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Rudder not turning


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Hey guys, quick question. My boat has been very hard to turn. I bought it this year and have been out 4 times. I couldn't turn it at all today out of water while I had the fake a lake hooked up kept trying to straighten it up and now its just clicking while I'm turning. Im guessing its the steering cable. Anyone know what size cable and where to buy one?  2011 wakesetter vlx... thanks

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47 minutes ago, BrazzMonkey said:

Hey guys, quick question. My boat has been very hard to turn. I bought it this year and have been out 4 times. I couldn't turn it at all today out of water while I had the fake a lake hooked up kept trying to straighten it up and now its just clicking while I'm turning. Im guessing its the steering cable. Anyone know what size cable and where to buy one?  2011 wakesetter vlx... thanks

You may be in for a new helm also if you kept at it until you stripped it out. 

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Also, does anyone know if I should be able to turn the steering wheel easily when out of the water? My understanding is that is should turn easily 

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8 minutes ago, BrazzMonkey said:

Also, does anyone know if I should be able to turn the steering wheel easily when out of the water? My understanding is that is should turn easily 

Yes, it should turn easily.  Disconnect the rudder from the cable and then disconnect the cable from the helm (steering wheel assembly). 

If the rudder doesn't turn freely by hand, give the zerk exactly two shots of grease and try to turn it again.  More grease will only blow the seals out, and then you'll have to pull the rudder to fix it.  If it doesn't turn freely after you grease it, it's either bent or really stuck.  

If the helm doesn't turn freely with the cable off, it's really buggered up since it really has no reason to jam.

If the helm does turn freely, put the cable back on and try again.  If it won't move, replace the cable.

The cable is most likely bad because of water in the bilge.  It really doesn't take more than one good dunking and they start to rust inside.  Why aren't they stainless?  Ask Teleflex.

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Does anyone know how long of a cable I actually need? I need to rectify this problem asap... also if they were stainless...teletext wouldn't make any money🤣🤣. I didn't recall seeing a zero fitting on the Rutter arm anywhere. Im going to double check tomorrow. 

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If you need a replacement steering cable for a 2011 VLX, it should be a 19 ft rack cable and the Malibu part number is 3620191.2.  Teleflex is now Seastar Solutions and they make a standard duty cable SSC13419 or a heavy duty steering cable SSC15419 that should work just fine.  If you keep the bilge and cable dry, either should work for quite some time.

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23 hours ago, justgary said:

Yes, it should turn easily.  Disconnect the rudder from the cable and then disconnect the cable from the helm (steering wheel assembly). 

If the rudder doesn't turn freely by hand, give the zerk exactly two shots of grease and try to turn it again.  More grease will only blow the seals out, and then you'll have to pull the rudder to fix it.  If it doesn't turn freely after you grease it, it's either bent or really stuck.  

If the helm doesn't turn freely with the cable off, it's really buggered up since it really has no reason to jam.

If the helm does turn freely, put the cable back on and try again.  If it won't move, replace the cable.

The cable is most likely bad because of water in the bilge.  It really doesn't take more than one good dunking and they start to rust inside.  Why aren't they stainless?  Ask Teleflex.

Two shots of grease is important. It’s so tempting to use more. 

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