2011 yr 24v 82lb thrust Motorguide hard to steer. Just used my bass fishing friends boat for the first time. My friend has a 80lb thrust Minn Kota and it was TEN times easier to steer. There must be somthing wrong with my Motorguide for there to be that big of a difference. My Motorguide has always been the same hard steer sense new. Let me know what is going on with this problem before my leg falls off. helpsign

Bent shaft

There are tension adjustments on the steering cables you can check, but could be a bent shaft also.

Motorguide vs minkota.the motorguide is always hard to steer.real jerky especially at high speeds.don't expect it to be like the minkota.A bent shaft will make it worse tho
They make a trollperfect thing that helps a little.
http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Troll_Perfect_MotorGuide/descpage-TPMG.html

Mine is the same way. I just had the shaft replaced and its stiff as can be. It's been driving me crazy all week. Turning To the right on higher speeds is the worse. I'm thinking a recessed foot tray might help because sometimes I think I'm too far back, it's a little easier if I'm standing more on top of it.

If that doesn't help, I may considered a minn Kota. Mine is less than A year old. The min Kotas worry me because I hit stumps frequently. But they are easier to steer and quieter. My TM sounds like a tank on any speed over 4 or 5

Turn your pedal over and make sure that your cables are on the rollers properly.. Seen it a hundred times.. A bent or kinked shaft is easy to discern.. While boat is on trailer deploy the motor and turn the motor (at bottom) by hand. You will easily tell if it is binding in the shaft. And you will probably be able to hear it if it is really bent..

It should steer easily when properly adjusted.. There is no reason it should not work smoothly when proper tension is on cables..

james/noweighers Hey James. What is it like down there with the water level issue. We want to come down this winter and will i'm sure. I hope you get hit with this rain. What is the bite on there. Our lake alan henry is 18" below the spillway now. It was running over not long ago. It came up 6" last week. Top water YM bite is on,shakey head worm and yellow spinner bait.We have a lot of spots here now. We got a good rain this year and it came up like 17' and ran over the spillway. Thanks for your info were going to look at in the am.

Motorguides are NOT hard to steer, unless there is something wrong with them. Have owned several. Here's a list of potential problems:
1-Bearing between the shafts is gone
2-Steering cable has come off the sheaves under the foot pedal
3-Control cable bundle is in a bind
4-Frayed steering cable you can't see

Sent you a PM

yep

Tension was too tight on mine. I looked at and adjusted one side and it seems to turn easily now, in the garage at least.

Moved the adjustments on the steering cables and that corrected half of the problem. Oiled the two rollers shafts and foot pedal shaft. Put a little oil down the two cable shaft until they would not take any more. Now it moves free like the Minnkota. Thank you one and all. Got it done.