Hard steering while boat is underway. - Maxum Boat Owners Club

jamanati · 09-01-2012, 11:50 PM

Have 95 3200 scr, twin merc 5.7 and bravo II about a year now. Since I bought it last summer, my steering has always been hard to turn (either side) when the boat is underway. While idling up river, steering is okay, not great, but turnable. Over 1200 rpm and continuing up until underway, it gets harder to turn. Once it turns a bit, then its somewhat easier to turn. Since I had a twin setup, I swapped the spare power steering pump and replaced the power steering fluid. Didn't really help. Its odd that its harder to steer while the engine is revving higher. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Note, I'm comparing this to my prior boat, an 88 sea ray 270 which also had twin 5.7 mercs and bravo I's, and that would turn literally with one finger, regardless of speed. So, I'm not sure how effortlessly my 3200 is supposed to turn.

HavaMax · 09-02-2012, 03:47 AM

I too have this same problem on my 94 3200 with 7.4s and bravo II. Have just learned to live with it....

. I will be watching for any tricks or upgrades..

oldno7 · 09-02-2012, 02:03 PM

Believe me--I don't have a clue about dual outdrives......

But, could there be a slight alignment issue??

Are the drives counter rotation and maybe the props are not?

jamanati · 09-03-2012, 01:49 PM

As far as I know the drives and props are the original ones. Someone recommended replacing the steering cable, but I question that because under low idle, it steers okay, not great, but okay. Underway, it definitely takes two hands to steer. There is another 3200 maxum owner in my marina, I think his is a 96, will ask him how his steering is, but I don't think this should be normal. Havamax, are you the original owner of your 3200? There are times I feel like there is no power steering at all.

pascavone · 09-03-2012, 03:24 PM

i believe you have a main transom pin binding.

Look for white salt trails running down the back of the engine, this is sea water dripping into the blige.

This pin has a rubber top sea, like a condom unopened, and a curricular spring holding it onto the pin.

they don't last more then 10 years.

you should disconnect one drive at a time fro the steering rack, and move the out drive by hand and see what binding.

you should not need two hands to turn a boat.

the engine need to be removed to replace these transom pins.

jamanati · 09-03-2012, 10:35 PM

If its those pins, its definitely beyond my time and ability to do that type of repair. I'm going to start with the cable, disconnecting it, and see what that is like. I will admit I haven't gotten down in there yet to see if its something as simple as lube, a cable, or something more involved. Its just peculiar that it would be harder to steer at higher rpm. One suggestion I had was to test the steering while docked, at idle speed, then at higher rpm speed (while gear is in neutral), to see if its the same, better, or worse.

HavaMax · 09-03-2012, 11:15 PM

I am not the original owner. Jam I am with you, repair on a pin binding sounds like lots of work or $$$.... If the pin was binding, wouldn't it progressively get worse. My "hard steering" has been the same from the time I purchased the boat used. Definitely would enjoy the single handed steering I see on other boats!!!

pascavone · 09-04-2012, 12:25 AM

i would guess its harder at high RPM because you have 320 horses pushing 14,000 lbs.

The load from the out drive is transferring thru the transom pins and bushings to the hull.

CountryME · 09-04-2012, 03:16 AM

Is there any chance the drives have opposite prop rotation and were put in port in the stbd and vice versa? The rotation could cause the drives to fight each other and prevent you from turning

-JP

jamanati · 09-04-2012, 01:03 PM

I know the drives are stamped P and S behind the prop and am pretty sure they are installed the right way.
I'm curious to hear back from Havamax on his similar issue, if he bought his boat new and that's the way it always steered, or if he bought it used, and if so, when.
As for the transom pins, I may be looking at a repower in a few years. Hopefully, it wont have to come down to pulling the engines just to fix the steering.
But for now, I'll start with the basics, lube, cable, etc. I will post back here what I will find, if anything or nothing at all.

pascavone · 09-04-2012, 01:43 PM

a marine can pull two engines is 2 hours for about $1,000 bucks.

they transom rebuilding is going to run $2k per side side.

The aluminum inside plate and outside horse shoe ring with the pin your replace since you have it apart.

engine couplers, Y-pipe, exhaust flappers, bellows, mercafitor, trim limit switches, you do it all at the same time......

like being a little bit pregnant, with twins in your case....

jamanati · 09-05-2012, 12:46 AM

Went down to the marina today. lubed the throttle shaft, didn't help. Spoke to my mechanic, he thinks its the steering ram assembly, but not sure. He has a new mercruiser steering assembly that he will let me have for $300, which I am contemplating doing myself. I'm mechanically inclined, just need to find the time to do it. Its one of those things, either spend the next few weekends enjoying the end of summer here in the northeast, or start spending time doing repairs like this. His thinking about the steering ram is that its really power assist and the initial tug on the wheel doesn't activate the ram enough. Once activated, its okay, like I said, to turn the wheel.

HavaMax · 09-06-2012, 01:38 AM

A dock neighbor of mine purchased a used 97 3200 and he is having the steering cable replaced as we speak. He is also having all bellows oils and regular maintenance done. The boat will not be in the water until mid October. I will report a comparison as soon as I can get behind the wheel!!! It is equipped with the 5.7's and bravo II. Kinda crazy here at my marina, including my boat there will be 4 3200 SCR's on my dock. Pretty odd to see the small differences between the boats. I don't think they made 2 identical ones!!!

jamanati · 09-07-2012, 12:19 AM

Havamax, that would definitely be good. At my marina, there is only a 96 3200 scr just a few slips over, but its hit/miss bumping into the owner. He's helped me out before, so its just a matter of time. I will probably disconnect the cable, and see if I can troubleshoot if its the cable, the ram, or something else. Is your neighbor doing the cable himself or is a mechanic doing it? Seems like a pain in the neck job to run the cable from helm to stern, sometime I may leave to my mechanic to do. The ram itself, although a tight spot to work in, looks pretty straight forward, but probably several hours worth of work.

HavaMax · 09-07-2012, 02:28 AM

Jam.....the boat is at shop right now. Mechanic mumbled something about 6-8 hour job on the steering cable!?! We'll see, but the boat won't hit the water until at least the first of oct. I will definitely report my findings!!!

jamanati · 09-08-2012, 01:49 AM

Ok, thanks. My shop said maybe 3 hours, maybe more. How they come up with that number, I don't know. My last boat, also a twin 5.7, need one starter, port side. It was tight getting down there since its in middle. My shop said about around 3 hours. I walked away, did it myself under an hour (I was getting lazy and just didn't want to, nothing like high labor costs to motivate me). I guess same will go for the cable and perhaps the steering ram. Will post what I do and its results.

jamanati · 09-12-2012, 11:04 PM

Okay, here is my update. Went down to my boat today, took the Mrs with me as my son is back in school and needed someone to hand me tools, beers, etc while in the bilge. Pulled the clevis pin off the cable end and pulled the pin out. I turned the wheel at the helm slowly left and right, all the way, it was pretty smooth, no binding or sticking. Back in the bilge, unscrewed and disconnected the other side of the steering cable. Note, on my cable there is a flat area where you put a 15/16 inch open wrench to keep it from spinning while an adjustable wrench does the trick on the other end of the cable. The steering is on the stbd side, so is my generator, so it was tight swinging the adjustable wrench. Pulled the cable all the way out.

I pulled the 2nd clevis pin out pulled the pin out as well. This ties both drives together and when the pin is out, both drives can be moved manually and independently by hand. I moved each drive by hand by pushing and pulling the transom arm. The port engine was very, very smooth. The stbd side, looks like that pin pascavone is talking about slightly slips. It doesn't bind though. Its just that when changing direction, I can feel the arm slip just a bit. From what I understand the pin is square and over time the edges round up a bit causing a little slipping. I dont think this is the binding issue I am experiencing though, but definitely something I will watch over time, probably deal with it when stbd engine needs to come out for something or until it gets worse.

My mechanic had a steering ram available, luckily for me it was the exact same one, so I decided to swap out the steering ram as well. I took off both power steering hoses, those were easy. The steering arm is held by 2 bolts, each having a tab washer to prevent it from becoming loose. These tabs are THICK, hard to bend, unlike those that hold the propeller nut in place. The top bolt was easy to get to. I only had a 1 inch socket. I think its metric bolt though, but the 1 inch grabbed it pretty good. The top bolt was easy.

The bottom bolt, which screws up, wasn't easy. The trick I discovered is to disconnect the raw water hose where its connected to the transom. Its in the way. Make sure your bilge pump is working if you're doing this on your boat while in the water and your transom is below water line. I pulled the hose, some water came in, but I plugged it with a plastic bag that has a couple of paper towels in it.

With the hose removed, the tabs are somewhat easier to get to. Once the tabs were bent away, I did need a breaker bar to loosen the bottom bolt, there just isn't enough room to allow enough leverage on the ratchet/socket set up. Got that bottom bolt out.

The install of the new steering ram is essentially the opposite of the removal. I lubricated all the pins where the rods met with Mercruiser Special Lubricant 101. Also, the top and bottom bolts that hold it in place do not actually screw into the ram assembly. The ends of the bolts float in plastic depressions, I lubed those depressions as well as the arm actually floats in these pins. The tabs, again, very hard to bend back, but make sure you do this! You definitely don't want your steering to fail by bolts/pins coming loose and falling out.

Hoses were hooked back up. The cable also got lube 101 on the entire shaft before putting it back in. The cable flat ends on the shaft should be up when tightening the cable, keep that in mind. The pins and the clevis pins went back in. The ram install was done. Took me about 2.5 hours.

I checked the power steering pump fluid as well, it was a little too full, about 1/2 inch above the cold line. Unfortunately I had nothing to pump out some fluid with, I'll leave that for this weekend. Next step was to bleed the system, started the motor, and turned the wheel to full port, then full stbd, then back to full port, etc. Did this a few times until I felt it get looser. At this point I couldn't say I noticed a big difference. I think I noticed it somewhat better, but not really sure. I took it out for a ride.

My problem has all along always been hard turning underway. So up on plane at 3500 rpm I did feel it responded better. I didn't feel the binding as I did before. But it wasn't perfectly smooth either. Instead of binding, I would say its now a slight bump while turning. Again, really not sure. I could swear that my steering gets worse the longer I drive the boat, but today I didn't have that much time for a full ride, so back into the slip it went.

I did speak with my mechanic, he has a power steering pump that I could have as well. I did swap the original power steering pump with the freebie from the port motor a couple of months ago, that didn't seem to help. I doubt its the pump. I'll see how a longer test drive goes this weekend.

HavaMax · 09-13-2012, 12:37 AM

Jam, thanks for he update.....I truly believe that it is a combination of poor design(for application) which is not sufficent for the torque and resistance of the drives at planing speed. I will ask my other dock neighbor which is a owner of a 97 3200 7.4 bravo III, purchased brand new. He is only at his boat every couple months......

highhog1 · 09-20-2012, 01:10 PM

I am curious to hear the end result here. I am having the same problem with my 96 3200 scr as well. It's like turning a Mack truck with no power steering.

jamanati · 09-21-2012, 12:54 AM

I haven't been down to the marina to swap out the power steering pump, that's still on my todo list. I can tell you that I tried my brother-in-laws Sea Ray. Although its a single screw, it is a Merc 5.7 with an Alpha, when the engine was off, it turned with some effort, not a lot, but some. With the engine on, the power steering allowed me to turn the wheel like butter. Unbelievable. I sure don't get that difference with engine on or off on my boat, so something is definitely up. I will continue to post until I find a solution or I give up. So far, I haven't given up. What I did notice last time I was out was that it the steering seems to get worse the longer I drive. Maybe its a heating/cooling thing, perhaps the oil cooler that is inline? I am somewhat doubting it as the engine temp itself was about 160. I still dont think its the cable, but I'm waiting to see what Havamax posts as well. There isn't much to the steering system, the cable, the pump, the ram, and the drives themselves.