Running new steering cable - 175

[kchaudha]

Ok, here's the latest project...fortunately I realized the issue in the driveway and not in the middle of the bay.
Motor was turned to the side (fully extended cable) and the steering wheel is moving freely without the resultant movement at the motor.   I go back and manually move the motor from side to side, and it moves fine.
Then back to the steering wheel and now it is working fine.
Keep trying it back and forth and it's fine... until I push it slightly harder than normal at the end and something pops and now it is absolutely not working at all.
I am guessing it's a broken cable.  In any case, seems to make sense to replace both helm and teleflex cable together at this point  given age of the boat.
Any tricks or warnings regarding running new cable through the rigging tube?

I will be taking it apart in the morning and pulling out that old cable so I can measure it and go buy a new one (plan on leaving a pull rope behind when pulling it out).  Hope I can get the new cable in there afterwards... looks like a lot of wires/cables running through that little rigging tube!  Any tips appreciated!

[Capt. Bob]

You might try and see if you can read the cable length stamped on it.
If so, you can use the old cable to pull the new one through.

It maintains a better pathway in the cluttered tube.

Just a thought based on past experience.

Good luck.

[gran398]

Unusual for a Teleflex steering cable to break in half. Bound/seized...yes.

Double-check all mechanical connections in the morning before you tear-down.

Keep us posted

[akbridge]

If you have a few extra dollars.   Go with a baystar hydraulic steering.  You won't regret it.  It is the best thing you can do for the steering of your ride.

[kchaudha]

Well now that I am shore-bound today, the wife has commandeered my schedule...need to steal back a couple hours to play with this.
Question though: I see two cable attached the the helm - one is a big fat one that appears to match the size of the cable attached to the motor.  The other is a smaller diameter cable. What's what?  I figured it was just one big cable controlling the steering...what's the small one?
And does the big one just pull out of the helm after I yank the cotter pin?
Thanks for assisting the novice.

[seabob4]

The small diameter cable with what appears to be a coil around it is simply the core of the steering cable.  It's not 2 different cables.  And yes, Teleflex cables do actually break.  I've replaced 2, both broke at the same place, where the rod at the engine end is welded to the core.

That being said, you may have to pull the motor to provide enough clearance to pull the old cable out and feed the new one in to your tilt tube.  Very common on smaller boats.  I cannot remember where the rigging comes out of the hull/deck on a 175.

Just went back and looked at your pics.  If the rigging comes out of that starboard box in the corner, I can almost guaranty you'll have to hang the motor off the transom.  You may get lucky if the rigging pass through has a straight enough shot into the tilt tube...

[kchaudha]

Managed to dig in to this a bit today - cable broken as described by seabob.
No markings on the cable so I guess I pull it out first and measure it before I buy a new one.  Started to try to pull it out but it is not an extremely simple task... I guess a helper would be useful.  Might need to recruit a neighbor tomorrow.
Two more questions at this time:
- How do I get the steering wheel off?  Puller?  Took the nut off but the wheel doesnt want to come off easy.
- Although I can get part of the old broken cable loose from the motor, it does look like getting the new one in is not going to be simple and I may need to move the motor.  Can I just loosen 3 bolts and swing it over and have it hanging off one bolt on the transom?  I think I will just need a bit of wiggle room.  Would this be too much force on one bolt point of the transom?  Any other suggestions for how to do this... I don't have a hoist.  How heavy is a 115 anyway?  Would one helper be enough to wrangle everything in place?

[seabob4]

For the wheel, thread the nut back on hand tight, employ your neighbor to pull on the wheel while you take a 2 by and hammer on the nut.  The nut will protect the wheel shaft as well as keep your neighbor in the boat when the wheel pops loose.

Yeah, although some might say otherwise, that single 1/2" bolt will support that motor.  After you get the new cable in and the motor tightened back up, replace that bolt with a new one.  If you have 2 buddies that are willing to help, buy them each a 6 pack, easy work for 6 beers...

[kchaudha]

I guess I need to unbolt the hell from the console before I start hammering?
Thanks for the tips Bob - much appreciated.
I am dreading moving the motor but your tips are embolding me to give if a try.  Not to mention the pain of pulling the cable through...

[seabob4]

KC, no need to unbolt the helm.  In fact you want it as stout as possible.  Corrosion takes a "set" around the steering shaft, the hammer and 2 by break that set.  But your buddy needs to be pulling on that wheel.  If the nut wasn't on the shaft, you'd be waving at him with his butt planted against the transom when the wheel broke loose...

[kchaudha]

Thanks seabob - will follow that advice.
I've been fiddling with this on and off whenever I have a few minutes and it isn't raining.
Getting the old cable out is a pain.   It seems to be getting stuck after the first couple feet.  I have a small poly rope tied on to the helm side and I'm pulling back to the transom.   Is it supposed to be this difficult?   Maybe I need to go smaller diameter rope... I wonder if the knot I tied is causing the binding somewhere?  If there is that little of clearance then getting the new cable in there is also going to be a big pain...

[seabob4]

KC,
Just pull the old cable out by itself.  You'll be able to feed the new cable forward through the rigging tube, just be patient, may take several tries.  With the new cable, you have to feed from aft forward, the rod at the engine end of the cable can't negotiate bends...but hen, you probably knew that!

And call me Bob...

[Georgie]

X2

beat me to it SB.  Just to clarify KC, the steering cables are very stiff and will thread the rigging tube on their own (from aft to forward) without needing to be pulled forward from the console so there's no need to bind the forward end with a chase rope when removing the bad cable (which is undoubtedly the reason it's getting hung up in the tube).  Same goes for throttle/shifter cables if you ever replace those (although any terminal fittings should be removed first).  All your electrical wiring and soft hoses will need chasers though if you ever re-wire b/c they're too limp to thread on their own.  Also, for future reference I find that tightly binding the chaser to the wire that's being removed with electrical tape usually works fine b/c it smoothes the joint and doesn't leave a big knot which can hang up in the tube.

Good luck!

[kchaudha]

Thanks Bob and Ryan.  Got the cable out.  I taped a smaller poly twine to it using electrical tape just to have a chaser in case I have troubles but will try pushing it through first like you suggest.
Also got the steering wheel off using Bob's hammer suggestion.  I used a small prybar underneath the wheel since I didnt have a friend handy at the moment to help pull on it.. came off pretty easily.

-Now...If I measure the rubber part of the cable only, it's 12'9".  From google search on the topic (http://www.easternmarineoutlet.com/media/downloads/1519/teleflex_1.pdf), it sounds like I add 18" and then round up to nearest foot, which makes it a 15 foot cable.  Sound correct?  To make it more complicated, the actual full length of cable that I am measuring is actually 15'4" end to end.   This does not include the rest of the control rod where it broke off either but I guess what I have left is normally fully inserted in that control rod anyway.  How does teleflex measure their cables?  Another clue: I found the marking on the cable now and decipher it as SSC6274 (when it was in the boat it was really hard for me to read it and I was thinking it said 8806274 which was really confusing!).   Can't find any reference to this number.  UPDATE: I called teleflex and they informed me that this is an out of date 14.5' cable and 15' is the correct cable to replace it with.  I went ahead an ordered the Teleflex NFB replacement SS14715 (from Amazon which seems to have one of the best prices at the moment and I will get it in 2 days).

-And then finally - the motor removal part makes me cringe.   Besides possibly being sacrilegious, is there a reason I couldn't just  drill a new hole in that starboard box directly across from where this needs to feed in to the motor?   In this pic, it would be where the grease spot is on the starboard box (ok, there are a lot of grease spots now but I hope you get the idea) .  As you can see, the rest of the control rod is still in the tube.  The grease spot is from when I pushed it through to see if I was going to be lucky enough to get it out without motor removal.  Cutting a hole there seems like it would make things a lot easier for installing the new cable?

[RGT]

The steering on my '96 175 CC gave out yesterday. The steering setup Teleflex Safe-T helm is one complete assy. so the steering gear box under the wheel and the extending rod at the motor end are one piece. I was able to get the control rod out from the motor by enlarging the hole that the cable comes out of so that it was straight and large enough to allow the large nut to pass through but I could not figure out how to rod at the engine end pass through the turn at the steering end under the console. Since I needed the measurement and this one is junk I cut it to allow it to be removed but I can't see how I will get a new one through using this same style one piece assy. I may be able to direct the cable forward and then feed in enough cable that with a line attached well to the end I can pull it around and then direct into the pipe chase to the rear of the boat but am not real confident that is possible. Is there another type of steering setup that may allow the gear at the steering end to be removed so I could feed the cable from the stern forward? I see mention of a hydraulic option, does anyone know what I would need for this boat?

Thank you