This is for you guys with a Yamaha or other 7/8" steering tube (I have a universal external mounted one on my tiller kicker). My steering tube was made of aluminum and all the stainless fittings seized to it, and it looked like cheap oxidized aluminum almost immediately after installing. I searched and searched for something made of stainless with no luck, all premade steering tubes i could find were coated regular steel. then i was going to have threads cut in a chunk of stinless pipe...I called everywhere, it seems nobody ever made 7/8" stainless pipe. I was just about to give in and live with aluminum again, and i stopped in Metal Supermarket.
Pipe, of course, is measured by INSIDE DIAMETER. I had a real DUH moment. It cost me $13 for a 12" piece of thick walled stainless pipe, which measure 30/1000" smaller than 7/8". the peak of the threads is less than the full 7/8" regardless. The cost for the Yamaha coated steel tube was $90 at Sherwood. The aluminum universal kit was $250.
Too long, didn't read? 1/2" stainless pipe (measured I/D) has an O/D of 7/8", and works perfectly for cutting threads to make your own steering tube.
Pipe, of course, is measured by INSIDE DIAMETER. I had a real DUH moment. It cost me $13 for a 12" piece of thick walled stainless pipe, which measure 30/1000" smaller than 7/8". the peak of the threads is less than the full 7/8" regardless. The cost for the Yamaha coated steel tube was $90 at Sherwood. The aluminum universal kit was $250.
Too long, didn't read? 1/2" stainless pipe (measured I/D) has an O/D of 7/8", and works perfectly for cutting threads to make your own steering tube.
