steering cable

[boater]

I have a 2001 21v. I had the steering cable replaced 2 years ago. At the end of the 09 boating season the sterring was getting hard to turn. My dealer tells me that I have a bad cable that needs replaced. He tells me it is not under warranty. Is this something I'm going to have to do every 2 years?

[Domsz06]

yes.

If you don't treat your cable with TLC you will replace them every 1 or 2 years. It's a bad design.

You need to do a few things to prevent this.

1) always when you pull your boat out make sure the back and bottom of the boat are dry.
2) turn the wheel all the way to the left (my 21ir was that way) turn it what ever way it needs to go so that the steel cable is all the way into the sheath to get all the water out.
3) apply some marine grease to it at least once a year again to prevent rust and get the water out
4) at the end of each season I would take it out, grease it up real good then put it back in
5) try to keep the water in that area of the boat to a min (ie don't have water pooled in the back of your boat)
6) talk to SPBfan as he knows even more then I do on this subject.

[boater]

Thats the thing. I store my boat inside. Take the plug out and raise the boat up. So any water drains out. But most of the time after a day on the water it is dry.
As for greasing the cable What type of grease? Do you grease it were the cable attaches to the rudder?

[Domsz06]

I did the same thing Boater, my boat never saw sun unless we were using it. but I also noticed the crazy amounts of water you can bring in and out of your boat by moving boarders/swimmers etc.

Yes I greased my rudder. Any type of marine grease will be good. Doesn't really matter. I'm not sure what SPBfan used when he did mine. Might shoot him a PM and ask him. He will probably chime in on this thread, let me text him and have him.

[SPBFAN]

I will give you some more info in a minute hang on. I am working on the best solution for your problem and will post it soon.

[boater]

I don't have a minute. I'm going boating in the 12 degree weather befor the 5" of snow falls today

[chpthril]

It's also a good idea to lube the rudder box once or twice a year. There is a std grease fitting and just a typical marine grease in a grease gun.

[Domsz06]

yeah isn't that what he was talking about on the rudder?

[SPBFAN]

Ok, here is the scope on your cable. Teleflex has had issues with the tow boat world on this specific cable. They make a cable part number SSC13418 which is what is sold to TIGE based on price point. It is not the extreme version of the cable. As a result they do have failure issues. Teleflex now makes an extreme version of the cable TIGE does not install this on their boats though. When I replaced DOMZ for him they did not make it at that point so we had to use the 134 version. For all the 20 foot and bigger boats they built the Extreme version. Now they build it for your boat also. Thus the delay in my response I was checking to see if they built it and if it was avaialble yet.

You need to purchase a SSC15418. I have those in stock and can ship them out same day from my DC. I will PM you the price for the cable. It is not to expensive. But you need the SSC15418. I do not know if it is better or not but I do know that Teleflex is stating it is a better cable for our applications.

I put one in my boat and their is a big difference in the steering from the 134 version. How long it will last only time will tell us. We have to get some of these cables in boats to see if they are better.

[Domsz06]

Thanks for chiming in Andy!

[boater]

First thank you for all your help.
Is there a warranty from teleflex on any of there cables?

[SPBFAN]

Here is a break down photo of the extream cable.

http://www.teleflexmarine.com/librar...me%20cable.jpg

[chpthril]

Thats the thing. I store my boat inside. Take the plug out and raise the boat up. So any water drains out. But most of the time after a day on the water it is dry.
As for greasing the cable What type of grease? Do you grease it were the cable attaches to the rudder?

yeah isn't that what he was talking about on the rudder?

Above, it looks like he is referring to the pivot where the cable attaches to the rudder arm, but there is an often over looked zerk fitting that lubes the rudder shaft where is passes through the hull. If that packing gets dry, it adds to the friction/resistance of turning the wheel, which more then likely adds to the load on the cable sliding through the cable housing. It's a biatch to reach on a V.

[Domsz06]

Above, it looks like he is referring to the pivot where the cable attaches to the rudder arm, but there is an often over looked zerk fitting that lubes the rudder shaft where is passes through the hull. If that packing gets dry, it adds to the friction/resistance of turning the wheel, which more then likely adds to the load on the cable sliding through the cable housing. It's a biatch to reach on a V.

i see what your saying. I was meaning both items, but didn't say it. Thanks for saying what I was thinking CHP You reading my mind again?

[SPBFAN]

It's a biatch to reach on a V.

You don't have to tell me twice. Unless you have real long arms it might be easier to reach.