stuck steering (evinrude)

[littlejim]

My Evinrude 70 has caused me angst many times when the steering stuck, and I was too dumb to check it at home. It is the second motor I've had on the boat and the other one did it too.
Never sorted at dealer services, guess it always went in with the steering freed up.
This bloke showed me how to sort it out myself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfMn6bGfAKs

(Apologies if I've put this up before, can't find any evidence, but old age is catching up.)

[ranmar850]

Yes, usually down to a build-up of crap in the steering tube-why do they persist in making them of steel when everything else on the motor is alloy or stainless? People often think their cable is at fault--they have a hell of a job getting it out, then find it's fine when they do, it's all in the tube.

[scottar]

Yep, they rust up in the tube and eventually internally as well. Once they get bad enough the rust will eventually split the plastic outer cover as it grows. Regular cycling of the steering and regular liberal doses of a liquid lubricant (not grease) are the way to achieve the longest life. Better still, shout yourself a hydraulic system that doesn't run the steering rod through the tube - you will wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

[ericcs]

i can never understand why tilt tubes don't have a grease nipple fitted?

[Noelm]

Because besides rust, the grease is part of the problem, you can buy after market stainless tilt tubes, combined with correct grease, or oil, they should last forever (almost)

[ranmar850]

I hadn't heard of that, I would've jumped on it if I knew.

[Fed]

Overall the video was ok but he should have lightly run a reamer through the tilt tube, any 'coating' that it had was long gone anyway.
Not so sure about tightening the nut until the tilt tube turned I know with OMC the tilt tube should be tightened to a specified torque then backed off a certain amount.
That white lithium spray grease is the best thing since sliced bread, I bought a can years ago & use it all around the house, on the cars & of course on the boat.

[Noelm]

From personal experience I find it a waste of time trying to free up old cables, once they start to bugger up, it's time to toss them. The tilt tube however is a different story, it's exposed to salt water, and made of painted steel, add to that rubbish grease and you are in for a whole world of pain eventually.

[gazza2006au]

Your right Noel i done a full rebuild of a 25hp 4 stroke mercury and it had the steering bar cut or snapped off inside the tilt tube i enquired about a replacement tube and could only find stainless the old one i assume was steel

One could use a brake hone to hone the tilt tube it may hold more lube for longer

[gazza2006au]

A heads up i was just watching a episode of Ship Shape TV just the short snippets on Youtube and they had shown a new product to stop steering rods seize, the big nut on the tilt tube for the steering has a built in grease nipple

[fishtragic]

Spot on Noel, once it starts to seize you may well free it but it's going to happen again. As a consequence of the stiff steering invariably the next thing to go will be the crap diecast teeth in the steering box. As Scottar said if you can stretch the budget to hydraulic it's a new world.

[BM]

Steering cables can be successfully dismantled and cleaned properly to operate well again. However, it all depends on how long the resistance has been happening. What occurs in a cable is as it gets tight, the inner wears against the outer and creates "slop" or slack steering. If a cable is dismantled as soon as it gets tight then it can be successfully saved. If its been stiff for a while it will have worn the outer and gotten sloppy. But I tend to agree that for the cost of the cable its usually simpler, better and easier just to replace if you can do it yourself.

And of course properly cleaning out the steering tube is critical. A timber dowel with emery cloth wrapped around it is the perfect tube cleaner. OMC (gosh, I must be old school) BRP triple guard grease is the perfect choice. Although many other suitable equivalents are out there.