Steering cable tension

[twinrudes]

Evening,
I’m connecting the steering on my twins, curious, how much tension should there be on the cables?
It is an old drum type steering with 3/16 vinyl coated cable,
Two springs at transom, one on each side,
I pulled the cables tight enough on each end to just begin to collapse the spring,
What is the general rule?
Thanks,
John

[wedgie]

Not sure about when rigging for twins, but if i recall correctly on a single motor setup It is advisable to use only one spring.

[mr-asa]

Take a look at these, John. I think the second two were written by a member

[frankr]

Actually, the cable clamp at the spring as shown in the picture is kind of dangerous. The wire can pull out of the plastic sheath in the clamp. Either leave a generous length of unused cable end beyond the clamp, or better yet, run the cable through the spring a second time, then to the clamp, OR run it through once then tie a single overhand knot, then to the clamp. I had one pull out once.

[twinrudes]

Thanks Guys!!
Someday I hope to be able to provide some help here!!
John

[johnny-infl]

I have a 1959 15′ wood cruiser that I am fixing up. It has a 1960 40hp RDSL-22 Johnson pushing it.
It has single side cables run on the starboard side. It has two springs.
I will replace the cables soon, should I use only ONE spring ?
also, does it make a difference as to the port or starboard pulley the spring hooks to ??
Thanks

[pappy]

Ya’ know….we had a discussion about this down in Winter Haven during the Naional meet. While there we saw systems that had NO springs, one spring, and two springs (mine) on single engine rigs. We questioned the owner of the rig with no springs about tilting the engine and cables jumping the spool and go the reply that it tilted just fine and had been that way for years. While I am not a proponent of no springs, to our utter amazement all of the above set-ups survived the weekend without catasrophic system failure and subsequent flaming deaths of any occupant….

[frankr]

I’ve also seen a bajillion boats with two springs. Since the reasoning behind using only one spring is the possibility of high speed fishtailing, I seriously doubt that is going to be an issue on the average boat. Racing boats—well "maybe". I have never personally encountered such a problem. No springs? Yeah, that probably can work too, if the system is otherwise properly installed I would expect the cables to be somewhat loose, but they probably would stay on.

Those old cable/pulley systems worked well when properly installed, and worked even when not properly installed, albeit accidents and mishaps often happened and were taken in stride. I once took a girl out in my boat on our second date….and the steering cable broke. She was so impressed at how well I handled the emergency that she married me. 51 years and still married.

Johnny, the one spring is to be used on the side that is slack due to torque steer under power. If I remember correctly, that is the starboard side on most rigs. But double check my memory on that.

[jerry-ahrens]

About a week ago, I worked on a Big twin mounted on the back of a 1955 Alumacraft Merry M 16ft. runabout. I could’t believe it but that boat has been running all these years without any tension springs. There were no extra holes where they had ever been mounted. The tiller cable was falling apart to. After installing new tiller cable, I went ahead and installed some new springs. I just could’t believe this boat had been running all these years that way. And this particular man uses this boat frequently, as he enjoys the vintage look.
I’m not saying that you don’t need springs here, but just thought it was remarkable.

[Author]

Posts