Steering ball/nut pulled out of nozzle today.

[Myself]

I went riding Thursday evening after work and 5 minutes in my gas cap AND threads on the filler neck just snapped off and went down to Davy Jones' locker. I fixed that and had every intention of riding the 550 today. Even adjusted the steering cable cause it felt a bit off to the left. Well got out and rode and I kept thinking......Dang, maybe this cable is bad, it just isn't steering to the right very well. Then after a half hour or so......about a mile from the launch.....I had NO STEERING AT ALL!! The brass insert just came right out of the nozzle! Lake was pretty busy so I thought "This will be interesting." I started back on my knees and felt it out just leaning left and right........."Well this isn't too bad at all!" I went ahead and stood up and rode back to the launch with no issue at all! Even jumped a few boat wakes on the way! Piece of cake!

 

[brapperdoodle]

I want to know what that's like, but I don't want to know what that's like haha

 

[Myself]

I want to know what that's like, but I don't want to know what that's like haha

Just pop the steering cable off the ball and try it! It's really not as bad as you would think. I was just kind of pushing the tray down on left or right side and pushing the pole over that same direction. The harder the lean, the tighter the turn. It definately had it's limits though LOL!!

 

[WFO Speedracer]

I bet it's a lot better than when I hooked the steering up backwards on my 650SX fixie, now that was interesting lol .

 

[Myself]

I used JB Marine Weld to rinstall the ball stud. I rode the ski a couple hours one evening last week after work and the steering is still working after the 'fix'. I also let my buddies 21yo son have a go.........LOL!! He had A LOT of trouble getting balanced and took off, then took a good spill and lost his sunglasses. That was a total of about 100 yards. He was all out of breath and tired LOL! I said "Hey, you're not gonna let an almost 50yo man outride you, are you?" He got back on and made it a 1/2 mile or so down the lake and slowed down and fell in. He was all tired and out of breath again. I asked if he wanted his sit down back and he said NO, he'd go ahead and ride back up to the launch if that was ok. I said "Sure, I'll follow you." He made it back and had a big 'ol smile on his face and commented about how hard it is to ride that thing. Who knows, maybe I planted the seed for another stand up rider !!!