Finally changed my steering cable..................

[JGR]

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Almost too nice of a day to be working on the boat. We should be boating, boarding, and skiing. However, the steering cable has just become way to difficult and is no longer fun to drive the boat and is a little dangerous to drive as well!


Tools needed:

1/4 drive ratchet set
1/2" and 7/16" box/open end wrenches
4" angel grinder
Electrical or audio/video fish tape.
Wide mouth Crescent wrench that opens to 1 1/8"
Electrical or duct tape


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Getting the engine compartment ready to work. The first thing I did was disconnect the steering cable from the rudder just to make sure I was addressing the correct problem. The rudder moved freely once the steering cable was disconnected so I'm going to move forward with replacing the cable.

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The fuel pump wires and two water hoses needed to be disconnected in order to get access to the 1 1/8" nut.

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Think this might actually be 1 1/8" nut, sorry about that.

In order to get access to this nut on my boat I had to: Disconnect the electrical fuel pump wires and both water lines to and from my water pump. Be careful if you are doing this in the water as you could flood the boat! I did mine in the water but took caution when I disconnected the water lines.

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Thanks to Lee for this trick. Tape the end of the steering cable closed to facilitate pulling the new cable.
Next I cut the old steering cable with an angle grinder between the v-drive and gas tank.

[JGR]

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Here you can see the fiberglass rod (fish) attached to the new cable with electrical tape.

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Here you can see the new cable run over the gas tank just before I closed things up.


Next I pulled the floor board and used an audio/video rigid fiberglass rod to use as a fish. It was very simple and once I had it to the helm area I attached the steering cable with electrical tape and pulled it over the gas tank.

I then closed everything back up and tested it. The difference was night and day. I also used an upgraded Teleflex XTREME cable.

I did the job by myself w/out any help and it took me about two hours.

I hope I covered it all, but if not please ask away. This site has been so helpful to me since purchasing my boat I wanted to do something that might help someone else.

[KonaKing]

Nice gated community

[chpthril]

Excellent wright-up, thanks for sharing.

[gcalkins]

Thanks for the information, good job.

Question: In the IMG_0005, what is hanging in the air from the red cables / hoses and what is the gizmo laying on the compartment floor?

[chpthril]

Thanks for the information, good job.

Question: In the IMG_0005, what is hanging in the air from the red cables / hoses ?

Battery switch

and what is the gizmo laying on the compartment floor

Looks like a power screwdriver

[JGR]

Thanks for the information, good job.

Question: In the IMG_0005, what is hanging in the air from the red cables / hoses and what is the gizmo laying on the compartment floor?

Thank you.
The cables hanging are the battery cables attached to the battery switch.
The gizmo is a Milwaukee electric screwdriver.

[gcalkins]

Ahhh! Thanks.