Steering cable sheave repair/alignment

Engines, Drive trains, Propellers, Steering, Ground Tackle and other mechanical system
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dgrodey
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2023 8:50 am

Steering cable sheave repair/alignment

Post by dgrodey »

One of the jobs I had to tackle was getting the starboard sheave wheel for the cockpit helm under control. The clues were lots of brass glitter on the forward helm sheave wheel which is below it. I slacked off the control cable from the quadrant, unbolted the sheave and pulled the pin to get it out. I found the bushing and pin to be really worn and the wheel had started to knife edge. I paid a machine shop to replace the oil lite bushing and make a new pin. Much less expensive than buying a new one. The root cause of the wear was the sheave was misaligned between the angle of the pedestal sheave and the quadrant. When I reinstalled it, I had to make a couple of shims to go on the bottom bolts to get everything aligned better (not perfect, just better). Also found the cables were crossing on the back side of the quadrant. No wonder the helm felt a little crunchy. Interestingly, I also solved the mystery as to why I had 2 longer bolts holding the sheave. Anyway, I got everything put back together and adjusted. Steering feels much better now!
Attachments
Before
Before
20221116_105247[1].jpg (1.69 MiB) Viewed 3327 times
pin wear
pin wear
20230130_093157[1].jpg (1.84 MiB) Viewed 3327 times
after repair
after repair
20230120_111124[1].jpg (2.66 MiB) Viewed 3327 times

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