Broken steering cable

212rowboat

who has ever pulled one?  This will be a first for me... 

Was adjusting the trim sender and turned outdrive where I could access the posts, and... snap!!!! There was no binding, no stoppage or difficulty... just SNAP and free wheel... 

I'm all but certain it broke in the rack... so, just do it right and buy a rack and cable... I've got to pull the broken one out to see how long I need... I'm guessing 14 to 16' on a 212 Captiva? 

It appears straigh forward in task... those are the spooky ones though... is there anything I need to know before diving into this? 

As I understand it, the cable is disconnected from the power steering ram at the back of engine.. a line tied to it, and its pulled forward from the helm... reverse for install.. are there cable ties anywhere? Is it strapped to the shifter/throttle cable?  Am I going to swear profusely while doing this?  

rasbury

Straight forward task...that's so cute🤪. Have not delved into that one yet but since I clicked on this, I'm sure that will be my next issue...yes I would think some sort of pull through vs poke and hope thru program would be it...good luck, let us know so I can fix mine.

212rowboat

thank you Ras... did you know you're the ONLY one to answer one of my questions about fixing something? Seriously.... i got to go to iboats to get help... or the hull truth... or some other place where folks don't even know me... 

rasbury

Everyone is just busy now - keep in mind this forum has a lot of tinker types (like me) and boating enthusiast- iboats has people that help them sell parts with good strong technical ability. 

Liberty44140

I’ve never ran a steering cable, only shift and throttle cables which was as easy as disconnect, snake, reconnect. 

reneechris14

this the rack at the helm 4 bolts you can unbolt here and slide though. If this is what broke you are welcome to it.

rasbury

See @212rowboat people are busy getting there boats in the water, the helping hand is there! That steering cable is a hunk, I'm sure you can tie the new one on and pull it through!

212rowboat

the housing of the cable broke off the rack... when i turn the wheel the cable still moves in and out, but the cable housing now moves with it, disallowing the cable to actuate the steering rams.  it just pushes a loop instead.. 

i'm sure i'm lucky not to have had this happen, it's a 15 year old boat and a salt water ride.. i KNOW i'm lucky for it to happen on the hard instead of pushing 50mph and turning past a marker with family onboard. 

the last week i've done pretty much nothing but work on boats.. mine is as close to perfect as she'll see again, with the exception of adjusting the trim sender and some vent hose from the bilge.... i turned the wheel to expose the trim sender and POP free wheel. DANG IT!!! (i surely didn't say dang.. i certainly said it's cousin and several accentuators to drive my feeling home to anyone present).. 

I haven't pulled the old one yet... a tropical storm is moving in as i type.. does anyone know the length needed for a 212 captive of the 2005 vintage? 

212rowboat

reneechris14 said:

this the rack at the helm 4 bolts you can unbolt here and slide though. If this is what broke you are welcome to it.

thank you Sir, but that isn't the part that broke... hold onto that for yourself or someone else who loses theirs.  my breakage is what that attaches to- the 'rack' as it is.  that would be the steering pinion... 

aero3113

212rowboat said:

thank you Ras... did you know you're the ONLY one to answer one of my questions about fixing something? Seriously.... i got to go to iboats to get help... or the hull truth... or some other place where folks don't even know me... 

@212rowboat , with 2,325 posts, know one has helped you. I’m sure that can’t be true?

212rowboat

Search it.  Look for threads started by me. 

aero3113

@212rowboat if that’s the truth, I’m sure there’s no reason behind it, we’re all here to help each other. But with 2,326 posts, no one helped you?

rasbury

@212rowboat is the resident trailer expert among other things I'm sure...

reneechris14

The part will be on the housing of the cable but the manufacturer has changed hands. When I did the one on my 270 years ago I had to bring to west marine lay it out on the floor and match it up. Part numbers were different. The 270 was easy to snake down the side do to the lay out.

PickleRick

I like to help when i can but I've never replaced a steering cable.   I've never even pulled one when parting out a boat.  

I've replaced the tiller handle which steers my sailboat.  After looking online at prices i used a wheel barrel handle from the hardware store.  Put spar varnish on it and so far no one has noticed in 5 plus years of ownership.

Iboats and even the searay forum are a good go to when the answer cannot be found here.  I had to go to iboats for shift cable routing.  

Willhound

Same here, would help, but have never had to do it, so don't know. All those sites you mentioned can be useful and I've been on them all. Just a closer, friendlier bunch here.

212rowboat

so.... steering cable was removed, and that was the worst part.  the cable is OE and the bend was almost impossible to make where it comes out of the gunnel and to the ram... i suspect that is installed before the shell's are connected.  the cable was 16'6"... I ordered a 17' rack and cable. 

the steering assist ram wouldn't budge with the cable disconnected... a no go... I could pull or push on that outdrive all i wanted and it would not budge.  so... i ordered a new steering assist actuator.  i was certain it was frozen...   

shipped from the same place and ordered at the same time, the steering assist actuator won't be here until late next week at the earliest.  cable came last night. 

I figured I'd go ahead and pull the cable through, and it wasn't that bad.  it's fortunate Rinker didn't tie all kinds of stuff to it... and pulling a rope through at the same time i pulled the old cable out made it easier.  

having the actuator loose (strange design.... a 1" bolt on top with tab-lock nut, and one on bottom also with lack tab nut... why not all the way through? there is no fluid in that area) made sending the cable through the ram a lot easier- and i did this 'just' to try.  the cable broke right where the casing met the rack- and i had since figured it was the power assist actuator being frozen the whole time.  well... turns out i was wrong. 

new cable in, the steering has never been better.... 

but here is the 'rest of the story': 

everywhere i read about this talked about "flats up" upon reinstall... i had no clue what they were talking about... well, when the cable goes in and you're tightening the big hex to the housing, the housing likes to spin in place... I gripped it with vice grips to keep that from happening... i didn't like doing this.  once when it spun when the grips lost grip, low and behold- flats... on the housing... near where the colter pin goes through the steering cables eye..... well, that made it easier to hold... it is a 3/4" wrench... 

and now i know what 'they' are talking about when they say 'flats'.  

and... to my knowledge, it was NEVER 'up'.... i have pictures i took a long time ago when trying to point out where the grease zerk for the gimbal is- and i looked... guess what? flats were not up.... 

so what is the big deal? 

without those flats perpendicular, the actuator doesn't know which direction you're turning... the flats trip a valve as they pass... guess what works now?  uh.... power steering.  for the first time ever on this boat. 

YYZRC

I ordered a new steering cable; thank you @212rowboat for the write-up.

YYZRC

Just to update this thread for anyone tackling this. Running the cable was no problem in the 350 - I didn’t pull the old one out first, I just used the various access holes (speaker at helm, access panel under helm seat) to run the new cable. I then removed the old cable afterwards. 

Removing the rack from the steering hub was easy, four bolts and out. 

Removing the male end of the cable was also easy. Loosen the large bolt from the hydraulic actuator, remove the pin and the cable just pulls out. Reverse to install the new one.