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Steering


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Lost my steering yesterday.  Everything was fine, surfed, stopped had lunch, was about to get back up & the wife says the steering is horribly tight.  Shrugged it off, got up for about 10 seconds & she motions for me to stop, says it's getting even worse.  Jump in boat, check things out, don't see any binding at the rudder housing, nothing under the boat around the rudder.  I decide we better head in, steering is getting worse & worse now, can hardly turn it, steering wheel is a full 180 degrees to hold it straight, we VERY luckily loose all steering right as we get to dock.  Off water the wheel is so tight it feels like I am going to break or rip something if I try to crank on it.  Was really hoping for a bad cable but based on my description I think it's at the rudder housing.  Only thing different about yesterday was we had a lot of water in the hull from all the chop coming in thru the vent.

Plan for today, disconnect cable at rudder to see if I can move rudder by hand.  I assume if so then I am lucky & it's just a cable?

I assume I am not lucky & I have to go deeper.  How do I take apart & service the rudder & housing?  Suppose we're past just shooting some grease in there, huh?....

If it's something internal to the housing, do they sell internals or is it a sealed housing that needs to be replaced?  Anyone got a schematic or diagram of the assembly?

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52 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

Check to see if the bolts that hold the rack to the helm are loose - 4 of them right under the dash.  That could easily cause the steering wheel misalignment and make it really hard to turn

Just checked & nope, but man was I hoping that was it!  Would appear it's the cable, I disconnected that & the rudder moves freely on its own.  At first glance it looks like a real PIA to replace, much more so than it was on my VLX.    

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9 minutes ago, racer808 said:

Just checked & nope, but man was I hoping that was it!  Would appear it's the cable, I disconnected that & the rudder moves freely on its own.  At first glance it looks like a real PIA to replace, much more so than it was on my VLX.    

Pull the 4 bolts on the helm and see if the rack or helm gear is stripped.  Also verify that when the rack is off that the helm gear is turning and your tilt unit u-joint isn't loose or broke. Once the rack is detached from helm also see if you can push pull the cable from the rudder side

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On 7/31/2017 at 0:16 PM, oldjeep said:

Pull the 4 bolts on the helm and see if the rack or helm gear is stripped.  Also verify that when the rack is off that the helm gear is turning and your tilt unit u-joint isn't loose or broke. Once the rack is detached from helm also see if you can push pull the cable from the rudder side

Can't move cable, steering is fine once the rack was removed.  Can't get the damn cable out though!!!  It snags at the hole next to the gas tank that enters the turn up point to the helm.  Seems the weight of the other cables & hoses sits on top of the cable so & it just won't let the nut part on the cable go by.  Thinking about cutting the rack & using the cable to pull the new cable through but that sketches me out.  Can't quite figure out how to secure the two together to make sure there's no way it comes apart half way through the pull.  

Edited by racer808
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you have to cut the rack off.  Then duct tape the rudder end of new cable to the end you cut the rack off wirh about a foot overlap and use old cable to pull the new through.  Tape all the way over nut.  Worst case you need to pull the floor plate to help the cable move. Have a helper

Edited by oldjeep
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  • 3 weeks later...

Mine got harder and harder and now very hard to steer. Tried to lube it but not solving the issue. I suspect corrosion and am ordering a new cable.  have you had the issue?

On 7/31/2017 at 1:10 PM, MadMan said:

I'll bet it's some sort of internal catastrophic cable failure instead of the typical corrosion causing resistance.

 

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45 minutes ago, Hugues said:

Mine got harder and harder and now very hard to steer. Tried to lube it but not solving the issue. I suspect corrosion and am ordering a new cable.  have you had the issue?

 

Mine got harder and harder too, new cable fixed it.

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Do it before it breaks! Otherwise you might have to steer your boat home by hanging off the back with your suck gate....that was fun.  Haven't actually torn it apart yet to see where it broke.

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