Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I noticed that the steering on my friends new boat is very hard so I took the cable end loose and found it's not the cable. With the bracket loose I can turn the wheel with one finger, so I tried to tUrn the engine with my hands and it's all I can do to turn it. How car I free it up? Any suggestions? It's a 75 hp Yamaha engine.

There are grease fittings on the bracket. Use waterproof grease.

+1

About all i can add is in some extreme cases you may have to remove the grease fitting and use a small drill bit ( by hand ) to remove the old hardened grease and squirt in some penetrating oil to soften up the old grease.

MH Hawker wrote:About all i can add is in some extreme cases you may have to remove the grease fitting and use a small drill bit to remove the old hardened grease and squirt in some penetrating oil to soften up the old grease.

On board ship we have removed grease zerks and added a tube or pipe so we could fill with penetrating oil and then coupled that to a compressed air hose. With compressed air and PB~Blaster we can usually work any stuck piece of machinery free....

teecro wrote:

MH Hawker wrote:About all i can add is in some extreme cases you may have to remove the grease fitting and use a small drill bit to remove the old hardened grease and squirt in some penetrating oil to soften up the old grease.

On board ship we have removed grease zerks and added a tube or pipe so we could fill with penetrating oil and then coupled that to a compressed air hose. With compressed air and PB~Blaster we can usually work any stuck piece of machinery free....

Thanks, I was able to find the grease fitting and pumped it full of PB blaster. I'm letting it soak this week and will try to free it up for him this weekend.

Thanks again

Butch where are the pics of your "new" toon??????????

I hope the grease works but if not the bushings may have to be replaced, or at least cleaned. IF no grease has been in there they may be galded.(corroded and rough).

curtiscapk wrote:Butch where are the pics of your "new" toon??????????

I just finished the new carpet this last weekend and ready to put in the new seats. Pics will be coming soon.

RcgTexas wrote:I hope the grease works but if not the bushings may have to be replaced, or at least cleaned. IF no grease has been in there they may be galded.(corroded and rough).

This weekend I got some help from a couple of young guys and we got the motor freed up quite a bit. The grease and PB worked very well. I can now turn the wheel with one hand anyway. I'm also thinking a larger steering wheel would help. I have the original 13" tracker wheel on it now.

One of these I find helps a lot in tight places.

RcgTexas wrote:One of these I find helps a lot in tight places.

Great minds think alike, I just ordered one yesterday.

Crank knobs are very handy especially at low speed handling. I added one when i did my rebuild.