Sign's of a bad Steering Cable

[77_Tahiti]

Guy's
My steering was acting a little strange this weekend, how can I tell if my steering cable is going bad?

[77charger]

do you feel lots of resistence.Is it hard to turn.

[Bubbledeck2]

77charger is right.
However if "strange" means sloppy, binding, or erratic, check all the connections and linkages. If that all looks good then check out your rack or rotary helm for problems .. broken tooth, bolts loose or missing.

[jaqquuuz]

One thing to look for is cracking on the cable look at areas where the cable makes a turn. If you do see cracking I would replace the cable. Also if it takes two hands to turn the wheel replace the cable.

[Brendella]

if you have cracking in the cable you don't have to replace it. You will need to clamp it with zip ties over the area that is cracked. the reason being is that the cable travels thru a bunch of other cables. the tend to breack at the bends. If your cable is broke in have an the single cable in side isn't , what will happen is that the single cable will come out. thus causing problems.
check all connections I fix a friends jet,couldn't steer. connection on jet to tight so I loosened it and never had a problem again.

[77_Tahiti]

Guys,
The steering was at times very resistant and requiring two hands to turn. Also seemed like it was not responding like I am used to.(it would turn to hard or not enough) Sounds like I should look it over for cracks, if there are no cracks should I still replace it? I did look the linkage over and seemed to be good.

[Bubbledeck2]

77 Tahiti I just finished replacing my steering cable .. mine was tight ever since I bought the boat 5 seasons ago, so I figured it was time because it got a little worse each year. Mine was consistently hard to steer though, meaning the resistance didn't come and go. I'd look for binding linkage or a bad helm or rack. Disconnect both ends of the cable and see if you can work the cable .. it should move without too much force .. then with the cable still disconnected turn the wheel and also the jet nozzle .. do those things and you will isolate the problem :-)

[rivercrazy]

I would definately replace a stiff steering cable. The price is not that high and the potential for it locking up or breaking would not be a fun experience! No steering will put you and your buddies in danger real quick....