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I fell for it too! Steering was tight and so I thought "cable must be bad"
2003, 206 limited. 170 hrs
I started by taking the cable off the tiller. I had to use two hands to move the rudder. Ok. Dropped the rudder, cleaned some very old and dry grease from the port and the rudder shaft. Installed the rudder. Smooth as could be!
Reconnected the cable. Still tight steering. Must be the cable!
Removed the rack from the helm. Pushed stern side of cable in. Slid in without much effort. That got me wondering. Maybe the cable was ok.
Next I tried to spin the wheel and it was still tight.
I removed the tilt helm assembly. Then removed the lower section from the tilt part. The lower section was fine!
Next I removed the c-clip and pulled the shaft from the assembly. Holding the u-joint in my hand I could feel it binding.
I took the u-joint apart, cleaned more old dry grease from it and put it back together.
One note, you can over tighten the two Allen screws that hold the u-joint in place, then the steering binds again.
Have a look at the videos. It isn't always the cable (or rudder). About 2hrs of time and $1 in shop supplies and I'm back in business!
https://youtube.com/shorts/_GLiqbELt...iW-NRUMY8Ap6aH
https://youtube.com/shorts/NItBEoaE8...RE9S6_rTWIsnQw
2003, 206 limited. 170 hrs
I started by taking the cable off the tiller. I had to use two hands to move the rudder. Ok. Dropped the rudder, cleaned some very old and dry grease from the port and the rudder shaft. Installed the rudder. Smooth as could be!
Reconnected the cable. Still tight steering. Must be the cable!
Removed the rack from the helm. Pushed stern side of cable in. Slid in without much effort. That got me wondering. Maybe the cable was ok.
Next I tried to spin the wheel and it was still tight.
I removed the tilt helm assembly. Then removed the lower section from the tilt part. The lower section was fine!
Next I removed the c-clip and pulled the shaft from the assembly. Holding the u-joint in my hand I could feel it binding.
I took the u-joint apart, cleaned more old dry grease from it and put it back together.
One note, you can over tighten the two Allen screws that hold the u-joint in place, then the steering binds again.
Have a look at the videos. It isn't always the cable (or rudder). About 2hrs of time and $1 in shop supplies and I'm back in business!
https://youtube.com/shorts/_GLiqbELt...iW-NRUMY8Ap6aH
https://youtube.com/shorts/NItBEoaE8...RE9S6_rTWIsnQw