2004 330 Express engine control cable routing

[choogenboom]

I have a 2004 330 express and recently had to replace the port engine control cables, both throttle and shift. The cables failed in the normal way in that the outside plastic split, let in water and the cable rusted out and broke. What is not normal is they failed after 4 years of use. I replaced the control cables on my prior Grady White, a 1994 228G, in 2007 after 13 years of service. I am pretty sure I have identified the cause which is that the bend radius of the cables with the engines turned hard to starboard or with the engines tilted up when they are centered exceeds the manufacturer's minimum bend radius. By far the worst is tilting the engines up with the engines turned hard to starboard which causes such an extremely small bend radius I did not even want to try it for fear of permanently damaging the cables. With the engines centered and up the plastic cable chase has actually collapsed due to the severe bend radius. So I have made it my rule to only tilt the engines up when turned hard to port. The engines are set on the transom as low as they can go (#1 hole), a side effect of which is that the “foot” of the lower unit is in the water even when fully tilted up. The engines are F225TXRC’s, so 25” shaft.



So – questions for your 330 Express owners are:

Is this a known problem?
Is there a known solution?
Are my engines installed correctly?
are other 330 Express owners replacing their control cables after 4 years?


From what I can see this is a design defect. The engine well is not deep enough and it can’t be any deeper as it would be below the waterline and no longer self bail. The correct solution would have been to use 30” shaft engines thereby buying 5 more inches of room in the well to play with.

 

[NOTHING ELSE MATTERS]

My dealer(both of them) on two different Gradys, told me to turn the wheel all the way to port and then tilt the motors up. Maybe that is the catch.