Help!!! Steering Issue

[Andrew Zuber]

Hey folks....

Anyone had this happen?



2000 Tracker Tournament V-18 with 2001 Merc. 90 hp motor...

good old cable steering



Put her in the lake last night....

On the first turn of the steering wheel, it felt a little rough, then the steering locked up SOLID. Wheel only has about 1 inch of play in it and motor is turned all the way to one side... It will NOT budge...feels like its been pinned or WELDED...



Any clue?



thanks

az

 

[JAMES MOORE]

I could be wrong Andy but sounds like the cable broke inside. Same thing happened to my Ranger and I ended up replacing the cable.

 

[Gene B]

Bummer dude. I'm in the middle of replacing the bunks on my trailer right now. I got 4 done last night and I'll finish the other 2 tonight. It sounds like you may have little bigger job ahead of you. Good luck.



Gene

 

[Andrew Zuber]

never felt a 'snap'....seems if it 'broke', it would at least turn in one direction, wouldn't it????



the motor doesn't have some sort of "lock" does it????



az

 

[Jim B]

I would think you either got a frozen cable or a frozen helm. Either way its most likley time to change out the whole deal.

 

[Bill McElroy]

Sounds like it's rusted AZ,....my buddy had the same thing happen to his older Champ....had to replace the whole cable!!



BTW,.."Pete" and his family are partying with my brother and his family at a big house they rented on the "Outer Banks"........a few of the USNA buds are getting together.....I feel there will be some shots, gars, a few old stories and a whole LOT of hedonism going on!! :blink::wacko:



Mac

 

[Andrew Zuber]

Called up the dealer (D & R Sports in Kalamazoo)....

Just from the symptoms, they feel the problem is in the helm....something related to the steering wheel....maybe a gear that has jammed or something to that effect...

They say the symptoms are NOT what happens when a cable breaks...if fact, the service tech said he had NEVER actually had a cable 'break'...says they're too heavy-duty to break under normal conditions....



So....I guess I'll be crawling around under the console more this evening...



wish me luck!



(the wait time at the dealer is 1.5 weeks right now...probably more after people trash their pleasure boats this weekend!!!)



az

 

[Marty Klein]

Andy: I did have the exact thing happen to me. Problem is that I've been wracking my brain as to how I resolved it. I believe I "horsed" it free. This happened a few years ago and I haven't had a problem since. I think getting underneath the helm is a better idea.

 

[Mini]

Look into replacing it with a NFB system.

 

[BRUCE W VALLONE]

just been thru the same thing.

when you buy the cable the helm comes included. the cable easly removes from the pinion at the helm. it's easy enough to swap. my issue is removing the motor. now i know there's a threaded recess in the flywheel. that's the lifting point. when you pull the old cable, tie a clothes line on to the ond one so you have a pull line to snake the new.

do this. the bandits at the local place screwes me for $250 to swap mine.

 

[Andrew Zuber]

Talk about GREMLINS...



That steering was locked as tight as if someone welded it....

Had my appt. with the repair shop to fix it....

Then...

The gremlins struck again...

IT FIXED ITSELF....



No Clue as to the cause or the cure....

Just happy my greenbacks get to stay in my wallet a bit longer...LOL



The only thing I can think that may be remotely possible....

Lots of small road pebbles usually end up under my single console when trailering...

Maybe something got stuck in the gearing behind the steering wheel???

Then...it either worked itself back out or we forced it out...



Thank heaven for little miracles!



az

 

[Bill McElroy]

Let's just hope it doesn't happen again at WOT!!!:blink::wacko: