stiff steering 2001 205v

[justtrimit]

My steering is getting stiff on my 205v. Can you grease the cable to buy some time or is it a replacement deal? What kind of money am i looking at?

[seth25]

No way to grease the cable, replace it. The cable is about $200, with your direct drive, if you are handy, replace it yourself, should take you about 3 hours to do.

[RiverMC197]

Replace it. I've done it on two boats. Try to somehow connect the new cable to the old one as you pull it through where it's routed through the boat's inner workings. If you can't connect them, just make sure you pay attention to where the cable currently runs so you know where to route the new one. It's not too bad. Try www.skidim.com for the parts.

[kkkeating]

Recommend you replace the cable as soon as possible. On ours it went from "hard to turn" to "impossible to turn" in about two weeks.

[erkoehler]

We have the cable in stock and ship it out for you if you are interested.

Part Number: 100861
CABLE-STEERING 19ft
$169.99

Chicago MasterCraft
815-788-1111

[BigBarney]

Just replaced mine this weekend on my '03 X30. In 2 weeks, it really went downhill from a steering standpoint. I was afraid it was going to lock up. I took an old wakeboard rope and tied to the end of mine at the rudder connection. As I pulled the old one out from the steering wheel connection, it pulled the wakeboard rope through the route. Made snaking the new cable back through alot easier. Took about 3 hours with a buddy and a case of beer.

[wheelerd]

Did the same on my '01 X5 a couple of weeks ago. Because of the rack and pinion steering unit on the end of the cable you have to pull the new one through from the front (under the dash) to the back. Like BigBarney said just tie a rope to the back end of the old cable when you pull it out, attach the new cable to that, and pull it back through. You'll need to help it around all the other cables and wiring in the bilge as you work it through.

[MariStar-Man]

Curious as to what did anyone of you see what was wrong with the cable after you pulled it out...?

i mean did it get rusty and jam up or or frayed...? if it did jam, at what point in the cable?

i wanted to see if I was going to have any problems soon.

Arrevadeirche'!

[DanC]

Before you go through the effort, do the simple troubleshooting. Pull the cable off the rudder arm and see if it is still stiff. If it's not, then then you just have a clogged up rudder shaft. If it is still stiff, unbolt the cable from the steering wheel and make sure it is not the steering hub. While the odds are it is the cable, a gunked up rudder shaft is pretty common if you have not regularly greased it. A couple of minutes of troubleshooting will make sure you don't waste ~$200.

[flya750]

Did you grease the rudder? That will cause stiff steering...if the rudder hasn't been greased in awhile...