Slack in steering helm

[kendaldrive]

I've been a member of this board for a few months and decided it's about time I made a post rather than just digesting the wonderfully informative content.
I have a question regarding the steering on my 2000 260 DA. The boat has a teleflex tilt helm unit and rack steering. There is quite a lot of play in the steering (10-15 degrees) and I was wondering whether this was normal for the age of my boat. I've spent many hours since purchase 3 years ago making my boat look and run great but this really let's it down. Any feedback would be welcome.

Best regards from David in the UK.

 

[mvoellinger]

Is this 10-15 until you notice the boat turning, or 10-15 before someone standing behind the boat sees the outdrive start to move? Standing behind the boat, is the outdrive loose, it can be wiggled side to side by hand?

 

[Presentation]

Since your marine mechanical knowledge is relatively low as evidenced by your question (not a insult, we were all there once) I recommend you have this checked by a mercury certified mechanic.

Let’s hope its not a failing gimbal ring. To replace a gimbal ring you need to pull the engine. There is a way to replace the gimbal ring with out pulling the engine however it does not save you money and requires the cutting of holes thru your transom, so the alternative is, in my opinion, worse then the correct way to fix.

Let’s hope its something loose and easily fixed. I’d love to be wrong about it being the gimbal ring. That is a expensive fix and is a result of poor maintenance.

By the way, you have had your outdrive removed, serviced, the alignment and gimbal ring checked at least every 2 years or 100 hours on the hour meter, right?

Please read
http://www.sterndrives.com/steering_play.html

and
http://www.mercstuff.com/gimbalringwear.htm

 

[Henry Boyd]

David,

Doug is correct in that you should have the situation checked by a qualified Merc Tech. That being said there may be something else that may be simpler, and less expensive that deserves inspection first. It is also something you can check on while the boat is in the water.

When we bought our 280 there was quite a lot of play in the steering wheel. While there is no adjustment in the cable to power assist cylinder system, it is possible that the connection of the cable housing to cylinder has loosened. The cable itself attaches to the sterndrive with a clevis pin, but the cable housing is held on with a threaded cap. When you turn the wheel, the cable pushes/pulls on the the sterndrive and the housing is what anchors everything. So if the housing nut has backed off, even slightly the cable will have play in it that must be taken up before there will be resistance on the sterndrive. (Think of the adjusting nuts that are used on bicycle brake cables..)

In our case it only took a two or three revolutions of the casing nut to take out 10 degrees of steering wheel free play.

You can determine if it is the cable casing nut by watching the end of the casing while someone turns the steering wheel (engine off) . If the casing moves in/out of the nut when the wheel reaches the end of free play, the nut is loose. Tightening instructions can be found in the Mercury installation manual that came with your boat.

Henry

 

[bbarquilla@gmail.com]

i have heard others complain about this as well. I have slack in my steering as well and dismissed it as normal.

 

[pcola ray]

My boat developed about 20-30 degrees of slack in the steering this weekend along with a lot of vibration when trimmed down (while on a plane). Does the vibration point towards the gimbal ring problems as stated above?

Thanks

 

[kendaldrive]

Thanks for all of the replies. My mechanical knowledge is possibly not as bad as some of you think, maybe my question wasn't worded very well and I may not have made it totally clear. The slack is actually in the helm itself. The universal joint linking the steering wheel to the shaft of the rack unit is where most of the play is. If I remove the tilt unit the shaft to the rack has a tiny amount of play and the steering is fine. THis gives the steering a "worn" feel.

regards
David