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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

How to LUBE your wheel steering cables

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Initially Posted - 10/28/2002 : 15:18:35

Ladies & Gentlemen, I now have the authoritative answer from our friends at Edson. I spent 1/2 an hour this morning talking with the tech guys @ Edson regarding the lubrication and maintainance of the cables of both the push-pull, and pull-pull systems used on Catalinas.
#1 NEVER use a petroleum base grease....they repeated never ! The reason is that a petroleum based grease will degrade the interior of the cable sheild. The grease will actually after a time melt the liner. You will notice this as the system gets stiffer and stiffer because as the liner degrades, the material mixed with the grease and thickens, eventually it will clog the cables completely. When asked for a time frame for failure, he said that you probably would not sense the effect of this degradation in 4-5-6 years, but it is cumulative and a might take 10-15 years to actually fail.
#2 Use only a non-petroleum Teflon grease. If you have used petroleum based grease he recommends that you dissasemble the system, clean out all the grease possible, and re-lube with the TEFLON grease.
#3 There are 2 methods to lubricat the cables without complete dissasembly. one is to turn the wheel hard a port, and smear teflon grease on both exposed ends of opposing cables,,,,then turn hard starboard and do the same on each exposed portion of cable. He recommends doing that a few times, then turn the wheel back and forth from lock to lock in an attempt to "work" the grease into the cable shroud.
#4.. Edson has available an in-line grease cup (Part # 918-250C) specifically made for the Catalina cable. To install it you will have to remove the inner cable, cut the outer casing ( assumably somewhere in the middle of the length) and this grease cup will then clamp in-line. Periodically you would fill the cup with Teflon grease, and then screw down the cap periodically to squish more grease into the cable.

That's it.....another major project!

Gclarke C250 WB Left coast

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cat30
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Response Posted - 10/28/2002 : 15:36:37

an edson rep at the catalina rendezvous in newport RI last year told everyone to use oil - which pentrates the wire cable better than the teflon grease that came with the edson parts i bought.

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Response Posted - 10/28/2002 : 15:50:34

Hey Cat 30 if that is so, then the question arises,,,what lightweight oil is available, that is NOT petroleum based...it would out of necesity need to be a synthetic, and hopefully with a teflon additive.
It couldn' be tri- flow, although it has teflon, it is in fact pet-based....boy i'm going to have to do smoe deep homework now....any ideas ????????

Gclarke C250WB left coast

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Arlyn Stewart
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Response Posted - 10/28/2002 : 16:36:46

An open cable design is sounding better and better...

Arlyn C-250 W/B #224

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Derek Crawford
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Response Posted - 10/28/2002 : 18:16:05

Crikey Mates! After reading this topic AND the C250 Forum I'm even happier that I have a tiller...<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>
Derek

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cat30
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Response Posted - 10/31/2002 : 14:18:27

This is confusing- but after listening to the edson rep talk about maintenance on the steering cable -- using oil instead of their teflon grease -- i had to go up to him to get a clarification- he said use oil- now i am confused- i believe he said regular motor oil- i don't remember now what weight- what does the edson site say about this? it says use 30 weight oil for steering cables(it says most boaters have this on board) but other weights will be OK. It says for pull-pull cables use teflon grease.

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Response Posted - 10/31/2002 : 16:36:58

Now the obfuscation becomes transparent???????? The reason Edson customer tech told me that pull-pull MUST have teflon grease is that the "liner" and outer shield are made from a product NOT shared by other systems. This liner is sensitive to chemical degradation from petroleum products.....that of course would include any oils or greases made from good old crude . So Teflon particularly, and other synthetics are what is recommended for our Boats. Again I was told that this damage is not immediate, could take well over 5+ years for any noticeable damage to take place..... so oil it if ya want, but according to the manufacterer, it becomes one of those "Pay me now....or pay me later" deals.

Gclarke C250WB.....Left coast

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Buzz Maring
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Response Posted - 10/31/2002 : 16:44:32

<font color=blue>The reason Edson customer tech told me that pull-pull MUST have teflon grease is that the "liner" and outer shield are made from a product NOT shared by other systems.</font id=blue> - Gary

Gary,

I'm inferring from that statement that if you have the old push/pull, single-cable system that petroleum-based lubricants are OK ... is that correct?

Buzz Maring, C-25 SK/SR #68, "Freya"

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.