NFB steering problem

[Guppy]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

worked on finding the cause yesterday....engine swings freely with steering arm detached...so tried loosening the large nut that holds the steering cable into tilt tube.....was really tight and noticed the cable jacket was moving with it...not supposed to........no visable corrosion anywhere but maybe inside cable and jacket?. .....used a pipe wrench on the cable end so i wouldnt crush it and got the nut unstuck from it and then unscrewed from the tilt tube.... with a little effort....then couldnt pull it all the way out from the tilt tube to remove it without bending it....was hitting against the motorwell side....Ill have to unbolt the motor and slide it over a few inches.

I did all the installation originally....just dont remember doing that part.


From what I can tell its the cable....so im ordering a new one. I put it back together after cleaning and lubeing and its working a little better.
Tilt tube had dirty grease coming out with the rod....but wasnt stuck or tight and moving freely. I applied marine grade grease on the ram bar on a regular basis.


Like Guppy says....
BOATS

Loosend the motor first time, second time rat tail file to oversize the motor well hole… aint pretty but much easier..

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by Guppy

Loosend the motor first time, second time rat tail file to oversize the motor well hole… aint pretty but much easier..

Ray.....I thought about doing that.....the hole in my motorwell side is a just a little off center with the tilt tube, just enough that the long straight ram end of the cable wont pull through it without bending. Might be worth enlarging that hole... if this keeps happening. Checked the helm end of things....but appearance wise it looks so clean....inside my console looks like new.
I ordered a cable from Jamestown Distributors.....

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by Guppy

Loosend the motor first time, second time rat tail file to oversize the motor well hole… aint pretty but much easier..

Thanks Ray... I did make the hole bigger in the motorwell side that didnt line up like you said and it worked.

I..might not need a new cable right away cause its working much better now after getting some spray lubricant in there vertically and working it in by turning the helm...turns easy now...just havent put it all back together.

[Rmarsh]

I have been putting off doing this...thought I could hold off until the off season ....but steering was getting worse....so reluctantly...had to pull the eight year old steering cable out.
It had to make some tight radius bends that may have caused premature wear. Installation instructions said no less than an eight inch radius at bends...and I was around 9
It snakes through a 2 1/2" pvc chase that runs under the floor from inside the console to the motorwell locker on the starboard side...it shares that same conduit with shift and throttle cables.
Before we started my son predicted that a lot of cursing and sweating was about to take place.
Really was not as bad as we anticipated. Attached a pull string to make pulling the new one back into the console easier......with no cursing......and maybe just a little sweating.....we'll see.
You might notice.....that I double clamped my fuel fill and vent lines as advised for safety.