My steering is stuck on my 60hp suzuki. Its not stuck at the rotary steering helm or in the line going from the helm to the engine mount. The problem lies in the steering tube. I had previously greased it pre-winter and found it to be stuck tight recently. I applied heat,penetrating oil,gentle “persuasion” with a rubber mallet to no avail. I even got a 1’ length of rubber heater hose and hose clamped it on the end of the shaft and filled it with penetrating oil. Nothing. What do I do? Replace the whole assembly? The boat place next to my house is booked solid a month out and I need to get on the water. Anyone know of a reasonably priced boat mechanic or tech? Even if they want to make some side money, I dont care. (**() thing has frustrated me to no end and I dont want to compound the problem by ignorantly trying to paw at it.
You have to beat the rod out of the tube, sand the inside of the tube and outside of rod, heavily grease and reassemble. I don’t know where you are at, but I could do it for you some evening possibly. Shoot me a pm if you are interested.
Put a pair of vise grips or a big adjustable wrench on the end of the steering rod on the flat part with the hole for the linkage. Twist it back and forth until it breaks free. Then pull the rod out and sand, clean and regrease/reassemble.
Just did one on my old 79’ Mckee, the twist method did not work for me,I unhooked the rod,beat it out with a block of wood and small sledge,used a small wood dowel to beat it out the rest of the way,clean it some and put lots of oil on it. Works good now,took me about 3 hrs
Many thanks to MattR and his mechanical wizardry. Glad to finally meet someone off of this site and have them turn out to be a really stand up guy. Hats off to you, Matt!
I use a 12 gauge bronze bore brush to clean out my steering tube. I have since added a Davis Steering Buddy, a nut that goes on the steering tube that has a lubrication fitting on it. We’ll see how it does over time.
“Apathy is the Glove in Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”.
this problem and the solving of it is another example of how great this site is. there always seems to be somebody on here that can help another boater/fisherman. i had just commented on the value of the site last night to sailfish when he picked up the trolling motor from my house. once again; just shows that there are still a bunch of really good people out here.
I use a 12 gauge bronze bore brush to clean out my steering tube. I have since added a Davis Steering Buddy, a nut that goes on the steering tube that has a lubrication fitting on it. We’ll see how it does over time.
“Apathy is the Glove in Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”.
I started using them 20 years ago. Great addition if your boat didn’t come with one.
Also use some good grade grease regular. NO White lithium. That crap will harden on you as time goes by.
Many thanks to MattR and his mechanical wizardry. Glad to finally meet someone off of this site and have them turn out to be a really stand up guy. Hats off to you, Matt!
17’ High Tide CC
60 Yamaha
I hope to meet Matt as well. Hopefully he’ll take a few puppies off my hands!
Probably a stupid question,but that never held me back before, my old 79’ Mckee and my 98’ Seahunt have the 2 grease fittings on them,they do serve the same purpose as the B.D. fitting that yall are talking about don’t they?