DIY Steering Cable Luber

[JetPowered]

I would up the pressure. 30 psi did nothing for me. It wasn’t until I upped to 60-70 psi that I had slow movement of fluid.

 

[Hyooz2004]

I had mine on an air compressor with at least 70 psi and it still took a while.

 

[Speedling]

Wow, 70 psi?!
I bumped to 40 at one point and it started dripping out the one connection so I had to run in there and tighten it up.
I got the plunger part loose from the gate side and worked it in and out. I am getting a lot of white corrosion stuff coming out that is very gritty.
So I plunger it 3 times, wipe it off, repeat repeat.
I got tired, and I wake up at 4 in the morning, so I took my ladder (been working off that because as I pumped air in, and went down, I found I needed the end of the hose/pump up high, then I could disconnect and fill with more oil) and tied the loose end of the hose to the ladder up high so the oil might work it's way down overnight.
I will be at work from 5 am till 5 pm so we'll see if the kids messed it up or not....
I had a hard time getting the oil to just go down the tube as well - had to wrap a paper towel around the hose as I poured and then I used that towel to wipe the white corrosion off at the bottom.
It's getting better, but it's taking a while!

 

[the MfM]

I used a few air hose fittings.

By putting a female coupler on the tubing you can pre fill with oil before attaching to the cable without worrying it will spill. Then a couple male fittings attached together and you can hook it up to your compressor.

I filled the 1/2” tubing to about the 12” mark with ATF. Once it was attached I set the regulator to 50psi and attached the quick connects. Took about 15-20 minutes to push the oil through. I left the air hose connected the whole time.

It went quick enough that it wasn’t wasn’t worth making up a second one.

Went from needing two hands to turn the wheel to finger tip steering

 

[Speedling]

I had a barbed fitting that didn't do so well over 75 psi. So kept at 60 and worked the back end. Now super smooth!
Except i have to do the other side...

 

[Hezi]

Im trying to lube my steering cables from the helm but cables end inside the "steering assy". It's a rectangular part which has a warning not to take it apart or a steering failure may occur. This is on a 15' 242 LS. Any ideas? Anyone lube those cables from the helm and can give pointers on how?

 

[Claytonvdb]

Great write up. I used the clear hose but put a quick connect on the one end and hooked it to my compressor with 65 psi on it. Once the pressure was on I manually moved the thrusters on the back to actuate the cables. Oiled up in about 10 minutes

 

[dirksgoat]

1yr report after doing this. I am glad I did it, got me one more year out of my cables. I just checked them and they are a bit stiff. I pulled them to oil again, and they smoothed out some, but not like a new cable. i was putting around 70-80 psi and also grabbing the bucket end of cable and working it back and forth. took a few hrs for clean oil on both cables. I ordered new cables to put in as soon as i have the time for boating season, but i could definitely get by with this for another.

I will definitely do this every year with new cables. so easy not to.

 

[d_coyne1984]

I attempted mine this evening but the black rubber seal at the very end right where the cable penetrates the hull let out most of the oil that was going though. I am guessing that is not supposed to happen? Is that seal preventing water from entering the boat?

 

[Gym]

Yes it does. I typically fill it with waterproof grease and slide it back on. I use a small zip tie to hold it in place.

 

[tdonoughue]

I should preface with the fact that I hold @Gym in the highest regard on this board. His advice is consistently well-motivated and spot-on. Absolutely.

I do ask whether this whole thing is worth it, though. If you are all in salt water, maybe that is a justification. But for us lake boaters, I don't see where we would need/want to undertake this. Even for the saltier of us, does this oiling extend things that much. If the cable and its protective covers are expired, is it not better to just replace them?

Honest question. Obviously sent with a bent of opinion, but welcome your honest view and opinion on it.

 

[Gym]

Thanks for the kudos @tdonoughue but I wasn't the genius who came up with this procedure although I have greatly benefitted from it. I believe it was @kxcam that pioneered this. I agree that fresh water users probably have little or no use for this process. However, anytime you add water, especially salt water, to steel cable you're going to have problems. When I had my first problem with frozen steering cables I used this process. It totally freed up one cable but the other was too far gone. I was at least able to turn the wheel though. Shortly after I replaced both cables to restore origional operability. I now use this process as a preventative measure. I also use it on the shifter cables. I would be happy if they came out with a "fly by wire" system eliminating the cables all together but technology brings other problems with it. Thankfully we have brainiacs like @Mainah to help us out.

 

[Cambo]

was going to pull the cables and lube but they changed the cable connection at the steering wheel. The new configuration is encased in a welded metal sleeve and if one cable goes its a single item to replace for $400.00 even more of a reason to lube them. I have done it form the back on the previous 2005 ar230 and they did not fail and still worked when the boat was sold last year. 13 years in salt water not bad they were kind of tight but I did not lube for the first couple of years.



Item 13 one line item for both cables

 

[Gym]

That's bizarre. Yamaha must have found out we were sourcing around them to save money.

 

[Beachbummer]

It must be cheaper or easier on them. No way they make those parts either. very likely this is an offering from Teleflex as in the past. (My guess, hope you are wrong but never attribute to malice that which can be attributed to other reasons.)

 

[Connecticutken]

I found these on Ebay from China @ $2.05 I'm cheap...lol!



2PCS 4.9mm NPT MPT Solid Brass Air Compressor Tank Fill Valve Schrader 140284070471 | eBay

 

[drewkaree]

was going to pull the cables and lube but they changed the cable connection at the steering wheel. The new configuration is encased in a welded metal sleeve and if one cable goes its a single item to replace for $400.00 even more of a reason to lube them. I have done it form the back on the previous 2005 ar230 and they did not fail and still worked when the boat was sold last year. 13 years in salt water not bad they were kind of tight but I did not lube for the first couple of years.

Item 13 one line item for both cables

When someone has the need to remove that steering assembly, they should tear it apart to show us the insides, since it states "steering failure may occur" if it's disassembled. I'm wondering if they just came up with this method due to something like @Beachbummer mentioned, maybe "since you need to replace one cable, you're prolly gonna need the other one soon, we'll just help you completely fix your steering, since you require repairs".

If it's just different fittings, then the DIY'ers amongst us can ignore said warnings with impunity and proceed to dirty ourselves up.

 

[the MfM]

Seeing this thread pop up again made me think of this water bandit. Handy for a lot of things. But it looks like it would be about right to hook up to the steering cables. Add a hose clamp and an air compressor adapter and you’ve got an off the shelf setup for under $15. (Add the oil to your air compressor line)

 

[MilesPrower]

When someone has the need to remove that steering assembly, they should tear it apart to show us the insides, since it states "steering failure may occur" if it's disassembled.

I posted photos of the rack & pinion housing in the Steering cable lubrication 2015+ thread.

The housing around the rack is crimped together with the cables, so there's no way to take it apart.

Stamped onto the housing: "Warning. Disassembly of this unit can lead to steering failure. Replace complete assembly."

Warnings like that have never really stopped me, but the stamped/folded/crimped steel construction is definitely preventing me from taking apart the rack housing and lubing my steering cables from the helm end.

One of my steering cables was frozen when I got my boat back from spring service, back in March, so I lubed both steering cables from the jet end, and that fixed the cable seizure. 100+ hours of salt-water boating later, I still have smooth, one-finger steering.

Thanks to everyone that contributed to this thread. All of you were so helpful.

 

[adamncincy]

Just curious, but would it be beneficial to pump carb cleaner (Gumout or CRC) or something like that, that quickly cleans grease and soot out first before pumping oil?