2018 210 FSH - Steering cable gone already

[Bruce]

I literally touched my "silicone ball" and it just fell off the hull.

That made the job easier but is concerning about water intrusion. Was she bilging a lot?

I believe I resorted to using a hammer after removing some of the bulk of sealant.

I remember changing four cables in a few hours.

 

[Foobar]

That made the job easier but is concerning about water intrusion. Was she bilging a lot?

I believe I resorted to using a hammer after removing some of the bulk of sealant.

I remember changing four cables in a few hours.

Always bone dry.

I've been looking for some video on someone removing some cables from any jet boat, but haven't found anything useful yet. Maybe I will do one.

 

[Bruce]

I've been looking for some video on someone removing some cables from any jet boat, but haven't found anything useful yet. Maybe I will do one.

There are posts with pictures here. I am not aware of any videos.

 

[Skroggy66]

100 hours on mine salt water 95 of them. Wash and hit with Sea Foam Deep Creep. spray down all the outside medal with it except the zinks.
no problem as of yet. And I leave it in a week at a time in the winter on vacation 4 weeks total. Ill put of a pic of it when I get to my iPad.

I use Yamaha chain lube. Works great.

 

[Liveto99]

@Foobar i Just got my boat back from dealer 100 hour service. Dealer showed me the little plate on the front of the throttle just comes out with a knife and behind it is a screw on each side. This tightens the throttle Or loosens it. Mine is tight now and I freaked out till I remembered he showed me because he tighten it up. Try to loosen the screw a bit and see if that is the problem.
Crap that was steering problem u had, it sucks to get old I can’t remember shit.

 

[Skroggy66]

@Foobar i Just got my boat back from dealer 100 hour service. Dealer showed me the little plate on the front of the throttle just comes out with a knife and behind it is a screw on each side. This tightens the throttle Or loosens it. Mine is tight now and I freaked out till I remembered he showed me because he tighten it up. Try to loosen the screw a bit and see if that is the problem.
Crap that was steering problem u had, it sucks to get old I can’t remember shit.

Can I get a better description on where this plate is?

 

[Bruce]

Can I get a better description on where this plate is?

Back of the base of the throttle. It is only for adjusting the throttle.

 

[Liveto99]

Front for the FSH on the bottom housing under the two throttle handles. On the base that holds the handles. I’ll do pic when I get to my boat today.

 

[Liveto99]

Here

 

[Frank Marshall]

@Foobar I've been chasing cathodic protection in our boats, and have found none of the cables are bonded, nor lots of other things. I suspect that is part of the cause of the quick death of your cables. I haven't proven it out, but I grounded mine under the helm to see if it helps. Now when I put an ohm meter on the cables at the back of the boat to the anode, I get 0 ohms. This should help protect the cables via the anode sacrifice.

 

[Foobar]

I cut the cable open today to see what was going on. In the attached pic you see the small section at the bottom has been compressed. It was acting like a set of Chinese finger cuffs. Once it compressed like that, there was no way the steering cable was going to move through it. Above the small "finger cuff" section is what the plastic sheath should look like.

Also, as you can see, the steering cable isn't the traditional braided wire. It is solid with grooves along the entire cable. So, there is little chance the cable will corrode through, but when it does get corrosion in the cable it will mangle the plastic sheath.

The top most cable is the where the aluminum section meets what looks like a brass rod. This is where the rubber boot was not seated correctly. Salt water got in, created a build up, and the cable tore up the plastic sheath.

Also to note, there was not a huge amount of corrosion in the cable. It could have been just enough to do this or it could have been a faulty cable.

 

[Foobar]

@Foobar I've been chasing cathodic protection in our boats, and have found none of the cables are bonded, nor lots of other things. I suspect that is part of the cause of the quick death of your cables. I haven't proven it out, but I grounded mine under the helm to see if it helps. Now when I put an ohm meter on the cables at the back of the boat to the anode, I get 0 ohms. This should help protect the cables via the anode sacrifice.

I will give this a shot when I install the new cables. How, where did you ground the cables?

 

[Frank Marshall]

I ran a wire from the back side of a throttle mount bolt to a steering mount bolt, from there to a fuel tank securing bracket bolt under the seat plate in the center console changing room. The fuel tank is already grounded. Also be sure to use heavy gauge wire, #6 or larger. Resistance needs to be less than 1 ohm.

Grounding wire from throttle mount to steering mount.


Grounding wire from steering mount, headed to the fuel tank securing bracket.


Grounding wires at the fuel tank securing plate. One wire goes up to steering. One goes back to house and engine grounds. The other goes forward to trolling battery ground.


I also had to reset the bolts on the fuel tank plate. They must have Loctite on them. I was getting 6 ohms, until I reset them. It's critical to get less than 1 ohm resistance. Now they are at 0 ohms. I'll have to check those bolts from time to time to make sure they are not coming loose.

I ran the ground to the house and engine grounds because I was getting 40 ohms without that line.

 

[Corey]

@Foobar how did your steering cable replacement turn out. Took my 190 FSH out today and steering wheel was almost impossible to turn. Still went out but fought it hard to turn it. Guess I'll be replacing mine. Dis you do a video on your replacement? Did you find a cheaper alternative for the cable? OEM is $350. Any insight you could give or pointers would be much appreciated. How long did it take you to replace yours?

 

[Foobar]

@Foobar how did your steering cable replacement turn out. Took my 190 FSH out today and steering wheel was almost impossible to turn. Still went out but fought it hard to turn it. Guess I'll be replacing mine. Dis you do a video on your replacement? Did you find a cheaper alternative for the cable? OEM is $350. Any insight you could give or pointers would be much appreciated. How long did it take you to replace yours?

You should replace it. The plastic sheath probably got mangled. At some point you won't be able to turn it at all. I did not do a video on the replacement. I got the cable from Yamaha. The price difference wasn't that much. It took about 4 hours as I was replacing 2 cables.

 

[Corey]

You should replace it. The plastic sheath probably got mangled. At some point you won't be able to turn it at all. I did not do a video on the replacement. I got the cable from Yamaha. The price difference wasn't that much. It took about 4 hours as I was replacing 2 cables.

Okay I’ll order new cable assembly and replace it. How did you get the nut off at back of transom? Open end socket? Do you remember the size? (Probably will be same size on my boat). Any other parts you recommend purchasing other than steering system assembly? Thank you @Foobar!

 

[Julian]

I always coat those cables with a thick marine grease as often as I can remember. I pull back the boot, grease there, and push the boot back on.

 

[Liveto99]

wash off everything in back and spray down with deep creep from Sea Foam I’m in salt water all the time 125 hours.

 

[swatski]

I spray with CRC656 all the time, on the lift or trailer.

--

 

[Corey]

FYI Anyone that needs to replace their steering cable (which I will say everyone will at some point), the job is easy. Do not pay the $900+ the dealer charges. The cable is $330 on Boats.net. To remove the nut on the rear transom all you will need is a crowfoot flare nut wrench. Took about 45 minutes to hour to replace. You will need to pull the 5-gallon bucket tub on the swim deck to access the rear.
Neiko 03324A 3/8" and 1/2-Inch Drive Crowfoot Flare Nut Wrench Set, Metric, 8mm to 24mm | 15-Piece Set, Cr-Mo Steel