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I have a 15 Sport with a 60 HP Mercury and Teleflex mechanical steering. The steering is stuck or jammed. Apparently the steering rod end of the cable is rusted in the tilt tube. What is confusing to me is that when i take loose the cable nut on the starboard side the cable rod slides freely out until there is a metal "clunk". On the port side what I assume is the end of the cable rob is stuck so I cannot push or pull it but it turns with some effort. The cable is disconnected from the helm. Is the cable rod broke off in the tilt tube? Why won't the starboard side just pull out? How do I get the port end to budge?
Sail1946 wrote:
I have a 15 Sport with a 60 HP Mercury and Teleflex mechanical steering. The steering is stuck or jammed. Apparently the steering rod end of the cable is rusted in the tilt tube. What is confusing to me is that when i take loose the cable nut on the starboard side the cable rod slides freely out until there is a metal "clunk". On the port side what I assume is the end of the cable rob is stuck so I cannot push or pull it but it turns with some effort. The cable is disconnected from the helm. Is the cable rod broke off in the tilt tube? Why won't the starboard side just pull out? How do I get the port end to budge?
Phil,
What your are doing is running out of travel in the inner cable, the inner cable is not stuck, the outer "core" is still stuck in the tilt tube. It just needs some encouragement with a BRASS hammer and Punch to knock it out through the tilt tube. NEVER use a steel hammer and punch to knock the remaining core out of the tilt tube or it will mushroom the end of the core to where it will not come through the tilt tube. This can be tedious and and sometimes the tilt tube needs to be heated with propane or MAPP gas torch to expand the aluminum tilt tube enough to allow the steel core to break free from the tube. But for now, try some solid taps or raps to try to move the core from port to starboard. Get a long enough punch from brass and try to drive the core out. Once out, go to Walmart and buy a 12 gage shotgun cleaning kit, install the brush on one end to the aluminum tube that is supplied and chuck the other end in a drill and rotate the brush with the drill with the tube shot full of PD Blaster or Liquid Wrench and run the brush in and out to clean the rust out of the tilt tube, keep shooting with the solution until all of the rust is gone. The brush is made from brass also and will polish the the tube without removing any material from the tilt tube. Then clean the cable core with 220 grit sandpaper and more PB or L wrench until the rust is gone from it. Lube the core end with marine grease and reinstall into the tube. Try the steering and see if it is back to normal with the nut tightened back up on the starboard side, if not repeat the process until the cable runs smooth in the tilt tube.
Frozen steering in a Merc outboard is a common problem resulting from the difficulty in accessing the protecting O-ring which keeps grease in and dirt out.
See my last post in this thread for the permanent solution:
