Sloppy Steering

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

I have a 23' 1989 Celebrity Crown Line with a Mercruiser 5.7 w/ Alpha One R type sterndrive

The steering is really poor at slow speeds and when the boat is on a trailer the whole lower unit sways from side to side easily.

I had thought it might be the steering fork but that looks very difficult to replace and I was quoted $1500 by a local marina to have them do it..... no way.

I am in the process of replacing the gimball bearing and U-joint bellows (first time so my fingers are crossed it goes smoothly) So I assume this would be the ideal time to handle this issue before another season kicks off.

Any ideas, tips, whatever would be greatly appreciated. - Logan

Re: Sloppy Steering

Did you ask the marina the price to replace a steering fork, or did you ask them for an opinion and price for what they think the problem is when you got your quote?

I completely overhauled a '65 Mercruiser and it was a bear, partly because of severe corrosion requiring me to rebuild some of the mating surfaces with JB weld and a file/grinder. The lower unit was heavy and awkward to handle. Trying to get the (new) exhaust and prop tubes (rubber hoses) connected was extremely awkward and time consuming.

Hopefully Merc has improved these things over the years making the job easier.

If they still use a CV joint in the interface between the engine spline and the gearbox (where the drive changes from horiz to vert) I'd buy the whole thing new or be really sure you get the right parts and get them installed correctly.

When I finished with mine, built up with non Merc parts from autoparts stores, it was ok straight ahead or maybe 10 pts off either beam, but if you moved the helm over for a reasonable turn, I got severe vibration from this CV joint, the support bearings, or something. Course it was an alum boat (Starcraft) and that may have had something to do with it.

A manual surely wouldn't hurt.

HTH,

Mark

Re: Sloppy Steering

Logan, First this should be posted in the Mercruiser Problems forum. Secondly, an '89 Alpha Outrive is usually an Alpha 1 generation 1 model.

When you say the outdrive sways left to right, while on the trailer, how much does it deflect, and does the steering wheel move as well? Where is the play in the steering system? Is it possibly a bad rack in the steering console, or a bad cable?