Stiff steering wheel

Anyone have insight on this subject?
1st run this spring I noticed my V-drive ski boat had a stiff steering wheel.Last fall before we winterized it we never noticed this condition. I have greased the rudder and checked all possible spots for a kinked cable to no avail. In the old days I know it was possible to put some grafite in the casing and that would help. Todays boats don't seem to have that option, they are completely sealed on both ends. What is my next step. I am the type that never goes to the doctor and would never let a mechaninc take my boat for three weeks to do what I can do in just a few hours.(obviously I need to diagnose the problem here).Any ideas.

did you have water in the bilge during the winter?

It sounds like the steering cable is out. This happened to my friends old boat. Just replace it, I dont think it costs that much.

Steering cable is bad probably due to water in the bilge probably due to condensation. This is a MAJOR safety issue- get it fixed!

I had a stiff steering wheel, dealer said it was the cable replaced the cable still stiff, found that the rudder was bent, not even visible to the eye.

replace the cable. It will get worse

99% chance your cable is depleted of grease. There not much, I think mine was $65. Make sure when you install the new one it's up away from any water that get's into your bilge. I found mine was just laying on the bottom of the hull and eventually just washed away all the grease from being submerged. After replacing it, mine feels like it has power steering now

Yes sterring cable. I had mine "repaired" not "replaced". There's a mechanic in Riverside that knows a technigue to grease it up again instead of replacing. It cost $130 for this cable at the MC dealer. I was happy to return it.

hey guys i had our steering cable replaced by a dealer...and it was NOT cheap by any means!! I think he said the actual cable was around $200 then he had pull up the floor and go under the gas tank?!? and whatever else....BTW we have a 2000 xstar....and labor ended up costing right under $600...so about $850-875 with tax...did we just get totally screwed?!?

(Message edited by praisinplaya on May 24, 2006)

Thanks for all the input. I will disconnect the cable and see if the rudder seems to be a problem. I did hit a tree two years ago. I replaced the strut and had the shaft straightened the stainless prop was fine. Guess there is cause to look at the rudder. However It should have surfaced right away, not two years later. Again a shop wanted my boat for two months. I fixed it myself in three days. Yanked the transmission and gear drive out myself. If nothing presents it's self I'll order a new cable. Good to know that it's not a major repair procedure.

Matt
Sounds to me like you got the screws from whatever dealer you had service your boat. I take the floor out of my boat all the time to clean and so forth. Removing the cable should take no more than an hour and a half. 3-4 hours total job time, no big deal.

I am going through the same thing right now, over the winter my steering cable seized, after moving it around with the steering wheel back and forth, it loosened up a bit but it is still not right.

I bought a $200 replacement cable that I will be installing this weekend. Due to the fact that I was taking on water (had a leak on my swim platform bracket) all summer, I imagine that is the source of my problem.

Apparently, this is not an easy task to replace the cable, the advice I received was to tie the new cable to the old cable in hopes that when you remove the old cable it will pull the new one with it. Sounds simple in theory, doubt it will work that way in practice......

I haven't pulled a cable through but my dealer only charged 2 hours labor to change the cable. He said he uses duct tape to tie the cables togenter and pulls from back to front. I will do my own next time. There are 4 bolts on the front steering, an anchor clamp with 2 bolts in the rear and a pivot connection to the rudder. Should not take more than the 2 hours charged by the dealer.

I changed mine 1-1/2 years ago. My parts guy said the easy way to do it was to attach a rope to the end of the cable and pull from the opposite end. Un-tie the rope from the old cable and tie it to the new. Now use the other end of the rope to pull the new cable back into place. Without seeing the cable I don't recall which end to start with, but one end of my cable was easier to pull through the boat than the other. You can use the old cable as the pull line, but I was advised it would take more time and there would be more F-bombs. BTW, this was on a Sanger DLX

its not that hard to replace the cable, but be ready to cuss a little. we had to change mine last summer (my brother and i) and we did what steve said to do, tie a rope to the rudder end of the cable pull it through then tie the new one to the end of the rope by the steering wheel and pull it back through. we had to cut the hole in the floor a little bigger to get the new cable/rod back in without bending it but it was no biggie. (cut maybe an 1" of matterial out) made it drive like a brand new boat

I did a cable in one of my old I/Os. It simply broke on me one day while pulling a boarder - That's a surprising feeling.

As I read this I had a diagnostic idea. Disconnect the rudder and turn the steering wheel. If it's still stiff, you know it's the cable. If the rudder is stiff to turn, you know it's the rudder.

http://www.skidim.com/products.asp?dept=1120&pagenumber=1&sort_on=&sort_ by= <-- they seem to have pretty good prices.

P.S. "...and would never let a mechaninc take my boat for three weeks to do what I can do in just a few hours..." Thank you, I thought I was the only one in a sea of "Take it to the Dealer" kind of guys on wakeworld.

i need to get one, my dealer said $125 for the cable and about 70-100 in labor.

for 70-100 I might just let them do it rather than me.

Be careful if ordering an off the shelf standard part. Can't say for your boat, but some Correct Crafts use custom cable.

Speaking from experience...the size of the openings in the floor and the number of cables, hoses, and wiring can make it a challange. On my boat, the hardest part was just getting the rudder rod end to make the 90 degree turn going into the floor opening. And that was using a pulling rope. Connections to the rudder and steering rack is a piece of cake.

I just went through the same thing two weeks ago. It ended up being a bear of a job, being a V-Drive boat, but manageable for two guys over 2+ hours or so. Here's how it went down:
http://www.wakesiderides.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17877

When my second cable completely siezed, I installed a zerk fitting and greased it back up. After being worked back and forth it freed up as good as new. Never had a problem again with it, and was able to routinely grease it, when greasing the rudder.

Ever wonder why they do not install a zerk fitting from the beginning? Oh yeah! They wouldn't sell replacements.

Be careful with zerks if you fill your cable with to much grease it will seize up the cable from the pressure. our boat mechanic showed us his process of lubing a steering cable.What you do is take the nut off the rudder end and pull the cable out clean it then coat it in grease and your usually good as new

That will not work well enough. Been there done that. I call that routine maintenence on any cable. All it does is help keep the water out of the cable.

Grease can not build up enough pressure in an open ended system to seize the cable. Plus even if it could, wouldn't you turn the wheel back and forth many times on land to make sure it is well lubed before putting the boat in the water?

My cable is going out in my Sanger V210. It takes 2 hands to turn the wheel so does anybody know if these steering cables are ordered by length needed or by part # from the manufactor. I looked for a stamp # on the cable but just says "teleflex made in the USA". I would like to order the right steering cable prior to the old cable coming out to minimize down time.

JTW, just call your dealer and they should tell you the right length. I actually called the factory/Corporate HQ for mine, and they not only told me the size, but they sold one to me direct cheaper than I could find at SkiDim or anywhere else.

My Calabria Pro V uses a 17 foot cable, if that helps. By the way, the newer Teleflex cables supposedly have a teflon inner coating that should last longer.

It's nice to able to turn the wheel with just one finger again!

Thanks, I researched and found the correct part #. For anybody that has a Sanger V210 the mercury marine part # is 11111A20 (length is 20 feet). It cost about $165.00 - $180.00.

JTW - thanks for the info on the part number. I also have an '03 Sanger V210 and I think our cable is also shot (got a little water in the bilge two winters ago and it's been stiff ever since). My wife is not too happy having to drive it with the stiff steering. It's not a 2 handed fight to turn the wheel, but not a smooth easy one finger operation either. Was thinking of having the shop do it, but it was going to be well over $500 including labor, so rethinking that plan.
JTW - that looks like Anderson in your profile pic, which is my local lake too. Don't remember seeing your boat down there.
If you have any pointers when you ultimately do this or want an extra hand when you take care of it drop me a PM as it would help me when I do my own.

Magnus-
Yes, that is Anderson Lake. I will go there just on weekdays in the AM when work allows. Head to Pedro on the weekends when time allows. Just got back Yesterday from my 1st trip to Comanche and was not thrilled with that lake. I called Bill at Topside Marine last week about the cable and he told me the part would be approx. $200.00 with a couple hours labor. I would say approx.$400.00 to $450.00. I have it scheduled with them next week to take care of it. I usually do all my own wrenching most of the time but have just elected not to deal with the learning curve on this project.

BTW,Post a pic of your Sanger. Always looking to see pics of fellow Sangers.

(Message edited by sangerlover on May 29, 2006)