Power steering system to none power steering

[mhawk4]

Guys, i am curious. Looking at the my engine installation manual, it shows two ways of steering assembly- P/S and no P/S.
do you know of any person in this forum who has gone or changed there system to none power steering? both of them connect and use same bracket in transom and steering cable is same length; just different adjustment.
Can it be done?

1989 omc cobra 5L- 302ford

 

[HorizonblueDK]

Re: Power steering system to none power steering

As far as I know, yes, you can remove the powersteering and connect the teleflex cable directly to the steering arm.

I have replaced my Volvo Penta 290 outdrive with an SX. The 290 didn't have powersteering, thus no pump on the engine. I the beginning, I planned to continue running without powersteering, cause it would involve a lot of work to install a pump on the engine (the heat exchanger was in the way). So I bought an original Volvo Penta set of parts for connecting the Teleflex to the steering arm, pivoting in the inner transom bracket.

I never installed it, cause I changed my mind and went through a lot of work and installed the powersteering pump on the engine and the cylinder on the transom bracket. But it should have been a piece of cake to install the manual steering kit.

The OMC Cobra and Volvo SX are almost identical inside the transom, a few things, dimensions are different.

I decided to install the powersteering anyway, since the old Volvo outdrive was pulling hard to one side(don't remember which), when going more that 18 knots. At 40 knots I was holding on to the steering wheel so hard, that I was afraid that the teleflex cable could break any time.

I suspect that the same issue would also be present, on an SX or OMC Cobra outdrive without powersteering.

So, if you are going to remove the powersteering on your boat, I hope you have a good reason....

 

[mhawk4]

Re: Power steering system to none power steering

well right now i am dealing with vibration coming from the P/S. i did replace u joints and i am working the air out of the unit a little at a time (very tough by the way). to replace the unit is around $700 just for pump on the inner transom mount; and i am pretty sure vibration is coming from pump. we usually go boating on our local lake, and not thinking on venturing on the ocean.
i have some experience with boat pulling to the side, our prior boat did pull very hard.

do you know where i can get the parts?

 

[HorizonblueDK]

Re: Power steering system to none power steering

I have installed powersteering three times before and never experienced air in the system. I just poured oil in the pump reservoir, refilled after 1 minute of running, and it worked fine from then.

If the system is not leaking and you have the correct level of oil in the reservoir, I suspect that either the pump on the engine, or the ram on the transom bracket has a fault. Hard to say which one.

Both parts (ram and pump) can be obtained from Ebay (secondhand) at very reasonable prices.

I found the manual steering kit on Ebay also. The parts are still available from Volvo, except for one item, which off course makes it impossible to assemble.

(Part No 1)