Steering Lock Knob

I managed to back off the steering lock knob too far this weekend until it came off in my hand and now I can’t screw it back in. It seems there must have been some kind of fitting at the other end. The knob post is threaded, but has a channel cut into it near the tip. Is there a risk of the interior piece falling down into the pedestal and causing a problem with the steering mechanism? I don’t have any idea of what the inside of the pedestal is like. I can live with tying off the wheel to lock it, but am wondering if there is a piece inside that I should think about trying to remove. It is Yacht Specialties pedestal.

Thanks,
John

Steering lock

Sorry that I can't be more help. I've only been in there once and it's been a while.

My lock doesn't work and as near as I can tell, it's because the 'brake shoes' are coated with grease. I don't know if the grease got in there on it's own or some careless mechanic just slathered grease everywhere.

On mine the 'brake shoes' are a pair of C shaped steel bars maybe 1/2 inch wide with brake material on the inside surfaces. They latch together at the top and surround the steering shaft that the wheel attaches to. The adjustment shaft screws into a fitting under the shaft. I never had mine apart far enough to actually see what this connection looks like.

To get at it, you need to remove the compass disconnecting any wires. Remove the throttle and shift housing (including disconnecting the cables)
Remove the stanchion support plate (probably includes the pedestal guard)

Remove the wheel shaft (probably means disconnecting steering chain and steering cog)

Then you can probably see the brake parts and remove them or figure out how to get the brake shaft back in place.

If it sounds like a major project, it is.

If a nut or something fell down inside the column, it might be or might someday get to a place where it might chafe on the steering cables. The steering cables should be inspected periodically for chafe damage anyway so I wouldn't be too concerned about it unless I could feel it or hear it rubbing. I think it would be unlikely to cause any other problem and even if it is in contact with a cable as the grease will likely prevent any chafe.

It also seems unlikely that the wheel brake shoes would come off. There's barely space to get them in there in the first place and they're connected at the top and bottom. Even so if they did fall into the column I doubt that they would cause any problem.

Alternatively, if bits and pieces inside the column are a concern for you, then I would consider cutting say a 1" hole in the floor under the pedestal so that I could fish around in the bottom of the pedestal and get out anything that fell in. Such a hole might be handy anyway for use when fishing wiring or running new cables, inserting an inspection mirror, or whatever.

Good Luck with it.

This happened to me once and actually wasn't as big a problem to fix as Captain Ron has outlined. Try just removing the compass and seeing what you can see down there. The space down there was too tight to hold pieces in my hands etc, but I would suggest opening yours up and seeing whats in there and you may be surprised to see what you actually can fix as the mechanism really isn't that complicated. Good luck!