're a gun enthusiast, you probably have a cleaning rod already, all you need is a 16-gauge shotgun cleaning brush and your ready to scrub your tube. They also make a nut with an o-ring and a grease fitting that goes on the end of the tilt tube to keep your new steering cable clean and lubed. It's around $25 but well worth the investment.

 

[fichrman2]

Re: Rotary steering question

Thats what I figured, can the rotary helm be purchases seporatly from the cable ?? The reason I ask is due to the way the cable is routed, its gonna take a motor raising to re-fit it properly or some modification to the cable exit to make it work. I have NO CLUE how they would have routed this cable shy of during the motor install, the bend is wicked going into the rear box
Andy

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Rotary steering question

the cable was installed before the motor was mounted. i would find the cause of the cable binding, before i boy anything. was it the helm, cable or tilt tube, motor that binded. 99% cable, since it has that sharp bend. it may be cheaper to buy the complete system, as they managed to screw up the helm.

removing the motor is very common in these applications.

i had to put a Jack Plate on one of my boats, to accommodate a long shaft motor. there was no way to get the cable thru the normal opening, i had to Drill a new hole, just above the rub rail to route the cable thru the stern. work out very well.