Small Boat Steering Systems 101

[ezmobee]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

Soooo does this mean I have to remove my motor to take the old steering cable off (and to install a new steering cable)??

Probably. This is not at all uncommon. Use a cheap Harbor Freight come-along so lift and suspend your motor from something sturdy overhead (beam, tree branch, etc), remove the mounting bolts, swing the motor over till you can get the rod out, grease the new rod thoroughly and install it, rehang motor.

On #1: stop overthinking this. The two systems are different but you're replacing the whole system. Trust me, when you get it apart you'll see this is no big deal. Worse case scenario is your dash holes don't line up and you have to drill new ones.

#3: I haven't used a no-feedback system with either of the 90HP motors I've had. Yeah it pulls a bit at speed but isn't unmanageable. Up to you whether you want to spring for the NFB system or not.

 

[l008com]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

I emailed the manufacturer hoping to get a nice detailed explanation of whether I should go with the regular helm or the no torque. My response was one sentence: "The best system for your application will be the Accura Zero torque system."
I was hoping for a little more than that.
Has anyone here used the Accura zero-torque system, on any motor? Is it as smooth and sharp as the regular system, or does it have some play and chunkiness as it's clutch engages and disengages?

If it's just as smooth, I'll probably just go with it, it's not that much more money.
If it's not as smooth, I'll probably just go with the regular system, save a few bucks and have the smoothest, most precise steering, and just deal with a little bit of torque steer. I had an Acura (car) TL that was a front wheel drive torquey V6, and man that thing had unreal torque steer every time you got on the gas. But I don't think my boat will be that bad

About #1
Will the steering cable come with new grease?
Also what's the easiest way to clean out the old grease from the tube on the motor mount?

I was disassembling my old steering just to see how it connects, and how my new system will connect.
So I see how the motor end connects, it's a piece of cake (except that I have to pop the motor off, and it looks like the last guy to take the motor off used tons of 5200 in addition to the primary bolts, to glue it in place). I'm going to hacksaw the old steering tube to remove it. But I'll probably go back to the same guy and have him help me install a new cable.

Up front, I removed the steering wheel bold but the wheel didn't budge at all. I was pulling so hard, any harder and I'd probably be tearing a hole in the fiberglass. So I ended up grabbing a hacksaw and cutting the wheel off. Then a few hours of dicking around with the old system and i got it completely removed. I need to order the mounting bracket separate, and first, to see what I'm going to need to do to install it. The old steering had some funny holes. I might have to reinforce the bracket with two strips of metal.

Going back to the beginning of this thread, the cable curve coming out of the helm wasn't as tight as it looked in the photo. But it was still pretty tight. And I don't think I'm going to be able to improve that a whole hell of a lot, it's just so tight under my dash. But even with a tight curve, a brand new cable shoudl steer a **** load better than a 27 year old cable.

 

[l008com]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

I just ordered my parts tonight. The 20? mount, the zero-torque helm, and a 12' cable. I'm hoping the zero-torque wasn't a mistake. I've never used one (that I know of) but I have this bad vision of my head of a clunky steering system where you can feel it's clutch engage and disengage every time you touch the wheel. Which will be pretty often when I'm driving down narrow rivers and channels, with my boats strong cavitation. But I went with it anyway because if it works really well, it will be awesome.

 

[mark1961]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

The new cable and helm will come pre greased, however, you will have to apply some marine grease to the motor end of the cable and inside the tilt tube.....

 

[greenbush future]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

The new cable and helm will come pre greased, however, you will have to apply some marine grease to the motor end of the cable and inside the tilt tube.....

Be careful with which kind of grease you use to lube the cable, I have seen the grease freeze in northern states and render the steering un-turn able by using grease that wasn?t rated for below freezing temps.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

I have both types of steering, the only difference between them is...well... there is no feed back on the no feed back system, all other aspects are the same.

 

[l008com]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

So whats the best way to clean out the tilt tube? And what kind of grease SHOULD I get?

 

[l008com]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

So whats the best way to clean out the tilt tube before applying new grease? And what kind of grease SHOULD I use?

 

[mark1961]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

So whats the best way to clean out the tilt tube before applying new grease? And what kind of grease SHOULD I use?

Pretty simple, poke through a decent piece of rag soaked in a suitable solvent with a sturdy length of wire or similar to clean out the old grease as many times as it takes.....once clean of grease check for signs of corrosion and if present run a round wire brush through on a drill or by hand from either end to clean up. Any good quality MARINE grease should suffice, i use Shell Nautilus for example....

 

[relocyo]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

To clean the tilt tube ive heard using a 12 gauge shotgun barrel cleaner works well, BUT I found a nifty wire wheel cleaner at autozone in the $1 bin... Worked fine, not as stiff as the shotgun barrel cleaner, but it worked fine and it was only a buck!

 

[l008com]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

Anyone know where i can get a dirt cheap steering wheel? Eventually I want to get a nice one that matches the rest of the boat, but for now, any old hunk of plastic will do. I ended up buying a more expensive, no feedback helm, which didn't come with a free steering wheel. None of it is installed yet, that's my plan for this week. Install seats, new steering, new horn, and get wet (so to speak).

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

I'm pretty sure that this is the cheapest one that exists http://www.iboats.com/Det-Mar-Legen...03432232--**********.506327552--view_id.38673 I had it on my last boat and it came with the steering kit for my new boat. Works fine. Search google and ebay for it and you can probably find it even cheaper.

 

[l008com]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

I installed my Uflex helm tonight. It was not a 'bolt-on' upgrade. My old helm had about a 2" hole in the dash, the uFlex needed a 3.25" hole. But after a few hours of work, I got it in there pretty nice. Now I just need help lifting the engine off so I can put the piston end of the cable into the engine, then I'll be good to go.

 

[l008com]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

And now I have a new question. Instead of buying a cheap steering wheel just to use for the rest of this season, I'm thinking I'll just try to stick my old one back on. But I couldn't' get my old one off, and I ended up using a hacksaw to cut the shaft (since I was replacing the helm too anyway). You can see that I tried to remove the metal from the plastic, but I just had no luck at all. If anyone knows how I can disassemble this so I can attach it to my new helm, that would be most helpful. The wheel I really want is this Uflex Palmaria, but it's not in stock anywhere.

http://www.amazon.com/uflex-LEATHER-WHEEL-PALMARIA-Reference/dp/tags-on-product/B001PRRRXK

In fact, most steering wheels on most websites that sell marine steering wheels, are out of stock. The cheap one linked-to above is pretty cheap, but it also takes 10 days to arrive. And with shipping, its up close to $30. I'd rather just use the crappy one I have now and then buy a nice one when I can.

Pictures of my dilemma.

 

[l008com]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

So I whacked the steering shaft with a heavy hammer as hard as I could, and the piece of metal shot out like a bullet. So I installed that old wheel on the new helm and it works fine. And hopefully it won't be rusted in place already by the time I get a nice shinny new wheel.

BUT ANYWAY. Now that I have a wheel installed, I can turn the steering back and forth. And I have to say, while there is significantly less resistance than the system I replaced. There's still a lot of "slop" back and forth. And this is just in the helm, it's not even connected to the motor yet. But there's still maybe 1 or 2? of rotation before the cable starts turning. I'd rather not have that slack but, I'm not going to try a new helm now. I'm sticking with the one I have. Which is the Accura rotary helm from uflex. This one is a no-feedback helm. If their regular rotary helm had less slack, I'd rather have it instead of this, despite any torque steer I might get. But like I said, I have installed so I'm sticking with it.

So I'm slightly disappointed now, but I'm sure once it's in the water, I'll barely notice the slack because I'll be amazed at how I can steer with one hand, and/or without bracing my legs on the floor first. Heh.

 

[l008com]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

I emailed Uflex and they got back to me saying that this helm has some play in the wheel when the boat is on the trailer, but that that play goes away once the boat is in the water. Personally, I don't see how that could possibly make a difference, since the helm's "play" isn't even moving the cable. But, I guess we'll see once I finally make it to the water.

 

[l008com]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

I took my first boat ride of the season today, here are the steering-related issues:

No feedback means no feedback. That aspect of it works nice.

And the steering is many many times easier than before. It's still not as easy as I'd like it (i was kind of hoping for lincoln towncar-esque one finger steering). It's not that easy, but it's still easy enough that I can turn the wheel with one hand, even at awkward angles (like sitting in the boat, and reaching back through the windshield to grab the wheel). I suppose this is as good as it gets with a cable based system, and a hydraulic system is probably more expensive and more complicated than I really want in my boat.

There is still some play in the wheel. My guess is that most of the play is to disengage the no-feedback clutch. I'm thinking the regular helm would have been more solid. But it is a 90HP motor so it's probably better that I got the no-feedback.

It sounds like I'm down on it but I'm actually pretty happy with the steering.

But now I have a problem:
So I ordered a new helm and steering wheel. When I tried to take the old system apart, the wheel was completely stuck to the helm. I couldn't get it to budge even a little. So I said eh f-it and grabbed a hacksaw. I cut right through the spindle, and once I did, I gave the spindle nub a good whack with a hammer and it shot right out of the wheel. So when installing the new system, the steering wheel hadn't come yet. So I just tossed my old one back on. And guess what, now my old wheel is stuck to the new helm. If I try to pull it off, it does't move at all and the dash flexes a LOT. If I pull any harder, I think I'll crack my dashboard before the wheel comes off at all. Are there any tricks for getting wheels off helm spindles?

 

[mark1961]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

All i can suggest is you try a two or three leg (whatever suits best, probably three) gear puller on the old wheel.....if the plastic on the wheel has too much give you might have to cut it away from the boss so the legs can be hooked on to it.....i think this approach would inflict the least carnage on your new helm you will however be sacrificing that old wheel.

 

[l008com]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

Oh and one other thing. With the steering... it's easier to turn right (push the cable) and it is to turn left (pull the cable). Not by much, but it is noticeable. Why is that? The cable, like the helm, is brand new.

 

[l008com]

Re: Small Boat Steering Systems 101

I'm waiting to see now if anyone I know has a gear puller I can borrow. I was working on the wheel for an hour today, didn't really make any progress. Well I did get a lot of the plastic off there so using a gear puller will be even easier. But no progress with actually breaking the wheel loose at all. I just tossed this thing on there two weeks ago, I don't know how it got so well stuck already.