No Steering Question

[126andy]

Hi guys, need a little advice here. The steering was working fine when I bought the boat and took it out of the water in Oct. Today after cleaning and putting in some electronics I went to turn the wheel and no good. I just have a few questions that maybe you can help me with.
I took off the nut in picture 1 (B) and the motor turned fine in both directions by hand. When I spray the crap out of it before tapping it should I also loosen the nut at (A) on that side? and (C) & (D) in picture 2 on the other side? Thanks for any advice or help you can give me. Maybe I'll be in the water soon.

[wingtime]

The cable is seized up inside the tilt tube.  Pretty common when a boat sits up.  The grease hardens up in there due to exposure to the water age etc.  DO NOT try to free it up by force the steering wheel or you will damage the helm.  If you can get the cable off the starboard side you may be able to work it back and forth but usually all that does it free the sterring cable housing.  Spray some PB blaster up in there and let it soak.  Usually I've had to get a piece of wood and put it over the end of the push rod (B) and beat on it with a hammer to get things moving back and forth.  If it is really bad you may have to put some heat on it.   Once you get it freed up take cable out of the tilt tube and run a bottle brush thru it to clean it up (they sell once just for this problem at most marine stores).  Then grease it all up with tome tipple guard marine grease.

[126andy]

Do you think it would help if I removed the grease fittings and shot pb blaster in the holes or would I just be wasting more time.

[wingtime]

I may be wrong but those grease fittings only grease the outer part of the tilt tube allowing the motor to tilt.  There is a tilt tube nut you can buy with a grease fitting on it... not sure if yours has that.  ( doubt it)

[gran398]

In the first pic there is a hose clamp on the rod.

Take that off. Tighten everything back up, and as wingtime suggests...

Take a piece of 2 X 4 scrap and a hammer and smack the end of the rod a few times. Then use the PB blaster and a rag to remove all of the old grease. Turn motor back and forth 'till its all gone and the rod is clean. Then re-grease.

This works pretty much every time unless its been sitting for years.

[126andy]

Well thanks all I got it moving again thanks to all of the advice here.  Should I be shooting grease in the tube or just putting it on the rod? I have been using Quicksilver 2-4-C Marine Grease with Teflon. It seems a little heavy like it would cake up again. Is there a certain grease that I shouldbe using or am I just thinking too much? Thanks again all.

[icemanbryan]

Andy. years ago, I had a manual steering boat. (an old 17 Mako) .  
I had problems each spring, One season, I used  Super Lube Grease.
(which I still use on certain items to this day).
See what the experts say but boy, that stuff worked really well for me.

[gran398]

Bryan's idea sounds good

The main thing is to get the bar really clean before you put the grease on.

I don't use much grease at all...just wipe it on good with your fingers.

If you're not going to use it much, like next winter...just go turn the wheel every three or four weeks.

[icemanbryan]

Andy, if you like the Super Lube idea, PM me your address, I will mail you a tube
(I purchase it by the case). Works really well in the marine environment !!

[wingtime]

Andy you did good with the Quicksilver grease. I've been using the quicksilver 2-4-C grease on all my boats. Works good and doesn't seem to cake up in salt water. Don't forget to pull your prop and grease up the shaft with the 2-4-C grease.

One of my all time favorite grease was Kendal super blue. I used it on my jeeps and everything with good results.  It's next impossible to find these days since Kendal was bought by somebody. If the Super Lube iceman is talking about is the stuff that comes in a gray tube then that is pretty good stuff. We use it on our sewing machines at work. I've never tried it any of my marine toys.

[pigbike]

Another good place to grease is the lower unit to exhaust housing bolts. These are the bolts that hold your lower unit onto the rest of the motor. Just remove one bolt and grease it up and replace, then move on to the next. If they are already greased you probably don't need to re-grease them. They should be greased along with the top spline of the driveshaft if the water pump has been replaced before.