Steering Cables

[IDBoating]

While winterizing this year, I noticed that the little rubber end cap on the end of the steering cable near the rudder had come off the "cylinder" on that end of the cable. I'm pretty sure this means my cable has been exposed to bilge water, which means I'm headed for a new steering cable in the near future.

I put the end cap back on and wrapped it with a tyrap to keep it there. A few cycles of the cable showed it is staying in place, at least for now.

I helped a friend winterize his Mastercraft yesterday, and noticed that his steering cable has a zerk fitting on that cylinder so you can freshen the grease inside. No such fitting on mine, so I can't easily repack it and force out any water inside.

Question: What normally keeps that end cap on there? Is that cap coming off the primary failure mechanism for steering cables? If so, it seems like a tyrap would be a cheap insurance policy for a rather expensive cable.

[Timmy!]

I don't think that cap is what causes the failure, mine still had it on there when I replaced it. Grease zerk's sure would be nice! WA, you're an engineer by trade, come up with a way to add some to the existing cable! Maybe you just drill a hole in the sleeve and thread one in it or have some sort of a metal band that the zerk threads into and just goes into a hole in the sleeve but then has a waterproof shrink wrap sleeve that you install over it?

[Ewok]

Here is a link that shows the construction of the Teleflex Extreme cable, it's got a HDPE sleve for the cable to slide inside. Teleflex also says NOT to attempt to grease the cable, it's sealed and contains it's own grease. The standard cables in boats are not the Extreme cable, but I can see why the Extreme is Mx free, it's the HDPE that is extremely low friction so when it wears out, the cable gets harder to move and grease probably wouldnt help that much.

http://www.seastarsolutions.com/prod...xtreme-cables/

[IDBoating]

Grease zerk's sure would be nice! WA, you're an engineer by trade, come up with a way to add some to the existing cable! Maybe you just drill a hole in the sleeve and thread one in it

That's how I'd do it. But you'd have to pull the cable to install it. If I go through that agony I'll replace the cable. But it's an interesting idea to add one to a NEW cable before installing it. Somebody must make (or have once made) them this way, I'm sure Mastercraft didn't install that zerk fitting on their own.

[IDBoating]

Teleflex also says NOT to attempt to grease the cable, it's sealed and contains it's own grease.

I think the grease is just in that cylinder at the end, not all the way through the length of the cable. I could see grease inside while I was refitting the cap back onto the cylinder. If that's true, then a zerk would permit restoring grease into it and possibly push out any water that got in. Once the pressure got high enough, the grease would burp out past the sliding rod and the end cap.

[Ruger761]

Seems like Ive seen a grease zerk on Nautiques as well. But I think it only gets the cylinder end. On my old I/O I use to unhook the cable every year and clean the cylinder off and regrease it. Held pretty strong for 7 yrs that way until I sold it without getting much stiffer than it orginally was. Course I think it all kind of depends on the bends in the cable routing as well. Plus turning the wheel in the winter helps keep it freed up.

[jslayde1]

My 22i has a grease zerk on the cylinder but the 22v does not. Did they change OEMs for the cable/rudder box or just decide not do use the zerk anymore?