Stiff or seized outboard steering cable: tilt tube, telescopic ram and how surveyors write it up

Mechanical steering on an outboard runs through a cable whose ram slides in and out of the engine's tilt tube. Salt gets into both. The steering maker Dometic SeaStar, in an article published by Canadian Boating, calls lack of maintenance the main cause of stiff steering and, in extreme cases, a seized cable.

What SeaStar recommends

At least twice a year:

• check for stiffness, binding, too much free play and wear
• clean corrosion out of the tilt tube with a wire brush, and scour the ram with a brass brush
• grease the tilt tube and the ram's sliding parts with water-resistant marine grease
• replace any cable whose plastic outer jacket is damaged

SeaStar adds that the cables and their components can't be repaired. A cable that's deteriorated, won't move or works in any way other than correctly has to be replaced. It also warns against non-locking fasteners, which vibration can loosen until the steering fails.

Cable or tilt tube

Disconnect the cable from the engine. If the wheel now turns freely but the engine is hard to swing by hand, the stiffness is in the tilt tube or the engine's swivel. If the wheel is still stiff with the engine disconnected, the cable itself is the problem.

Writing it up

Say how the steering felt lock to lock and where it was stiff. Say whether you disconnected the cable to find out why. Note the jacket's condition where it bends, and the fasteners at both ends.

Photos to take

The ram and tilt tube, and the jacket where it enters the engine well. With Axsail, say how the wheel feels as you turn it and it goes into the finding.