Reverse / Steering Cable Nut

[PJ Moran]

Hi, all.

Like several others have, I just experienced the failure of the plastic nut that retains the back end of the reverse gate cable. The PWC was stuck in "sorta reverse". Upon inspection, I found the nut had broken and the cable had slid rearward. It looked like I would have to remove lots of stuff back there in order to get to the remnants of the nut. And, I feared I would have to remove the cable entirely, as well.

As others figured out, I was able to use external snap ring pliers to get the broken piece out (I came up with this trick years ago - I've removed many a broken fitting). But, I had to pull the cable forward in able to get the pliers in there. I did not pull the housing all the way through because it would be hell to fish it back through. To facilitate that, I had to remove the "large boot" and the "small boot" and the screw-on eyelet at the end (which has to be removed to get the boots off). In order to get the slack I needed to push the cable in, I unhooked it at the control lever up front. I also removed the retainer up there.

I was able to get the "stub" out without removing anything but those cable parts. Not the deflector; not the impeller housing; nothing else. I was actually surprised by that.

I ordered a replacement nut from the SeaDoo parts store here. However, researching this after the fact revealed that there are superior aftermarket nuts available. Some are aluminum. Some are brass. Most are cheaper than the plastic SeaDoo part.

So, I have a question, which of the aftermarket nuts is the best? It seems to me one should go with brass because aluminum can corrode and gall. But, it looks like there are multiple versions of brass nuts available. No one wants do to this job twice, so I want to get the best part for the job.

 

[Mike O'Connor]

I just bought a new 2021 ... is this something I should consider updating w/ a brass nut proactively?

 

[Milehighguy303]

I had my reverse steering cable nut break on my 2007 GTI SE several years ago, and replaced it with another Seadoo nut. I think it broke after my kids hit a pretty good wake and caught air, landing and causing the reverse gate to slam down.
I just bought a 2021 GTI SE and time will tell… I don’t think we can really answer this question yet. I assume it is a slightly different part or design from the older skis, but not sure. But it isn’t a concern for many years, and some impacts from wake jumping will test the nut.

 

[PJ Moran]

I received the nut from Sea-Doo Warehouse (Broward Motorsports). The original nut was black plastic. The new nut is white plastic. Does anyone know if this new nut is made of some better/stronger plastic than the original, or if it's just a different color? I've also ordered a couple of the brass aftermarket ones, but presumably can return whichever ones I don't want.

 

[Milehighguy303]

Yes, my Seadoo replacement nut was white too. No obvious difference, but I wondered too if it was maybe an improved material. my only thought with using brass is that the nut is obviously the weak link. Brass won’t break, so where is the pressure transferred to, and would that be a bigger concern? I think I may prefer the nut failing over additional pressure on something else. But brass may be a nice alternative too - I think you just try it and see. Fundamentally, I typically stick to OE repair parts.

 

[PJ Moran]

I thought about that. Perhaps it's designed to fail. It's better to replace a nut than an entire cable. Also, I noticed that when you move the diverter through it's full range of motion, the cable end also moves up and down. You can see it flexing where it comes through the nut. Perhaps it's that flexing that causes the nut to fail over time. The steering cable experiences similar flexure.

One difference all of the replacements share is rounded corners. The original had nice, crisp, sharp corners. It's as if they make them (the replacements) that way to reduce the chances of overtightening them.

The nut is 15/16" (maybe 24mm, but 15/16 socket fits better). When I used a 31/32 plumbing socket, it started "stripping" before I could get much torque on it. I was able to slip a 15/16" socket on there and get it somewhat tighter. It's a plastic nut with plastic threads compressing a rubber seal. Who knows how tight it needs to be. We'll see if this worked.

BTW - there's a tool you can buy for installing and removing these nuts. It' costs about $28 on ebay. It would be really nice to have for this job, but it's hard to justify that expense.