volvo steering helmut shaft

[paulstenlund]

I have a broken steering helmut shaft that I need to get out of the transome plate, will it come out upwards or is there a shoulder on it that won't allow me to use a puller to pull it up. I couldn't drive it down, the aluminum shaft is corroded to a steel steering arm after being in the salt climate for 20+ years

Thanks
Paul

[Frosty]

I think your going to have to re write this question and check up on some of your terminology.

I have read your question very carefully but can not understand.

[paulstenlund]

Frosty
Thanks for your reply, when I wrote that and reread it I didn't really understand it either. Let me try again.
What I am refering to as the transom plate (no Seloc manual here at work) is the large plate that bolts to the transom, your drive shaft goes thru it and attaches to the outdrive, your steering fork attaches to both sides of the outdrive at the top and goes up thru what I'm calling the transom plate and has a steering lever (tiller) attached to it on the inside of the boat that the steering ram moves left/right to turn the outdrive. The shaft that travels up thru the transom plate completly corroded/disentegrated over the years in a salt environment (once I got access I found disconnected ground wire labeled "Steering fork", just a bit of trivia to confuse things more, but probably the cause of the corrosion). So, what I have is about two inches of the steering fork shaft (aluminum) that won't budge, Ive soaked it in Aero Kroil for two weeks. Tried to drive it down but it won't budge. The common conception is that it is fused to the steel steering lever(tiller). A millwright friend of mine devised a puller to hopefully pull it up, no dice. He suggested that perhaps the was a shoulder on the shaft that wouln't allow it to come up. I can't tell from the photos, drawings that I can find if there is a shoulder or not. I hope this helps you. I will try to come up with a better explanation but its not my strong suit, maybe photos. Thanks again for your reply, if you google "Volvo 270 steering helmut" you can usually get a picture from Ebay of the component. The boat just ain't much fun with no steering ----- interesting story on getting back to the dock.

Thanks again
Paul

[tuantom]

Perhaps the ever-handy sawz-all (reciprocating saw) with a metal cutting blade is in order.
I'm not sure what shoulder you mean - But; from what I gather, the steering arm is corroded on the steering fork shaft and can't be budged, making it impossible to drive the fork and shaft (these two are not separable) down through the transom plate (yes, it must go toward where the outdrive would be). I assume you've already removed the bolt. If memory serves - the back of the steering arm is not a continuous loop; so you should be able to drive a wedge into it to open it up. How bad and where is the corrosion?
-Tom

[paulstenlund]

Tom
Yes now we have communication - that is it the steering arm seems to be permanently stuck to the steering fork shaft. But.... the steering fork is not on the steering fork shaft the steering fork shaft disentegrated(below the steering arm and above the steering fork sothey are involuntarily separated). I pulled the steering fork and the SF shaft that remained attached to it down thru the transom plate. That leaves about 2" of steering fork shaft left in the transom plate held captive by the steel steering arm. I hopeing to pull the remaining piece of shaft UP out of the transome plate with a puller that a millwright friend fabricated.

Hope this clears somethings up and doesn't cloud the issue even more

Thanks
Paul

[tuantom]

I'm still a fan of the sawz-all idea - it'll go faster than you think; besides, you'll need a new steering fork anyway. Something of the steering fork must be left on the shaft - otherwise it should pull up. There should be nylon bushings in the transom plate for the SF shaft, so the metals shouldn't have fused together there. Can you turn it?

[paulstenlund]

Tom
I agree with the sawz-all I was suggesting that to my friend (cutting off the steering arm) when he came up with the pull it up with the puller idea and then we can use the steering arm again. The steering fork is on the swimstep with about 5-6 inches of shaft attached, about 2 inches of shaft are still in the transom plate apparently fused to the steel (none volvo, custom) steering arm. Yes it does turn so its not fused to the transom plate. I was thinking the SF shaft might be like this so it wouldn't pull up thru:

| |
shoulder -> | |

Dang, I'll put the calipers on the shaft remaining on the SF and on the top of shaft and see. Took me a while to figure that out - just came to me - probably wouldn't have without this discussion.

[paulstenlund]

Oops, my ASCII graphics didn't post well, I meant to illustrate the lower part of the shaft having a larger diameter than the top part