Steering Broke

[jwh2050]

I have a 97 x model. My steering went out on the Mississippi River, an exciting time. The cable where it runs through the steering hub had worn down the grooves on the hub making it slip. Replacement was not too difficult. The cost was about $200 that included steering hub and cable.n

[Omar]

Thanks JWH,
Did the $200 include the cost of installation?
If so, who installed it... A friend, yourself or a professional mechanic?

If not, how did the installation per se cost?

Thanks again, JWH

[c130king]

Omar,

If you go back and read through my original post you will see I was very unconfident of my ability to do this repair on my own. I called a mechanic but it was going to take him over a week before he could get to me. Didn't have time to wait so I did it myself. It was not that bad.

I used the 8' Teleflex SS-141 (SS-141 8') which is around $150 from Go2Marine where I found mine. I paid for 2-day shipping. My old Detmar cable was 8' so I went with the 8' Teleflex. You could go with rotary but I figured replacing a rack & pinion with another rack & pinion would be simpler.

The only "hard" part was that I needed a new hole for the helm. Borrowed a hole saw but it was not deep enough. So I used a drill and a chisel to finish off the hole. It was "ugly" but the black plastic cap covers the hole...can't see it.

No idea how much a mechanic would charge you but consider doing it yourself. Lots of satisfaction in doing a job yourself.

Trying removing the old steering cable first...that is really very simple and will probably convince you to install the new one yourself.

Good luck. Feel free to email or PM me if you have any questions. I have lots of pictures of my replacement...and many of them are on my website.

Cheers,
Jim
Sailing on König

[Ron]

I did this job, do a search and you'll find alot of advice on replacing the steering cables.

I remember the hardest part was routing the cable through the stern of the boat. The cable has to make a turn through there and it is difficult to access and see because of the low headroom in the rear berth. When you remove the old steering cable it may be a good idea to tie a rope to the end and then you could use the rope to help guide the new cable through the stern.

[c130king]

I remember the hardest part was routing the cable through the stern of the boat. The cable has to make a turn through there and it is difficult to access and see because of the low headroom in the rear berth. When you remove the old steering cable it may be a good idea to tie a rope to the end and then you could use the rope to help guide the new cable through the stern.

I didn't have this problem. My cables (steering, throttle, GPS, RPM, etc...) come out of the bottom of the pedastal and then take a turn (below the "ceiling" of the rear bunk area...in plain sight) towards the stern. But all these cables are "wrapped" in some sort of thick plastic spiral wrap that completely covers all the cables (sort of like wrapping a tennis racket handle). Not sure if this is factory or put in by the original owner.

Then all these cables go through the small cut-out area of the carpet covered board that hides the steering bars. About 6 screws hold this board in place.

So all I had to do was "un-wrap" those cables. Remove the board. Disconnect the steering cable from the steering bars. Take out the four bolts up in the pedastal securing the rack & pinion "box" and then pull the box with the 8' cable right out of the pedastal.

The new cable and "box" was inserted the opposite way. The steering cable is fairly stiff so there was no issue pushing it down through the pedastal tube.

Jim

[Omar]

Thank you very much Jim and Ron. That was very helpful.

[Doupirate]

Might be a stupid question:

How is the actuator, the sort of piston at the end of the rubber hose, being moved? Is it through the action of a hydraulic fluid inside the little hose? If so, where is the pump?
If not, how is it actually working to get the actuator moving back and forth?

Thank you, my steering is not yet broken, but is now sending distress signals....

It is jamming firmly,more like blocking, on one side quite often now, and more and more so....

[mastreb]

The stock steering is not hydraulic, it's a mechanical cable linkage.

[c130king]

You can lube that piston/cable. Just turn the wheel all the way to get the piston fully exposed (or as much as it can/will) and rub some grease on it. I use a "synthetic grease" for marine applications (can't remember the brand).

Then turn the wheel back and forth to get the piston to move in/out and that will spread that grease around inside the cable down there at the business end. Hopefully that will help.

If your cable starts to stick you could put a lot of pressure on the rack & pinion and that could break those gears. That is what happened to me.

Cheers,
Jim

[Doupirate]

I will try that greasing. Maybe I will order the cable and assembly, and bring it along as a spare part for my trip next spring.

I still do not understand how a rotating cable can move an actuator fro and back! I remain mystified!

Thanks to both of you!

[c130king]

The cable doesn't "rotate"...it moves back and forth...or more accurately "in and out". As you turn the wheel you turn the pinion gear which meshes with the vertical gear of the "rack". As the pinion gear turns (from steering wheel turning) it moves the rack gear up and down...which is connected to the cable and moves it in and out.

Go underneath and look at the cable...especially while somebody is turning the wheel back and forth and it will be pretty apparent. If you take the four bolts out of the 12" long rectangular box inside your pedastal you can pull it away from the pinion gear and you will be able to see pinion and rack gears.

Go back to earlier in this thread and look at the pictures I posted.

This is all moot if you have a rotary steering system...but I think the still comes with rack & pinion.

Cheers,
Jim

[esc]

It isn't exactly the same, but I installed a new helm in my 1996 earlier this year and took a bunch of pictures.

http://www.comstockcomputing.com/macgregor/helm/

If you buy a new helm, and I suspect you need one, make sure to check the length of your old one before ordering it. I didn't and got the wrong one. It turned out that the original had the length printed right on the cable (144 in). The length is not the length of the sheath, but the sheath and ends together.

[vulcan98]

Great illustration. I will need to replace mine soon. Does anyone know where to get another "center cap" for the steering wheel? BWY only has them for the 26M. Thanks again for the informative write up.

Derwin