Hydraulic Steering - Seek guidance on what pump displacement and experience in use.

[rdranman]

Posted this in another more specific forum, but didn't get any responses so am re-posting it here in hopes of some guidance. I have a 1997 Bayliner 2858 Cierra that I recently repowered with a 496 Mag HO. The boat has a Bravo III outdrive on it. Because I could not get the old-style power steering actuator to work, I am looking to switch over to a hydraulic system. The question is what displacement on the Helm pump should I be looking at for this boat/motor combination. I am looking at the Teleflex SeaStar Classic Tilt helms and they list 4 displacements - 1.4, 1.7, 2.0 and 2.4. In one of their brochures, they do not recommend the 2.4 unless you move up to a power assist. I understand that the higher the displacment, the quicker the response, but the more difficult to turn. The question is, what is difficult? Has anyone installed a hydraulic system on a larger boat like this? Which system did you install and how is the steering? Easy/hard to turn? Quick enough turns for the vast majority of your needs? Any guidance would be appreciated.

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: Hydraulic Steering - Seek guidance on what pump displacement and experience in us

Howdy,

I looked into doing the same thing on Four Winns Liberator (in my sig below)

If it were me, I would just replace the Mercury steering actuator it's pretty much trouble free. The hotrodders do an external steering actuator with Bravos but they cost MUCH more than the Teleflex standard systems.

I just looked on ebay and I found a brand new Merc Alpha/Bravo steering actuator for about $150 There's a LOT of them on there for under $200. new and used.

Hydraulic steering is great on manual steering outboards. I don't think there's much advantage to replacing the power steering on a Mercruiser with after market hydraulic.



ymmv.............


Rick

 

[Bondo]

Re: Hydraulic Steering - Seek guidance on what pump displacement and experience in us

I am looking at the Teleflex SeaStar Classic Tilt helms and they list 4 displacements - 1.4, 1.7, 2.0 and 2.4. In one of their brochures,

Ayuh,.... You also have to know the volume, 'n stroke of the ram yer gonna use.....

 

[rdranman]

Re: Hydraulic Steering - Seek guidance on what pump displacement and experience in us

Howdy,

I looked into doing the same thing on Four Winns Liberator (in my sig below)

If it were me, I would just replace the Mercury steering actuator it's pretty much trouble free. The hotrodders do an external steering actuator with Bravos but they cost MUCH more than the Teleflex standard systems.

I just looked on ebay and I found a brand new Merc Alpha/Bravo steering actuator for about $150 There's a LOT of them on there for under $200. new and used.

Hydraulic steering is great on manual steering outboards. I don't think there's much advantage to replacing the power steering on a Mercruiser with after market hydraulic.



ymmv.............


Rick

Rick,

If I could I would. You missed all the previous posts concerning the power steering actuator. This is a Bayliner 2858 - two steering stations - lower and command bridge. I have not see any dual cable connect actuators anywhere. I took a chance and actually bought two single connect actuators off of e-bay hoping to simply swap the dual connect tubes and clevis at the end. Nobody makes a dual cable connect actuator anymore - at least not that I've found. My attempt to salvage the power steering was an abismal failure that nobody has apparently ever seen or heard of before - won't go into details again - you can search for my previous posts.. So, the remaining option is to go to a hydraulic system. Trying to decide if I will need to go all the way to the electric power assist (hate the idea of having to spend the extra $1300) or if the straight hydraulics is sufficiently efficient / easy. Thanks for the input though.

 

[rdranman]

Re: Hydraulic Steering - Seek guidance on what pump displacement and experience in us

Bond-o,
The Teleflex site says BA135-7EM (HC5332-3) (8.2 cu in - 134.4 cc) for non-power assist and 125-8EM (HC5328-3)(8.5 cu in - 139 cc) with power assist. Seems strange to me in that doesn't the 7EM mean 7" stoke and the 8EM mean 8" stroke? Why would the stroke length be different depending upon whether you use power assist or not? Anyway, those are the dimmensions. So it looks like the number of turns would be just shy of 5.9 for the 1.4, 4.8 for the 1.7, 4.1 for the 2.0 and 3.4 for the 2.4 cu in displacement. On the 125-8EM, the number of turns would be 6, 5, 4.25 and 3.5 respectiviely. But that is not telling me what "difficult" means, etc.

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: Hydraulic Steering - Seek guidance on what pump displacement and experience in us

My attempt to salvage the power steering was an abismal failure that nobody has apparently ever seen or heard of before - won't go into details again - you can search for my previous posts.. So, the remaining option is to go to a hydraulic system. Trying to decide if I will need to go all the way to the electric power assist (hate the idea of having to spend the extra $1300) or if the straight hydraulics is sufficiently efficient / easy. Thanks for the input though.

Yeah.....I see your problem. (I didn't see the other posts) ............ I do know that Teleflex does have a cable type 2-station system. http://www.teleflexmarine.com/products/mechanical-steering/big-t-rotary-steering/



I don't know what the above system costs but I think it would be cheaper than a dual hydraulic system and it would use the existing OEM Mercruiser steering actuator(s),


I've never played with hydraulic steering. There's a lot of info out there though....
http://www.marinesteering.net/hydraulicsteering.htm

 

[Bondo]

Re: Hydraulic Steering - Seek guidance on what pump displacement and experience in us

So it looks like the number of turns would be just shy of 5.9 for the 1.4, 4.8 for the 1.7, 4.1 for the 2.0 and 3.4 for the 2.4 cu in displacement. On the 125-8EM, the number of turns would be 6, 5, 4.25 and 3.5 respectiviely. But that is not telling me what "difficult" means, etc.

Ayuh,... The Higher the number of turns it takes to go lock to lock, the easier it'll turn...

 

[rdranman]

Re: Hydraulic Steering - Seek guidance on what pump displacement and experience in us

Ayuh,... The Higher the number of turns it takes to go lock to lock, the easier it'll turn...

Bond-o.... LOL .... Yes, I get the more turns the easier... I'm trying to understand what that means... an analogy... for example, will 5 turns lock-to-lock feel just like power steering whereas 3 will feel like mechanical steering or like a car with no power steering... trying to get a sense for how easy or how difficult it is or isn't. Will 5 turns lock-to-lock be "only requires a finger to turn the wheel"? Three turns and you better have been weight lifting? Don't want to order 2 helms at over $1000 for the pair without having some sense of what I'm ordering.

 

[rdranman]

Re: Hydraulic Steering - Seek guidance on what pump displacement and experience in us

So, just an update to this. Talked to the technical support people at TeleFlex. He indicated that a combination pump/cylinder that results in 5 turns lock-to-lock would be single finger steering difficulty. Approaching 4 turns lock-to-lock would be 3/4 finger difficulty.