Push Pull Steering, gets tight if not used

[Corry]

Gidday all, I've got push pull steering on our 75 Merc, if it's not used, for say a month, or I don't go lock to lock with it once a week or so, it get very tight when it's full turn to port, this is when the rod is all the way in.

Is there a way of freeing it up, stripping it and re-greasing, or am I better off getting a new one? I've cleaned it as much as I can without stripping it apart, to not much avail.

Any suggestions....

Cheers
Corry

[Noelm]

Remove the rod from the tilt tube, clean all the old hard grease and rust, and by clean, I mean clean, then grease with proper marine grease or auto trans fluid only, nothing else, if you find it's actually the cable, toss it away and buy a new one, shagging around trying to clean and regrease is a waste of time.

[scottar]

It is almost a "normal" thing every so often with cable steering unfortunately. Years ago there used to be a cable oiling system available that was basically a reservoir that the end of the cable dipped into when you steered one way. Haven't seen them for a lot of years and never tried one personally but it seemed like a good idea. Oil or other thin lubricant is better than grease which will eventually go hard itself as well as stick to any contaminants. One thing I did do was find a suitable sized "O" ring to fit around the steering cable rod where it exited the motor steering tube in an attempt to keep the lube in and the water out - certainly extended the periods between required maintenance. Eventually I got sick of replacing cables though and fitted a Hydrive hydraulic steering system and never looked back. The only regret was not doing it sooner.

[littlejim]

My ancient one used to do the same. If I hadn't used it for a while I had to use a jack on the end of the rod on the motor to get it moving again.
At the last service the mans told me the cable was stuffed inside. (The rod on the motor was quite free moving with the cable disconnected.)
He put in a new one and it now feels like power steering compared to before.

[Spaniard_King]

AS Noelm has stated, remove the cable.

Best cleaning method is to go buy a 16mm long masonary drill from the bun ing store and ream out the tube. Unlike others we use lithium based spray grease to fill the nut side of the steering cable. We find this has the least tendency to dry out (lasts al least 5 years) and we re apply the spray grease at each service for continued lightweight steering.

[Noelm]

Yep agree, the proper grease lasts for years, it's only when you start using clay based bearing grease, or "waterproof" grease you start to have dramas, almost all manufacturers marine grease seem to be OK, but they are pretty expensive compared to a big tub of grease from an auto store, but then, a year down the track, you're not tooling around trying to fix you're seized steering.......

[Noelm]

OK, just an after thought, for those that intend keeping their motor for ever, and retain cable steering, you can buy after market stainless tilt tubes, bugger of a job to replace, but a million times better than the steel rubbish in there now!

[Spaniard_King]

Stainless is available but You need to be careful what size engine you are putting one into as they are not as strong as OEM ones.

More chance of bending a stainless one

[BM]

I agree with Garry and Noel. Reaming out the "tilt tube" is very important. Cables are very easily dismantled and cleaned and lubed which will often provide good results. However, the inner helical cable eventually wears against the outer housing of the cable producing a degree of "slop" which translates to a degree of slack steering. New cables are not expensive.