Steering free play normal?

[Spaniard_King]

I don't know about this hydraulic stuff. Have been on three boats where 'play' in the steering persisted despite spending hundreds of dollars in two cases and thousands in another. Each of them steered like pigs regardless of the amount spent in repair or replacement.

What is wrong with cable and pulley? Works fine, costs little, is reliable and not heavy if installed correctly.

I beg to differ, This is not the case on all boats. Some boats no matter what you do cable is hard and only gets worst with age.

There should not be 1/4 " of freeplay in your steering arm. I take it your using the standard arm that comes with the engine on fitup, I would suggest there is something missing!

[Noelm]

yep, agree with that, there just needs to be some careful inspection of the mechanical connection between hydraulic and mechanical, very simple setup for anyone to trouble shoot. I would never trade hydraulic steering for any sort of cable steering, regardless of the minor drawbacks hydraulic has.

[gofishin]

if you read the original post...he does not mention any play in the actual hydraulic system.

Noelm, that’s why I said “possibly”…

There is possibly another reason ...

because with this brand of system, and the type of ‘hose’ promoted/sold with the kit, there is play ‘inbuilt’ in the system – that is; relative movement between the rod/shaft/piston and the cylinder/housing without the presence of any air in the system at all.

I don't believe that there should be any significant play in there, mechanical or hydraulic...I would expect a properly bled hydraulic system to have about 1 -2 mm compressive play in the ram when using considerable manual turning force on the engine from side to side and not spongy feeling.

I would also expect negligable play in the mechanical connections to the engines steering arm.

100% agree! There should be max <1-2 mm play TOTAL.

The purpose of my earlier post was to alert all readers (or potential searches of hydraulic steering problems) to this ‘other’ cause of slop/free-play with this particular type of system/combination – so hopefully you don’t end up chasing your tail for as long as I have. But maybe I need to try & explain better…

The following is a ‘few second’ video of the play/slop I get when I shake my O/B, or any O/B with the same steering ‘system’, and believe me I have looked at many while trying to identify the problem. (Not sure if this video will play OK, it seems very jumpy when I try to view it via the host site, and I shot it at the lowest resolution available).

I put a peg on the shaft/rod, against the cylinder housing, and shook the O/B (while trying to take a movie with the other hand – hence it is a bit shaky). The peg is moved due to the free-play by ~11mm each way (over a peg width, didn’t measure exactly), each time without much effort at all. I also took a still shot, so you can visibly see the play created (by the gap between the ram and the peg).





There is no air in my system! This is not specific to my boat, but every boat with a SeaStar/Baystar system that has the Seastar flexible pre-swaged hoses. The hydraulic force created by shaking the O/B causes the pressure in the hose(s) to increase/decrease alternately (each side), which causes the ‘flexible’ hoses to expand/contract. Because they are very flexible, the hoses expand/contract quite easy. As the boat gets bigger, and the hoses get longer, the play/slop therefore increases.

The only way to avoid this type of play/slop is to replace the hose with extruded tube!
cheers

[coconha]

Hi gofishin,
Thanks this post with the video. In my boat, the rod does not move at all, look still as a rock. Having said, it might be because the problem I have is "closer" to the engine and more obvious. When I solve it, the hose expansion problem might become more obvious.