Steering

[chrishowden]

My steering is really stiff when engine is on but when it is not on it is smooth any ideas?

[jyasaki]

Just "on", or when you are under power? If the latter, at speed or at idle?

Tiller or remote?

A little info goes a long way in getting suggestions.

jky

[chrishowden]

It is remote control and is hard to steer when at speed. Could it be the propellor?

[willk]

Is your engine trimmed all the way down? That would do it....

Does the "hard to steer" manifest itself in one direction only? If so, the trim tab on the leg may need to be adjusted.

[jyasaki]

At speed will be harder than at rest, as you have the force of the water on the lower unit trying to straighten it out.

So, if it's really stiff at speed, and only sort of stiff at rest, you probably have hardened grease in the steering tube. The motor turns with the same resistance, but you have the added water force when moving. There should be a couple/few zerk fittings on the tube (the "axle" that the motor turns on) into which you pump a bunch of grease in until you have fresh grease being forced out. If that is the problem, you probably should repeat that exercise quite often to try and get some of the old/hardened stuff out as it softens with the fresh stuff.

The other possibility would be sticking steering cables; you might be able to get some lube in them to free them up, but I have little to no experience at that, so someone else should probably give you input on that one.

If it turns freely at rest, then it most likely won't be either of those; see Willk's post above.

jky

[9D280]

As posts above. Although I would guess if it's OK at idle then it'sa dynamic problem, so to expand slightly on Will's post-

If you got power trim - once on the plane, trim up slowly until it gets easy to steer or the prop jumps out the water. Once the prop starts letting go, trim back in a touch

Manual trim - Time to get your fingers wet! Move the pin on the clamp (the one the engine sits against when fully down) up one hole at a time. Things will become easier to steer (and will be slightly longer to plane) until you trim it so far up the prop lets go at the first sign of a wave, at which point drop it a hole. You may also find a fuel economy inceaceon cruise if you raise it. Somewhere in the middle is your optimum.


I had two settings on my old Suz - One for when I was doing rescue work and had a lot of stop -start (needed to get on the plane quick, and a higher hole for cruising.

[chrishowden]

I am going to change the prop to see if that would make a difference. What prop would be the best to get the best performance out of it. Pitch, 3 or 4 Blade?

[two stroke mick]

I suspect that this is a trim tab problem. Adjust it untill the steering is relativly light

TSM

[willk]

Originally Posted by chrishowden

I am going to change the prop to see if that would make a difference. What prop would be the best to get the best performance out of it. Pitch, 3 or 4 Blade?

Out of curiosity, what makes you think your prop is at fault here?

[chrishowden]

I was talking to someone and he says that he had a slight dent in his prop which made his steering light one way but hard the other way. So he got the prop changed and the steering was fine after that.