loose steering on I/O

[crispins]

hello - this is my first post here. I have searched on this site for info to my problem but didnt find any.

I bought my first boat about a month ago. I have been wanting a boat for years. It is an 18 ft Fishmaster with a Ford 351w in it. I paid a $1000 FOR it as it didnt run well at all. New HEI distributer and a rebuild of the carb and it now runs very well.

I have fixed most of the problems with the boat and am down to just a few more.

What I need help with is fixing the steering. The wheel has a few inches of slack in it. What I mean is I can turn the wheel from side to side without the boat changing direction. Now when the boat is not in the water (or running) turning the wheel even slightly moves the outdrive.

In the water the steering is unsafe to me. As I give the boat throttle I have to turn the wheel to the left and when reducing the throttle I have to turn the wheel to the right. It is bad enough that I do not like to go fast in the boat as I do not trust the steering.

I have looked at the steering system (electric driven hydraulic unit) I cannot understand how to adjust for slack. Please what should I do?

Thank you for your help in advance

 

[QC]

Re: loose steering on I/O

Welcome aboard!!

Which I/O? See if you can move the drive up and down any out of the water. Also, check with someone at the helm if you can hold the drive still and they can get any slack. If the answer to both is no, then this might be normal and could be what is commonly referred to as v-hull low speed wander . . If you can move it up and down some by hand then it might be the Gimbal ring and you need to repost this in the I/O section, I am confused though when you say there is no slack out of the water.

The right and left action underway sounds like Gimbal ring wear as well . . . A little more info and we'll help you nail this one down.

 

[crispins]

Re: loose steering on I/O

Welcome aboard!!

Which I/O? See if you can move the drive up and down any out of the water. Also, check with someone at the helm if you can hold the drive still and they can get any slack. If the answer to both is no, then this might be normal and could be what is commonly referred to as v-hull low speed wander . . If you can move it up and down some by hand then it might be the Gimbal ring and you need to repost this in the I/O section, I am confused though when you say there is no slack out of the water.

The right and left action underway sounds like Gimbal ring wear as well . . . A little more info and we'll help you nail this one down.

hey thanks for the response...

it is an Alpha 1
I will go out there in a bit and see how much up / down play there is. From memory I think it is abt 1/4" up / down play (is that ok??)

what I meant by out of the water slack is with the boat on the trailer and everything off...turning the wheel seems to have an equal amout of turn on the outdrive. I cant feel the 3" or so inches of freeplay in the steering wheel that I feel when under power on the water.

My feeling is that I have some air in the hydrolic system. I could be totally wrong as I really dont know alot about the steering system

 

[crispins]

Re: loose steering on I/O

so the outdrive moves up and down about 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch. is that within specs????