Stiff Rack and Pinion Steering

[AFDan52]

The steering in my boat is a Rack and Pinion system, and it is so stiff that I have to really Man handle it to try to turn . has anyone had this problem and how do you repair it.[frown]
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[wiperhunter2]

Hey Dan, I was hoping someone would jump in here with an answer but since that hasn't happened I'll tell you what little I know about it. More than likely the steering cable needs to be replaced. You could always call Lee for his opinion but here is what you can do. Disconnect the cable where it connects to the engine and see if it is still hard to turn the wheel. Then disconnect the cable were it connects to the rack of the steering wheel. If it is still stiff then it is the rack portion of the wheel. With my boat it turned out to be the motor portion of the steering and in most cases that has lube points where you can grease it. I ended up having to take the side postion apart because it was frozen at that point. Good luck, Hope that helps.
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[AFDan52]

Hi Curt, yeah I was hoping for the same thing. But I opted to dive in to do it myself, it really isn't that big a deal. I have had it aprt once and attemped to clean the tilt tube out, but I didn't have the right type of brush to use. I have one on the way and got some good info from a friend in Oregon that worked on this kind of thing, should have it fixed in a short while.Meantime I'm going fishing anyway.
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