Hi Everyone!
First a confession; I'm from the UK, and my only fishing is done with a magnet, but the Aus forums seem a lot more clued up on boat stuff than the UK ones.
I had a lot of play in my old Teleflex steering cable, but otherwise it turned fine, but I changed it to try and get rid of the play, as I also had now idea on the age of the cable.
I changed both the cable and rotary helm for new.
I reamed out the tilt tube prior to installing the new cable with a wire brush on a drill, and I greased the new cable with white lithium grease.
I greased the pivot tube, and tilt tube grease nipples until new grease was squeezing out.
But, I have a weird problem!
With the drag link disconnected, the steering turns as smooth as butter, and the cable slides in and out effortlessly. Also, the outboard happily flops easily from lock to lock.
However, with the drag link connected, the steering is very stiff, particularly to starboard! I can't think of anything I haven't done to ensure smooth steering.
The drag link is the right one for the engine, and isn't bent weirdly. The cable isn't bent beyond Teleflex's prescribed limits.
Any clue what my issue could be? It's driving me nuts!
Cheers,
Andy
