Dual sterndrive steering options on a 73 Sea Ray with a stuck cable

sheboyganjohn

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 2, 2005
Messages
753
I was working inside the Sea Ray, went to get out, grabbed the wheel and noticed it did not move. Upon investigation found one of the steering cables (has twin 140's MC-1 drives) has a damaged jacket and the inside is rusting. Guess I should not have left them lay out for the two years I have been working on the boat. Anyhow, I was going to just replace the cable but it appears no one makes replacements for a 1973 dual rack system. Next thought was put new steering in the boat which brought up another issue. This boat has two steering cables, different lengths, one going to each drive. The new systems are all one cable going to one motor and using a tie bar that is "supplied by the engine mfg". So now I am stuck on what to do next. I think I can remove the bad cable and the other one will work. But then I need a tie bar between the two engines. Before I reinvent the wheel, anyone have some ideas on a bolt on solution, or have made something I could pattern off of.? Would a modern Mercruiser 3.0 dual drive system tie bar work? I know I am going to need to spend some money on this, but I really don't want to venture into dual hydraulic money.
 

sheboyganjohn

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 2, 2005
Messages
753
A little more digging reveals that I have a mercury heavy duty ride glide steering system. Teleflex lists their NFB rack system as a replacement. Could I just buy the dual cable unit with the cable sized for the farther motor and use the other cable for the closer motor? I may end up just contacting Teleflex and see what they say.
 

sheboyganjohn

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 2, 2005
Messages
753
Contacted Sea Star (Teleflex) and they said they do not sell nor recommend a dual cable system for two drives. They mechanical steering rep. passed me off to the hydraulic steering rep. I'm going to have to see what they come up with. I may just go with a single cable system and design my own tie bar.
 

sheboyganjohn

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 2, 2005
Messages
753
The hydraulic solution is not cheap, but not as bad as I thought. Looks to be about $1000. A double ended single ram. I think I am just going to bite the bullet and put hydraulic in. I'll drop in some pictures as I do it so others will have reference.
 

sheboyganjohn

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 2, 2005
Messages
753
The hydraulic cylinder is only one ended but it has three holes in it. Looks like I can connect each steering arm to different spots. Unfortunately the cylinder is so long I have to pull the starboard transom bracket back off to mount it. Guess I got a project on my hands. I will post the rest of the info in the Sea Ray rebuild thread that is in my signature if you want to follow along.
 
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