Steering cable replacement
 

I replaced the steering cable in my 2003 mastercraft X 30
It was really easy I ordered the cable from the mastercraft dealer in Minnesota for $155
I could barely turn the wheel and now I can easily move it with a pinky

1) unbolt the 4 bolts under the steering wheel, and pull it around and through the kick wall. You should be able to grab it under the bow cushion.
2) Disconnect from the rudder and unscrew from the shaft.
3) tie a rope or sometype of cable to rudder end.
4) Pull it through toward the bow side. (I did pull up the floor board above the gas tank but I could of done it without doing that.)
5) Once you have it through, tie rudder side of new cable to rope/cable feed it into the hole behind the kick wall from the bow side.
6) Pull back through to rudder, slide through shaft and reconnect to rudder. Re attach the four bolts to the bottom of the steering wheel.
7) If you haven't done recently get a grease gun and add some to the shaft the steering cable went through and to the rudder. (There is a little metal niple the grease gun will attach to)

Nice!! I may have to do this soon on my x-30. Did you just tie the rope through the hole on the rudder end when you pulled it through? Also did you have any hang-ups when you pulled the new one back and through?Just curious.

Yeah I tied the rope to the rudder end and pulled it through, I didn't have any hang ups pulling it through. I did read in other posts people that said thier steering cable was in a plastic clip, mine was not, I did see the clips they referred to but there was no issue with them for me.

Also just read that a guy had to lift his gas tank to get it through. He had a 2001 with a 60gallon tank like mine. Not sure what your size would be.

yeah I have a 60 gallon tank, there should be no reason to pull the tank, the cable runs under it offset to the driver side. I could see having to pull the tank if you pulled it the opposite way, but that would be much more difficult. At the most pull up the floor board over your tank, IMO that is the hardest part. I did power wash the bilge while I had the floor up, something to think about if your gonna do it.

i would use wire instead of rope.... made things a lot easier for me anyways

I didn't use wire or a rope, but instead duct taped my new cable to my old one so that when pulling the old one out I was simultaneously pulling the new one in.
http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=748944

Now that's using your Noggin! Checked out your thread on it....nice job & great that you documented it to share with others!

Im sure any method to pull it through would work so if you got wire rope duct tape or anything else around the house, to follow the old one through you will have no problem getting this job done on your own.

I like Andy's way but would there any tight spots it might get hung up on? Would suck to get it half way through then get stuck. Would love to see it duck taped together. Just looks like where the duck tape bushing on the old cable and the nut on the new cable might be kind of wide.

I didnt get hung up on anything it was much easier then anticipated.

I have frantically searched for threads about this topic and appreciate the write up. I am in the middle of doing this now, had to cut the old cable and pulled a rope through. Getting ready to pull the new one through - the bad thing about the Nautiques (maybe not just them) is there is a tube that is molded into the fiberglass that is parallel to the gas tank and runs the length of the tank and up to the drivers area. It looks like it is just wide enough to fit the nut so I am hoping it doesn't get hung up - if so then a tank removal is in order (which I don't want to do). It looks like other boats are a lot simpler but this one SAN 210 2004 isn't as easy as slide in new one following the old - of course it could be my lack of skills - smile.

Hey guys I have a mastercraft 209 prostar. And the steering cable broke. I was seeing how hard it will be to replace. Thanks guys

Nautiques also have a few nearly impossible to reach tie wraps holding the cable in place. Cutting the tie wraps when I did mine added about 2 hours to the job.