Stiff Steering

[ynotaj]

Hi guy's

I have a bit of a steering problem with my side console quintrex hornet. Before I purchased it Garry (spaniard king) told me to lubricate the steering cable at the motor with wd40 but I left it to long from when he told me and now I forget how to do it , I'm sure he will remind me though :)

I have undone the two nuts holding the ram in the housing and have tried to get out all the old dried up grease, I can't get the ram right out of the housing because the steering cable hits the side of the boat, with the nuts undone the ram moves freely from side to side in the housing but when I do them back up the steering goes tight again, so it would seem that the ram is not restricted in the housing, after having done this the steering does seem to be looser than before but still takes some effort to turn the wheel.

Am I cleaning the right part, is there still old dry grease in the housing causing the ram to stick or is it the actual worm wire in the steering cable that I should be putting wd40 into.

I asked a boat shop guy who sells quintrex's and he said that the steering will always be a little tight because the cable goes around the side of the boat and has a small tight radius where it attaches to the motor.

Do any other hornet owners find this to be the case.

Thanks for any help
Cheers

Tony

[lippa]

give gary a call at control connections he should be able to sort out any steering problems 38690750

[billfisher]

You will be better off using Innox rather than WD40. It is a much better lubricant.

[skales]

are you sure it is the steering cable , When you undo the cable , try to turn the motor by hand . If the motor doesn't turn easy , the shaft in the motor could be dry . Look for the greese nipple and re- greese. Note don't use wd40 or inox always run two stroke oil on the steering shaft at motor.

[Argle]

I had the same problem on my steering and SteveDemon from this site recommended putting some gear oil on the shaft and working it back and forth which I did and the steering is now like new :) :) :)

Cheers and Beers

Scott

[dnej]

Automatic , or power steering oil, is the best, by far.

Dont use grease, as it does go hard, as you have found out.

Pour hot water, over the rod, this will help you , get rid of the old stuff.

Dont use any Lanolin based products, as they also go hard if exposed to salt water, same as the grease.Stand at the motor, pour the hot water over the ram area, and move the motor by hand, from side to side, cleaning the ram each time, to get rid of the grease on the ram.

Then apply the power steering oil, to the arm, with an oil can,and move the motor back and forward, adding more oil as it is extended.
You may have to wipe off more junk, when doing this process.

Then, each time you walk past your motor,while not in use, grap a hold of it, and move it as mentioned above.Leave the ram, stored in a closed position.

Over time, it will free up more and more.
Regards David

[Dex38]

Tony I have a 4.35 Hornet side console which had your same issues. I removed the two nuts holding the ram in the housing. As you have stated getting the whole cable mechanism out is a chore. I removed the spiral wrap and then as I moved the cable out, proceeded to push the cable down (extending it) beneath my throttle control. This gives you the space to move the cable out of the housing and get in and clean it out well. As David states keep away from grease.

Dex

[skales]

Sorry , you blokes may not of understood me .the steering cable is to be taken out of the shaft at the front of the motor, clean and then apply two stroke oil . Leave the steering cable out and see if the motor can be turned from side to side by hand easily. If not ,in front of the main part of the leg is a smaller round shaft, about half the length of the leg this is what the motor pivots on, it has a greese nipple, this is what you pump greese into.
If you have trouble getting greese in through this nipple, remove the nipple and use a water blaster to start with to blow all the old greese , the greese will come out the top and the bottom, turn the motor as you blast . finish off replace the nipple and pump in new greese to this shaft through the nipple .

[Streetkid]

If your motor is harder to turn one way than it is the other that it would most likely be a problem with your cable, it has to do with the push/pull action, in the case of my old boat the motor was hard to turn when the cable was pushing but not so bad when pulling, replaced cable and bingo problem solved. Still worth trying the other options sugested to best isolate/discount the possible causes before spending any amounts of cash.

[ynotaj]

Thanks for all the ideas and comments.

When the motor is disconnected from the ram it freely moves from side to side, so everything ok there, with the ram housing nuts tightened and ram attached to motor you can't turn the motor by holding the motor with your hands and turning.

I will have to check tomorrow but I think the steering wheel is harder to turn when turning clockwise, as streetkid has stated this would be pushing the cable.

Even after cleaning the ram housing (if that's what its called) dirty black grease appears on the ram, each time I wipe it clean and turn the wheel the smears are there again. So maybe there is still more dry grease that grabs the ram, I will try using hot water as mentioned.

Is any grease required in the housing as this appears to be the pivoting point for the motor to move up and down, on my motor there is so much grease that it has been squeezed out the sides of the housing where the pivot point is, and the only grease nipples that I see are the two in the front of the housing, if I use them to grease the pivot point I will be filling the ram housing causing the same problem I have now ?

Dex thanks for the tip on removing the cable, I will give that ago on the weekend and see if I can easily move the worm cable inside the spiral sheath. What would you clean and then lubricate the inside of the cable with.

Skales I will have to have look for the nipple you are referring to.

David thanks also for the tip on leaving the ram closed when not in use it makes sense to have it out of the elements if you can, I have a problem with mud wasps building there nests on everything, a mate told me to spray surface spray, (the stuff you use for cockroaches) over the motor and around the console, he says it keeps them away. I worry that one day they will make a nest in the telltail holes.

Thanks guys

Tony

[skales]

Tony, If you can move the motor freely without the cable attached , this tells me its your cable. But a few more questions for you , If you sit at the steering wheel and turn, is it hard to turn? does it make a grinding noise ? Have you struggled to turn the steering wheel? Does the steering wheel feel like it jumps and then grabs? If so you may have done the hub behind the steering wheel where the cable goes into.

[Boz]

skales,

Honestly i'm not sure if i understand you correctly but using a water blaster to clean out the old grease does not sound like a great idea as it will leave some water residue where the grease is supposed to be....unless ofcourse you mean blow the grease out of the grease nipple (what the #@$%) in which case im a d$%#he$..

Boz

[Boz]

need another bourbon!!!

[skales]

Boz , I had a old motor that would not turn at all , the grease was hard in the pivot shaft on the motor. I removed the nipple and used the water blaster to push out the old grease from the shaft . It came out the top and bottom, then pumped in degreaseer followed by the water blaster again , at all times moving the motor from side to side . Finished off replacing the nipple and pumping it full with grease . No harm done as all areas have no time to rust and the new grease pushes out all water . Where do you see a problem? Never had a problem with it again and as far as I know still none today.

[Dex38]

Tony, once I removed the rod (which is the end of the cable situated in the housing) I then proceeded to clean out the inside of the housing using petrol. Basically fuel is a solvent when it comes to grease and breaks it down pretty quick. I used a soaked rag and pushed it through the housing time and time again until it was clean. I then worked on the rod and extended and retracted it (turnung the steering wheel) and cleaned it up too. I then oil her up and refitted everything. I have two grease nipples on my 50Hp Johnson in the housing area. All they do is grease the pivot point for the motor itself, they do not affect the rod at all. When you go to oil up the inside of the rod (you'll know what I mean when you get it out of the housing and turn the steering wheel) only lighly oil it, to protect it from corrosion. I do this once a year now and all seems to work okay, it's just one of those preventative maintenance actions which keep you out of trouble.

Have fun

Dex

[dnej]

Tony, take care to understand what one post was telling you, about the helm.

If possible, and you have not seen one before,get a squiz, at how the cable moves around the hub of the helm.

Take the back off, and have a look, or go to a boat parts place, and have a squiz,at a new one.

That will help you to understand, why it is important to have a free cable, as the turn is only made, by a spring like mechanism, being pulled, around a hub, with a worm type channel in it.

A really stiff cable, can cause this to jump the channels, and cause wear.

Now back to the cable itself, which is probably the problem child.

I had the same issue, and yes the junk will continue to come out for many turns of the motor.

You can minimise this, if you get the ram out of the motor housing, and clean the actual housing, on the motor, as someone else mentioned.

A pull through rag, with some petrol, or such will help get rid of the grease.

Then squirt in some of the power steering oil. Get the soft plastic pack, with the long spout. (Same thing as auto tran oil.)

Oil up the ram,with the power steering oil, and refit, and then try the process again.

Remember the hot water will sometimes do the job, without the removal, so try that first.
Good luck, remember its a common problem, that is fixable.
David

[ynotaj]

Thanks for the help,

I have removed the cable from the boat altogether, thanks Dex38 for the tip on pulling the cable down at the throttle, it did the trick.

The ram was different to what I was imagining and found that it was seizing in itself as well as inside the housing, the ram has cleaned up ok but the housing is a different story, I have cleaned the inside of the housing but it appears to have rust or corrosion inside it not just old dirty grease so I will have to work on it a bit more.

Even after cleaning the ram up I was unable to move the wire spiral cable by hand but when I mounted it back into the steering hub it moved freely. Is this usual or do I need to try and clean the inside of the entire length of the cable.

When I removed the steering cable I inspected the steering hub like David mentioned, and found wear in the teeth, looks like the hub has jumped over the worm cable because the ram was sticking.

Looks like I'm on the right track thanks to all your help

Cheers
Tony