Teleflex keyway off 180 degrees

[ptbrakefield]

Bought a 1994 Sea Nymph deck boat a few weeks ago on the advice of my mechanic. It runs and operates well except for the steering wheel being off 180 degrees. I pulled the wheel yesterday and the key way is at 12 o'clock, putting the wheel upside down with the motor straight. It is the original steering wheel and system as far as I can tell. The cover over the center nut in the wheel says "OMC" on it. Anyone seen any keyed wheels with the keyway in the wheel at the noon position?

Is there any way to fix this?

 

[poconojoe]

Interesting. I remember replacing my Teleflex and the keyway was also at 12 o'clock. My wheel is in the correct orientation. Never even thought about it. I guess you're saying there's only one slot for a keyway in your steering wheel. I thought mine had more than one slot, but I could be wrong. I'm going on memory.
I wonder if your engine or stern drive was not dead center when the cable was attached to the steering mechanism (helm).
I'm just guessing here, but what if you turn the wheel to where it is correct, then disconnect the cable under the helm. Then go out back and swing your engine or stern drive to the center and reconnect the cable under the helm. would that even work?
Hopefully some of the experts will chime in.

 

[ptbrakefield]

I would LOVE to get a new wheel! Yes, my wheel has only one keyway, and it's at 6. My motor is dead straight when the keyway in the steering shaft is at 12. You've added more mystery, lol...

 

[roscoe]

Do you have a rotary or rack helm?

Follow the procedure for installing a new steering cable.

If the wheel of off by 180*, you remove the steering cable, turn the wheel 180*, then start feeding the cable back in, and it all ends up where it should be.


With my last steering cable install, the top of the steering wheel was pointed to the 7:30 position before feeding the cable into the helm.



The OMC cover means nothing, some say the name of the engine, some the name of the boat.

 

[Chris1956]

If rack and pinon steering,set the motor to straight ahead. Now unbolt the rack (usually 4 bolts) and turn the wheel until it shows correct side up. rebolt the rack.

 

[ptbrakefield]

Mine is the one that has the steering cable at the bottom and another part at the top that looks almost the same... not sure if it's the rotary or the rack. Have never messed with steering at all... just glad it doesn't have pulleys!!

I've been at the lake all weekend and now experiencing the winds and rain from Cristobal, so it will be a couple of days before I can get under the helm and give it a look.

Thanks for the replies so far... I'll report back.

 

[poconojoe]

I believe mine is power rack and pinion. The end of the cable at the helm has a rectangular box which houses the gear that meshes with the helm gear. This cable gear box mounts on the top of the helm with 4 screws.
If yours is like this, I think you can do this: Make sure your drive or engine is centered, remove the 4 screws holding the rectangular box, lift this box up off of the helm, turn steering wheel to the straight position then reinstall the rectangular gear box.

 

[ptbrakefield]

I looked up Teleflex systems and mine is definitely the rotary...