Posted by njmedic3306 on 05/13/12 - 2:34 PM
#1
I am having some problems with the steering on my 1985 Evinrude 70. It appears to be frozen. I see there are 2 nuts on the right side, one is aluminum. Does the aluminum nut remove the steering? I am having a heck of a time removing it. I have had this problem with other boats and it was an easy fix, just heat the shaft and it usually brakes free. Any ideas?
Posted by brooks89 on 05/13/12 - 3:05 PM
#2
Assuming you are referring to conventional teleflex steering here... First remove the teleflex cable from the steering ram (undo the lock nut on the ram and drop down the cable.) Check to see if the motor now swivels freely.
Assuming it does, the most common problem is the cable is gummed up in the tilt tube.
Undo the nuts on the tilt tube and then using a block of wood, mallet, etc drive the teleflex back through the tilt tube, Use penetrating oil, PB Blaster etc, to loosen while trying to remove. Once you get the teleflex through the tube, spin the helm to see if the cable now moves freely. If not you will need to replace the cable, if it does, clean out the tilt tube, lubricate it liberally with marine grease, reassemble, and you should be good to go. Buy a replacement nut with grease fitting to put on the tilt tube for future lubrication.
Make sure when you replace the teleflex on the steering ram you use a lock nut; you don't want that loosening and falling off at the wrong time. Good luck.