Ok, here's another boat steering quershun.....

[Big Muddy]

Just got around to cleaning up the Tahoe, after the 4th of July marathon with the grands.

Got to looking and checking things over, and there's about 4 inches of slack/play, when turning both left and right, in the steering wheel....it's got power steering with a rack and pinion setup.

That seems like a lotta slack to me....power steering fluid bottle is full, and there's no slack in the steering cylinders.

Can the rack and pinion, which is located under the steering wheel cowling, be tightened or adjusted???

What say you, GH brain trust???

[BarryBobPosthole]

I don't know of a way to do it if there is (and I doubt there is). Mine has a Seastar, which is pretty common on outboards. I've looked but there is no adjustment that I can find. Not sure what an I/O would look like.

I have messed with non-power rack and pinion systems before though. Replaced the steering cables on my old Ranger as it took some major guns to steer that boat. Had to rent a cherry picker and pull the engine to do it. Was a major project to get to about a 30 minute job.

BKB

[Buckrub]

Power steering on a boat. Wow. New one on me.

[Thumper]

Ha! I think ol' Barry Bob is hittin' the juice already this afternoon.

[Thumper]

Dang Buckster ... tons of boats have power steering.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Bucky, on your higher horsepower motors you almost have to have at least some power assist mainly just to absorb the torque from the motor. I love mine. I can steer my boat with my finger and there's absolutely NO feedback at all in the steering. I have a foot throttle in mine too and some times its so much like driving a truck I find myself wanting to step on the binders!

BKB

[BarryBobPosthole]

Ha! I think ol' Barry Bob is hittin' the juice already this afternoon.

What you talking about Willis?
BKB

[Buckrub]

Well, I didn't know.

[Thumper]

What you talking about Willis?
BKB

Ummm, I think ol' Edward is referring to his Tahoe.

The title says boat steering but all he mentions in his post is his Tahoe. Maybe I should have a drink myownfineself.

[Thumper]

Oh wait! Is the Tahoe a boat? Maybe I'm the one all disconbobulated. I thought he was talkin' 'bout his tow vehicle.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Pumphead. He's talking about his Tahoe Q71 boat, nimrod. Cut yer head in boy.

BKB

[Thumper]

Yep, I finally put 2 & 2 together. Chevy's are notorious for play in the rack & pinion, so that's where my mind went automatically. Isn't that some sort of copyright infringement or sumpin'? Tahoe ... sheesh!

[Egghead]

Big Muddy - not sure what extra considerations the power steering adds, but we had a fitting that was coming loose and allowed air into our SeaStar System on the bay boat, so we had to bleed the system (not unlike bleeding brakes). If that is what is needed, there were a couple YouTube videos that made it a pretty easy process.

[Big Muddy]

Yep, Phole, I had the Seastar on my pontoon's 115 Merc Optimax....very nice and smooth steering setup.

Think I'll talk to my dealer....I really don't like that much slack in the steering wheel, and really don't think it oughta be there.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Youtube is the tits for repairs like that. That's one great thing about the innerwebs.

BKB

[Big Muddy]

Egg, I'm very familiar with the Seastar system, and bleeding off the air, and re-filling it is easy peasy.

I'm just not familiar with this Mercruiser I/O steering system....hopefully, the dealer can clue me in on it because I don't like the slack, at all.