Glen-L.com

I am working on a TNT and have a 1980 20hp merc. The merc came off a pontoon and has controls. I bought a teleflex steering kit and and am trying to test it out. The motor has a tilt tube which fits the cable just fine, but the old stub of the tiller arm (apparently the motor was converted from a tiller to controls as some point) is blocking where the link arm needs to go for a left turn.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/p2W40qC9pX_W_ernTvBdCw?feat=directlink



You can see the link arm is not going to fit in this position. I know this was used with steering before, but maybe they used a transom cable mount? I could to that but I might have trouble dealing with the extra slack that going to result. What else can I do?

I saw one case where someone had a steering tube extension of some kind which offsets forward from the existing tilt tube. Any idea where to get something like that?

Or is there some way to remove the old tiller completely and put some new attachment on the motor for the link arm? (The moter link arm attachment is currently attached to the motor via the stub of the tiller handle.

Any chance you could just bend it upwards at the end to get the clearance you need, not that clear in the photo,

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This is my first, last and only boat build.

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First I have not seen this before, but from your pic,I would say you have two choices:

1) take the tiller mount off,which you may be able to do it as is, but may have to pull the powerhead to access the bottom of the tiller mount.....depends how it attaches.

2) Get a longer cable and run it from the port side instead of the starboard side

Off set cable mounts are from :

http://www.trmarine.com/cats/mounts.html

But I don't think they will work in your case....Maybe PM Galamb and ask what to do on these

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Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

Hello Tim, I got your message. I haven't been around this site at all for the past couple of months. Been super busy and boatbuilding has been moved to the "backseat" (or maybe the trunk would be closer to the truth)

Anyhow, your issue can be easily remedied. The "great oracle" at Merc has thought of everything, including how to connect the steering on a tiller conversion.

Merc part number 11606A1 will fix your issue. Unfortunately, it sells as a whole kit (see pic below) and they go for about 95 bucks. But it does give you all the clearance you need so the steering doesn't bind. The new tilt tube in the kit is longer than your current one which wasn't designed to fully support a steering system. A bit of a pain to change, but will add a few years of life to your steering cable which will be "less exposed" to the elements than with the shorter tube.

The first pic is what it looks like actually installed (15 horse Merc/Mariner tiller converted to remote). You can see the rod clears everything and even will (mold) to the shape of the cowl on an extreme turn.

So pricey, but there is an OEM solution. Alternately, you can just try jury riggin' something up.

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Graham

Yes, Plywood is "real" wood

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