Steering Locked Up

[79camaro]

The steering on my 2003 Bayliner 175 is locked up. The rack and pinion seems like it may have stripped to when I forced it too much. I took the cable out and it's totally locked up. I tried grease and hammer but it won't budge. I am guessing I need to replace the whole cable for it? There are so many sizes and options, does anyone know what I should be looking for? Thanks.

 

[Part-time]

Re: Steering Locked Up

When you say you took the cable out, do you mean out from the rack under the helm or out at the motor end?
'03 isn't old so geting replacement parts shouln't be an isue.
If the rack itself is jamed it may just be something that loosened up inside and got stuck in the worm gear or something...
If it was stripped I would think the wheel would turn without pushing or puling the cable.
A pic of your set up could help as well.

 

[79camaro]

Re: Steering Locked Up

I'll get some pictures tomorrow when I open it back up. The end that connects to the motor has an aluminum cylinder on it (not sure of the technical term here?) that looks like it's supposed to move back and forth. It's this piece here


The wheel moves freely. I am going to take it apart to see if I broke the rack and pinion portion of it when I tried hard to move it. It's hard to tell from the iboats description of steering systems what I need. They list NFB racks and just standard rack and pinion. Will either work?

 

[Bondo]

Re: Steering Locked Up

I'll get some pictures tomorrow when I open it back up. The end that connects to the motor has an aluminum cylinder on it (not sure of the technical term here?) that looks like it's supposed to move back and forth. It's this piece here


The wheel moves freely. I am going to take it apart to see if I broke the rack and pinion portion of it when I tried hard to move it. It's hard to tell from the iboats description of steering systems what I need. They list NFB racks and just standard rack and pinion. Will either work?

Ayuh,... The aluminum tube, a tilt tube on an outboard, is part of the transom assembly, not part of the cable...
That's the most likely spot for corrosion to bind things up....

Yes,... Either will work....

The NFB helps tame the prop torque steer,...
If ya got P/Steerin', ya don't need it...
Without P/S, it helps Alot...

 

[79camaro]

Re: Steering Locked Up

hmm so it's not part of the cable, but it's attached to it? So Can I just replace that part or do I need to replace the whole cable? Thanks!

 

[Bondo]

Re: Steering Locked Up

hmm so it's not part of the cable, but it's attached to it? So Can I just replace that part or do I need to replace the whole cable? Thanks!

Ayuh,... It's attached to the cable, because that's HOW the cable is attached to the drive end....

Until ya get it apart, there's no way of knowin' Exactly what ya need....

 

[79camaro]

Re: Steering Locked Up

It's not the tilt tube, it's the end of the cable that slips through it and connects to the outdrive. That part doesn't move and is frozen, not sure what that specific part is called.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Steering Locked Up

That part doesn't move and is frozen, not sure what that specific part is called.

Ayuh,... It's called a Steering Cable....

 

[79camaro]

Re: Steering Locked Up

Ok that's what I thought. So I guess I just need to replace the entire steering cable. Thanks.

 

[UNSUREBOATGUY]

Re: Steering Locked Up

I would suggest doing a search on this forum to find other threads where someone had a similar problem. There are good drawings that show exactly how the system works and great advice for how to fix it. It seems to be a fairly common problem. Good luck.