Power Steering freezing up

[snakecatcher]

I was doing a bit of work on the boat the other day when I noticed that the steering was getting quite stiff - further investigation revealed that the grease in the steering rod casing was getting hard and I had to strip the thing down and regrease the lot. A quick call to my local outboard mechanic revealed that this is quite a common problem and if you aren't going to use the boat for a while you should try to turn the steering wheel at least once a week and spray the rod with either WD40 or Inox.

Has any else had this problem as I would be interested to hear other suggestions on how to stop it happening in the future.

Thanks

Mike

[HarryO]

Hi Mike.
Spot on advice from the dealer.
Good to make it a part of the clean down process after
each trip in the salt.

Another critical, but often overlooked little job is a
couple of pumps with the greasegun to the nipples
of the steering tube (the vertical shaft on the mount)
after every 2nd trip or so.

Watch the rusty water dribble out if you havn't done
this for a while...

[emuparkpete]

Before greasing my steering shaft , I read on my manual that if steering shaft is fully extended when greasing (using nipple) a hydraulic lock can occur, pretty common apparently. So just watch out for that one

[snakecatcher]

Thanks for the input guys - went back through the manual today and nowhere does it mention doing this. Bit of a trap for new boaties like me!