TOPIC: Quicksilver steering wheel?

Hello, I'm a long time reader...1st time poster and have a weakness for multihulls. Today at a yard sale I picked up an old steering wheel to use on a home built I'm buildin' on. The logo in the center reads QUICKSILVER KIEKHAEFER CORP CEDARBURG WIS, 2 spoke, cast metal, painted a couple times along time ago.

My question is, being a 50 year old cast metal wheel would it be safe to use today at speed, 50-70 mph? I'm going for a vintage look, have the motor and control, thought this would be a nice touch. Thanx for your input 8^) CAT FINk

Welcome!

If the steering wheel is sound, structurally, yes. The question is: how are you going to mount it and are you going to use old style cabling with pulley?

I wouldn't go 50mph with a pulley system.

Sounds like you picked up a Mercury outboard accessory steering wheel... nice score.

I am very familiar with all the various Merc rideguide wheels and systems. You will find that the wheel needs a square tapered shaft rather than he 3/4 inch round tapered shaft most commonly found, even today.
Merc made all their rideguie wheels with this shaft mount format from the 50's through the 90's when they stopped making steering systems.
It sounds like you only have the wheel. If you can find a rideguide rack system with a push-pull cable, of any vintage, the wheel will mount to it.
Cables are problematic for Rideguide, they are NLA from everybody. So you will need NOS or used to make it work. You can still find them with some dilegence, know what length you are looking for.
Merc also made some pulley style helms for this wheel but I have not seen many, very hard to find.
If you want to adapt the wheel to a modern system with a taperd shaft you'll have to get an adapter machined to go from the square to the round. On, the particular wheel you have it does not have a through hole at the hub, it is a blind thread from the back so there is no way to apapt this without drilling a hole through the front hub/emblem area. There are later versions of the metal wheels that Merc made that have through holes and then a seperate piece that goes on the hub center to cover the bolt, these are much easier to adapt if that's the route.
I would try and find a rideguide set up and cable, it's the easiest way. A single Rideguide push-pull cable system will be fine at those speeds if everything is in good shape.

Thanx for the input. Having the name rideguide to search with helped. The wheel did come with the bazel, helm & cable. The cable is stuck and to long for what I need. When I saw the rack style I thought the wheel would fit on a new system. Almost have the wheel off now, trouble removing the piece with the gear inside the bazel from the wheel. Have it soaking in WD, will try again tomorrow and take apart the rack. Would like to use a rotary to save space behind the dash. I've got a few idea's and think something can be worked out. Thanx CAT*FINk

Here's a pic of the Ride-Guide square taper mount, hope it helps...
and a parts breakdown provided by a helpful friend;

Mark, could you send me a blow up scan of the parts break down. I will be resstoring the same exact wheel. Thanks.

Eduardo

In the meantime... maybe this will help.

Eduardo, the one GT160 just posted blows up nicely, will that work for you?

I got one of those stock with my Power Cat, tore it all apart, cleaned it up, and painted the wheel red metallic. Cable is not great, but like Jim says, NLA. Gonna have to work.

Frank

Thanks Mark and GT160. That's exactly what I'm looking for. Appreciate it. Will post pics of the wheel and emblem.

Eduardo

No problem, Eduardo. BTW, The mud dobber's nest under the hub part of the wheel was definitely aftermarket, so I removed it promptly!

Hi Mark ,
I've got one of these wheels but it has no cover on the front , could you post a picture of your cover plate. It may help me to find something similar .

Cheers , Steve

Morning Steve,

I'd be glad to, but it will be tomorrow. The Cutter is out in the side yard under a tarp. Gotta drive my wife to AL (9hrs round trip) to visit her mother today.

Here's a few pics of my cover plate and my refinished wheel.

Wheel is red metallic rattle can paint over self-etching primer over a clean and well sanded wheel. Sorry it's a little dusty right now, it's been hanging off the ceiling in my cellar a while. I'll be taking it down soon, as I need to change the color of the part that mounts against my red dash. Probably do it in silver metallic for some contrast.

Frank

That's a cool wheel, I like the 2-tone. I found Rex Marine has adapters for a new wheel on the square shaft. This one I have is cast metal, thinkin' it'll look good polished. Having trouble getting a pic to post...CAT*FINk

That's a nice one, don't think I've seen one like that yet. It should clean up nicely!

MarkS
must have been a popular wheel I have one as well

I need a 12-13ft Ride guide Cable if anyone can point me at one mines frozen

MadProps - I know a guy who may just have one. (J.P.Jr) If nobody else jumps in here with one, I'll give him a call later today. For some reason I haven't seen him post since we changed over to the new site!? I need to check on him to make sure he's okay anyway.

Frank - My cover looks exactly like yours, with the two outer screw holes broken. I used to be famous for over-torquing everything, but I swear someone else had already gotten to it! Must be a common problem with those plastic covers. My screws that hold that cover are all rusty too, but I know they're special design and probably not readily available.

I got a bunch of small stainless fasteners that I'm gonna try on that cover plate Mark, just haven't got to it yet. If those threads give me a hard time, I'll tap them to something I know will work.

Frank

I know you'll figure something out Frank. If memory serves me, (hasn't been too well lately), those screws have a little "shoulder" on them to prevent over-tightening. Really makes one wonder how the covers get cracked like they do! Let me know if you come up with anything.

I would really appreciate that Mark

my wheel too is missing the cover plate, it has the screws broken off in the wheel, so be carefull working on your wheels guys those screws are small and corrode & jam in the cast wheels

I just figured out who the initials are for Mark

I contacted Joe about the cable ...thanks again for the lead

NP, glad to help

Guy's I need some help. I wanted to have this off yesterday but came to a stand still on this part. I need to get the cable through the stern of my boat. The opening is less then an inch so I need to split the cable. How do I do this??? I dont want to mess up anything.
Oh, I think its a quick silver brand, well atleast a kookie classic mercury brand name. I did a bunch of research but I dont have all day to search any more, ive looked for 6 hours already......
Anyway here are the pics of where im at, JUST WONDERING WHAT TO EXPEXT and can I screw it up. I think I need to split the rack, Mike

Looks like my Ride Guide set-up. Ride Guide was made by Kiekhaefer, the dude that started Mercury outboards.

I'm not clear on what you're asking Mike. You want to get the steering rack through the hole? If you take the rack apart, be prepared to spend some time getting it back together correctly. It can be done, but at least in my case, it was very frustrating!

Frank

Frank, I need to get the cable over to a table that is on the other side on the garage, lol..... I have began a wood replacement on my g3. I need to get the cable through the little hole in my first pic and need to eventually maybe replace the cable but I think I have a replacement already.. So if I have to split the rack It CAN be bad huh??? Any pics??? I dont want to cut the cable or cut my g3!!!lol..... so im sitting in a chair, at the computer when I have a boat load of work to do and cant figure this out... I think im just going to dig in but kinda just want to know what to expect. I guess Ill have to be carefull and take pics my self for future reference, Mike

ps ill wait a while before I jump in. Any advice or help would be great...

split the rack casing, then unscrew the nut at the end of the rack to remove the cable from the rack then you can feed the cable through the small hole in the glass

Thanks MadProps....
I got the rack apart and took a bunch of pics for future readers, well I took the pics so I could remember how it went but it was easy. No hydraulic fluid that I saw anyway, Here you go, Mike

OKAY, Now lets put it back together to store on a shelf so it can later be reinstalled



This next pic the washer on the end goes on the other end of the rack. I just happend to photorgaph it. Also the plastic washer is what the poster above refered to as a "top hat"

Okay, it took 45 minutes to upload 45 pics. Its done now and we have something { a step by step } to look back on for others to learn from. Mike

Sorry I was at work when all this was going on, Mike. Here's a breakdown Joe sent me one time, maybe for the benefit of others down the road??
On mine, you didn't have to split the rack to unhook the cable thought, it had a platic/rubber cap on the end you could remove. I believe there must be a couple of variations of this design.

Before you assume the cable is stuck, dismount it from the wheel and see if the wheel turns. RideGuide wheels are cast pot metal and very subject to oxidation. My RideGuide on the Power Cat 18DC I thought the cable was bad. Nope. Simply oxidation in the steering column that 5 min took correct. Just unbolt the cable and see if the wheel turns.

Message is for 63g3 regarding his knowledge of vintage Ride Guide steering systems. I need some help and current contact info for this member. Thanks in advance. W. Cooper 404 775 0651.

Joe Poole is also a member here on the board , but if he does not notice this post here is business contact.
If you should wish to, I would ask that we speak by phone instead of e-mailing or texting. To do so, please e-mail me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.,