My motor all of a sudden has gotten hard to turn. Is this a grease issue or do you think it is something bigger? It is not power steering but it is ridiculously harder than it has been in the past. NOTE: The boat sat for about a year before I ran it so I am thinking it needs to be cleaned up and lubricated.

Thoughts?

Corroded steering cable. Some can be lubed, some can not. Corroded or rusted tilt tube, clean and lube or replace. Also,if your motor has a zerc for the center post/shaft, lube that also.

It is a 150 yamaha v-max. I took the steering cables both out of the tube cleaned and greased them... the motor turns freely without so no issies there. But even without the cables attached to the motor they are hard as heck to move in and out... I put it all back together and will hopefully have some insight tomorrow.

Thanks for any help

Best to replace them. You will see a number on the cables about 12 to 18in. from the cable connection nuts.

Go hydraulic. You'll wonder why you didn't do it a long time ago.

^^^^ what he said, zero feedback , 10 times safer

we can do hydraulic and no feed back cable

Hydro around 1300
Its up to what steering you have cables are around 200 each

Replace the cable lube lasted a short time

Replace the cables or go hydraulic. My bass boat had cables and I was replacing them every 2 years. Hydraulic is best in the long run.

Hyd. is the way to go but you mentioned the motor is hard to move with the cables disconnected. I'd pull everything apart, clean lube and reinstall.

I just changed the steering cables on mine on Saturday and it fixed my problem with hard steering. I was able to find them for $125 each, which wasn't terrible. Did you try turning your steering wheel while the cables were disconnected from the engine and out of the tubes? If it was still hard to turn then the cables probably need to be replaced. You can do another check by disconnected the cable racks from the steering helm. If the steering wheel turns freely, then it's for sure your steering cables.

NEVER EVER put grease on your steering cables, it cakes up and causes it to bind.
Silicone, penetrating oil, lithium, just NOT grease.
If it's gotten stiff you can usually pull the cables out of the tubes and use penetrating oil to clean and free them up again.

Same problem on my boat. Replaced both cables and can turn with ease now. 125 each online.

Yea ordering new cables today and plan on replacing with regular cables. I don't fish enough to need hydraulic. Once a year if that is all my boat sees anymore...