Steering Problem

Post by **RedMann** » March 8th, 2004, 11:23 am

Okay, I know I'm going to catch some well-deserved grief for this but I let my boat sit too long without proper lubrication on the steering bar. So, now it's stuck. I tried pushing the motor and tapping the bar with a hammer, etc. but it won't budge at all. The only other thing I can think of is to heat the bar with a soldering torch and see if that will loosen it up. Any suggestions before I: a) set the boat on fire; b) tear up the steering; c) give up and take it to a professional; or, d) all of the above?

Post by **Tom Keels** » March 8th, 2004, 11:26 am

Didn't this happen about the same time last year? Didn't I help you get it unstuck last time?

What time are you going to be home? I'll come over and help you.

Post by **tin can** » March 8th, 2004, 11:30 am

I had the same problem. I finally got mine loose by lubricating the exposed portion of the steering cable then knocking it back into the steering tube while having someone keep tension on the steering wheel. I would suggest, when you get it out, run a 12 ga. shotgun bore brush through the steering tube with some liquid wrench.

I finally had to replace the steering tube on my motor with a stainless steel tube to eliminate the problem.

Post by **RedMann** » March 8th, 2004, 11:53 am

Yes, Big T, same thing as last year only this time it's worse. Appreciate the help offer. Maybe later in the week or this weekend I can entice you to come by with the offer of multiple free beers! TC, the problem is that I can't get enough room to whack the bar hard enough to move it.

Post by **tin can** » March 8th, 2004, 12:02 pm

I had to loosten the motor to fix mine.

Post by **fishsticks** » March 8th, 2004, 3:07 pm

This may sound a bit redundant, but same thing happened to me last year. Problem was I had landed at the Fort, fired up the motors and pushed off by hand. So, as I was drifiting for about 10 minutes piddlin around, was on a weekday, nobody was around when I discovered the same problem.

I had motors, no steering. We ended up drifting to the bank with the help of paddles. Never thought I would need them like that.

RM your problem may be worse than mine was, but I was either gonna get towed back to the ramp with being a 100 yards away with perfectly working motors

or repair the problem. At least you thought to check before going out.

Mine would not move at all, maybe an 1/8 of an inch. I used white lithium grease on the exposed portion and from an 1/8th or even 1/16th of an inch at a time that we could get exposed. My buddy and I would turn the motors by hand back and forth exposing and lubricating what more we could get at a time. Took an hour at least, finally came loose all the sudden and had a good day on the water(no fish though). I swear by that stuff...good luck

Post by **RedMann** » March 8th, 2004, 3:18 pm

Last year I did what you did FS except it was at the Econfina. Fortunately, Tom was there to help me out. This year I did at least remember to check before putting it in the water. Who knows, maybe next year I'll actually remember to keep the dern thing greased so I don't keep having the problem!

That's probably setting my sights a little high.

Post by **CSMarine** » March 8th, 2004, 3:28 pm

Just changed a cable that was froze up. Kept working it back and forth untill I finally broke the steering box trying to work it out. Had to replace that as well as the cable.Once they freeze up like that, they'll never be right.
Sometimes you can take the wiper nut off the end and spray breakfree down the tube to the cable. Then take a screwdriver or bar small enough to go through the hole sideways where your steering linkage goes. You should be able to hit the screwdriver on the side as close to the cable end as you can. It's actually easier to force it out than drive it into the cable housing.

Post by **RedMann** » March 8th, 2004, 3:39 pm

Thanks CS, I'll give that a try.

Post by RC » March 8th, 2004, 6:16 pm

Break free or some other type of penetrating lubricant is the answer. I had a johnson that would freeze up if it sat up. Also don't use axle grease in those fittings only lithium, I did that once too. I think the grease sets up in the steering arm and you have to break it loose. Don't get in a hurry. spray it and work it back and forth as much as you can. Tap it gently with a hammer. let it sit and repeat.
I pushed mine off the trailer a cranked the motor before finding out it was frozen once. Check before i put it in the water now.

Post by **wevans** » March 8th, 2004, 6:30 pm

I bought one one time that the feller had beat the crap out of the steering tring ta free it up "got it cheap to"

Took the connecting nut loose from the steering to the motor and the steering was just fine, it was the main center motor rod, piston, whatever ya want to call it " the one that the motor turns on, was almost froze up and it was a pain ta free up

the thing that give us a hint to the problem, was the end of the steering would move, but would stop as soon as it tried moveing the motor

just another something ta think about and watch for "it does have a grease fitting for it also"

Post by **Blue Dolphin** » March 18th, 2004, 3:51 pm

you can try WD 40 to break it lose......but the way it sounds need to take the streering tube apart and clean it out...... the best way I have found to do this is with a air hammer and a peace of round stock that will fit the steering tube thus pushing out the streeing cable tube...if you can find a steal round brush that fits the cyclander thats your best bet I made one with a long handle on it so I can use my drill to clean out the tubing......but you can clean it out just about anything you can get into the tube housing.....some motors have to be removed from the transom to get the tubbing apart.........

Post by **RedMann** » March 18th, 2004, 4:23 pm

Appreciate the thoughts BD. The trick is getting the bar loose and out. Every effort thus far to unstick it has failed. I tried beating on it and trying to turn it with vise grips and soaking it with liquid wrench and even heating it with a torch but nothing has worked. And then to make it worse, Pete has a 2-week backlog before he can even get it in the yard so I'm out of commission for a long while and just when things are starting to get good.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Bottomtime · Post by **Bottomtime** » March 19th, 2004, 7:56 am

My dad had one stick like that on an old Johnson 50 horse. His solution was to take a piece of heater hose( about 1.5 inch) that would go over the end of the steering shaft and also over the threaded part where the nut fit. He then used a smaller piece of hose that would fit snug inside the first piece and a hose clamp to secure it. He continued using smaller sizes of hose, basically reducing the size until he got it down to the size of the hose on an old garden sprayer ( about .25 inch). The sprayer was filled with about two quarts of transmission fluid and then pumped up to put pressure on the inside of the steering cable. He then let it sit for a couple of days. Each afternoon, he would take a ball peen hammer and vibrate the tube where the steering cable shaft was stuck, and pump up the sprayer again as it would slowly leak down. A couple of days later, tranny fluid was running out from under the console from the helm, and the steering cable would slide in and out again. He still took it out of the motor tube and used a round wire brush to clean the inside of the bore out. The tranny fluid in the cable between the helm and the motor still seems to be working pretty good as a lubricant there.

Post by **CSMarine** » March 22nd, 2004, 9:16 am

One more thought on the subject. I also made a "special tool" for moving a stuck cable that helped. I bought a dent puller from an auto parts store. The end of the puller has a threaded end for screwing into drilled hole in dent. I made a J-hook that I placed in the eye of the cable end and used the puller to bang it out. Then just beat it back in, and keep repeating process until it frees up.