Steering very tight on my 2008 XLV

[kreid]

the steering on my 2008 XLV is very tight. i have disconnected the steering cable from the rudder and you have to use a lot of force to turn the rudder by hand. looking at the rudder it doesn't appear to be bent in any way and there are no scratch marks on it either. does anyone have suggestions.

thanks,
Kent

[lewisb13]

Have you greased the rudder? My 05 LSV had a zerk inside the boat.

[kreid]

i have search high and low and cannot find a grease fitting anywhere. if there is a grease fitting where would it be located.

[kaneboats]

This pic shows an example of where to look. Not sure what kind of boat this was but they are all kind of similar.

rudderzerk.jpg

[kreid]

i thought thats where it should be but there is not one on my boat

[kaneboats]

I'd be tempted to drill a hole, thread it and install my own zerk.

[kreid]

yeah i thought about doing that. should there be a bushing of some sort of bushing between the drive arm and the shaft housing.

[cfdrews12]

Yes. You can also take it completely apart and find out if you got a bind some where. When I installed a new steering cable last year, I grabbed the bar by hand where it connects. It actually was a little harder to turn than I thought and I do have a fitting that allowed me to grease it. How old is your steering cable? Is there a chance that it needs replaced at the same time?

[kreid]

steering cable is original but i dont think it is the problem since it turns with not hesitation without it attached to rudder