Steering cable replacement 04 XLV Gravity

Hey guys... I know there are other posts about this but thought I'd make one for a few other tips learned...

First I tried the attach a rope to rudder end and pull... worked until end of cable vanished under floor, then no mas. I really didn't want to deal with pulling up the floor.

When the above did not work I asked my lovely wife for the screw gun and proceeded to pull the 13 or so screws that hold the floor in place. Don't forget the 4 in the driver's cupholders. This pulling of the floor did not go over so hot with the wife but in hindsight it was well worth it and necessary. The steering cable was tie wrapped about 5 times to the bundle of hoses and wires which ran forward to the driver console (a bit of info that I haven't seen on forums in the past) and would have made pulling almost impossible unless the wraps just broke as you pulled. I say it was worth it because after the wife got mad that I pulled the floor I was able, and had to, complete the rest of the replacement myself in about an hour to hour and a half. All is put back together and can't wait to get her back on the water this weekend for our annual wakeboard and surf in costume contest. It'll be alittle cold but should be a blast.

Nice write-up! Take any pics of the process? Finding the screws and floor removal would be a great addition to the How-To forum. Glad to hear it all went smooth-ish.

Thanks again for the write-up.

No pics of the floor removal but haven't put screws back in yet... temperature and time were not on my side. I'll take photos this evening of the install process for the floor.

Album created within profile with descriptions of screw locations and counts on screws. Hope this helps in the event that you need to remove floor.
"Floor installation - screw locations"

Perfect! Thanks, that should be very helpful to someone when the time comes.

This thread and the photos have been very helpful. Thanks so much for posting!

I almost have the floor up on my 2005 XLV. It is a bit different than the 04, apparently. There are definitely fewer screws holding the floor.

I am currently stuck in one last corner of the floor, at the rightmost edge by the driver's foot. The cupholder assembly is held down by just a couple of screws. That's out of the way now, but still something is holding the edge of the floor down. I cannot tell if it's an overlap with the fiberglas wall, or something yet unseen. Attached is a pic.

Any hints? Thanks in advance.

If you've pulled all the screws in that front area, I believe it is just the overlap from the fiberglass wall. Mine was abit tough to pull out in that spot due to the wall and the shape. Don't believe there was anything past the 2 or 3 screws that were easy to see. Good luck.

Before getting to the point above, I found two extra screws underneath the driver's seat, pointing forward into the same floor strip under the driver's feet that has three obvious screws on top. So, if anyone is in the same boat (literally), that's a required step that take some serious caving ability. I don't know how anyone of average or greater height could fit into the starboard storage far enough to get to those screws.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback. Rather than work at it until something breaks, I think that I can complete the repair by just propping up the front panel instead of removing it at that corner.

Having the rear floor panel up, I can now see how to do the installation of an extra bilge pump in the middle of the fuel tank. That will be sweet to finally be able to get rid of all the extra water that won't normally drain.