STIFF STEERING

[edaw]

THE STERRING ON MY BOAT HAS BECOME REAL STIFF AND IVE TRIED EVERYTHING BUT I CANT FIX IT ANY IDEAS

[7dan7]

hi edaw

what i would do is disconnect the cable from the motor to isolate the fault to the steering gear or the pivot point on the motor. assuming it is this type of set up. you need to describe your set up or show some pics. also tell us what you have tried.sorry to be narky but for people to help then a good description will help people to create a picture in their heads of what it is you are talking about.

cheers dan

[ozscott]

Unscrew the grease nipples at all points of the outboard steering area. Then get a oil can and pump in 2 stroke oil, then push outboard lock to lock and repeat with oil in all holes, concentrating on both end of the steering tube in which the rod runs. I had very stiff steering and this helped to the point where it was turning with one finger - 20 year old steering. Having said that I DO NOT use the bloody boat more than once a month at moment and forget to spin motor from side to side every week - as such it is starting to stiffen again. The new Teleflex stuff uses oil only not grease - grease always binds in the end. I suppose that if you dont want to pull nipples and oil every so often the only long term solution to great steering is hydraulic - there is a new Hydrive one that uses hydraulic half way down the boat and then a piston there - that then activates a traditional style cable to the outboard - the benefit is the power that goes with hydraulic. Unfortunately unless you have the horns set up you will still have less turns one side than the other. If you can handle that, then the benefit over the full horns is a considerable costs saving.

Cheers

[dnej]

edaw,
try doing a search under boating,there was a great long list of ideas,some time back,on this very subject.
David