Steering wheel hard to turn left than right

[tavacska]

I have checked many things but still no clue.

1. The boat is sitting on trailer, the outboard is 115 hp and sitting upright. The wheel is smooth and can be turned with one finger to turn right and left. But to left, I always have to use a stronger finger than to turn right.
2. On water, this situation is more obvious. One hand to turn right, and two hand to make it turn left, I mean the wheel.
3. I dis-attached the link to outboard, and the wheel can turn very freely left or right.
4. With the outboard standalone and upright, the engine can turned by hand freely to left or to right. But I can tell it is harder to one side than the other, though it is not that obviously.
5. I squeezed out the old grease with fresh marine grease on outboard rotation area.


My guess is,
1. steering helm problem. It is harder to turn one side than to the other side.
2. Outboard mounting rotation problem. It is not mounted even level, which make it weight more on one side.

Anyone has similar problems and any suggestions are appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Scott Danforth]

first guess is the steering cable needs replacement

 

[Chris1956]

When she is hard to turn, are you in gear and on plane? Boats often pull right with right-handed props at planing speed.

 

[Silvertip]

Have you tried adjusting the torque tab on the lower unit. That tab counteracts the effect of torque-steer. If the engine is mounted incorrectly you need to correct that as well.

 

[tavacska]

1. I dis-attached the outboard, with steering cable free linked. And the wheel turns freely. So I guess, it maybe not a problem of steering cable.

2.It's hard to turn wheel to left definitely on high speed in gear and on plane. When I want to turn starboard, it's very easy with one hand. But if I want to turn port side, I must use my two hands. But when parking in calm water, with outboard turned off. I can still feel it's hard to turn wheel left than to right.

3. So I never adjust the torque tab because in calm water, it is in the same situation. The engine I believe is installed 30 years ago. Re-position the engine will be the last thing I will do and only if I can be 100 sure it is because of the mis-position.

 

[mr 88]

1. With no resistance , as in a motor pulling /pushing the cable taut, the cable may not bind on whatever may be frayed or kinked .
2. See 1.
3. See 2

 

[jimmbo]

Do you have power trim? Does the effort to turn left decrease as the engine is trimmed up?
If the engine does not have power trim, what hole is the pin in, starting with the hole closest to the transom, which we will call one?

 

[tavacska]

The boat does have power trim. When trimmed up, the wheel is much easier to turn both left and right because of the gravity. But it is harder to turn it back to middle from left or right. I never tried to see which side is better.

 

[ahicks]

The boat does have power trim. When trimmed up, the wheel is much easier to turn both left and right because of the gravity. But it is harder to turn it back to middle from left or right. I never tried to see which side is better.

I'm sorry, maybe I'm missing something. Reading through this, I've never heard of or seen anything like that in the 50+ years I've been around boats. Have you set that engine up so that when fully down, it's tucked in WAY past level? So much so the engine is acting like a pendulum swinging on it's pivot point? If so, you may try inserting the pin to limit the down travel to the point where the prop shaft is level with the surface of the water when the boat is at rest, or even level with the bottom of the boat when on the trailer.

To be sure, are we talking about a conventional steering system that uses a push pull cable, or could this be a hydraulic system?

 

[Chris1956]

OK, the trim tab (zinc anode above and behind the prop), can be adjusted left or right to counteract the torque of the motor and prop, when running on plane. However, the trim tab will only correct for some trim angles and some speeds. You need to use trial and error to find the best setting for the trim tab.

I would recommend you load the boat the way you typically would. Now take her up on average plane and trim the motor to max speed. Now you want to adjust the trim tab to help the steering to have minimal pull. If she pulls right, loosen and turn tab CCW (from above), and tighten trim tab.

The Trim tab may be adjusted thru the hole on the midsection, directly above it, using a thin wall socket, if trim tab is original. It will be the largest socket that will pass thru the hall. I think it is 1/2".

If the trim tab bolt has been replaced, it could be that an allen wrench is needed.

 

[Watermann]

What type of helm do you have? Rack and pinion, rotary other?

 

[Old Ironmaker]

Before I changed the cable for my 115 Mariner O/B it was harder to turn left than right and under WOT I had to hold it hard left to stay straight. Changed the cable and problem solved.

 

[69T-Bird]

Does your boat have tilt steering? If so, I ran into a similar problem on a mid-90's I/O bowrider, easy to turn one-way but hard the other. It quickly got worse until it almost locked up. Checked the cable, outdrive pivot, helm gears (rotary), & finally the power steering valves - all OK. Searched the web & came across one similiar situation but no solution found. Then looking over the steering again notice the tilt steering. Pulled back the tilt pivot boot and played with the wheel and there it was.

The tilt unit used an u-joint type pivot. A torx bolt on a retaining clamp that held the joint had worked loose giving the joint too much freeplay, to the point were it would bind when rotating in one direction. When rotating in the opposite direction, against the side of the clamp that was still tight, it was OK. Tighten the torx bolt, problem solved... almost. Couple weeks later started to bind/loosen again. The torx bolt had a nyloc nut that must have weaken. Used some Loctite threat lock, retighened and it's been fine since.

Good luck

 

[QBhoy]

Fairly common with large outboards and no power steering to provide resistance. Can be helped with tab adjustment.

 

[ahicks]

Unless I misunderstood, he has the same thing going on when on the trailer, and the problem disappears when trimmed out at speed. Pretty much takes that tab out of the picture to my way of thinking.

 

[jbuote]

Maybe I'm wrong, but sounded more like the issue is exaggerated when at speed on plane, yet still noticeable even with engine turned off:

1. I dis-attached the outboard, with steering cable free linked. And the wheel turns freely. So I guess, it maybe not a problem of steering cable.

2.It's hard to turn wheel to left definitely on high speed in gear and on plane. When I want to turn starboard, it's very easy with one hand. But if I want to turn port side, I must use my two hands. But when parking in calm water, with outboard turned off. I can still feel it's hard to turn wheel left than to right.

3. So I never adjust the torque tab because in calm water, it is in the same situation. The engine I believe is installed 30 years ago. Re-position the engine will be the last thing I will do and only if I can be 100 sure it is because of the mis-position.

Also,
In the original post (#1) it sounds like the engine isn't quite mounted correctly either....

My guess is,
1. steering helm problem. It is harder to turn one side than to the other side.
2. Outboard mounting rotation problem. It is not mounted even level, which make it weight more on one side.

Don't have the experience like you guys do, but wouldn't mounting the engine properly be the first thing, then see if there's still a steering issue?

 

[Davetowz]

With steering cable disconnected at OB, how does the outboard move by hand? I would drop a steering cable in, they are not expensive. I have fought steering demons and convinced myself it couldn't be the cable. Eventually I changed the cable and problem was solved. Not a difficult swap or expensive. Can't hurt.

 

[tavacska]

Hey, guys,
Thanks all for the inputs.

On sunday, I checked again on the issue.
What I did is to loosen the support on the trailer and make the boat free to roll a little bit on trailer.
What I found is that the boat is not weight distributed balance. It roll to the starboard side because it is a side console - boston whaler Newport 1970's. And this is why the tail of engine tends to turn to starboard.

When I managed to push the boat to port side on trailer, the problem is solved or not noticeable. When sitting still in water, I believe this will be the same issue.

I such case, I guess I have two options. 1. to balance the boat, 2. to replace a hydraulic steering system, which is expensive

 

[mr 88]

Sitting on the trailer has nothing to do with your issue. Balancing your boat will have not help unless yours is setup with anything not bolted down being located on the rub rail of your starboard side.I would think you have the push pull cable system with maybe hydraulic assist. There have been many replies stating your cable is the culprit,have you removed it and checked for any burrs/frays or kinks ? If you had 100% complete hydraulic you would not have a issue unless the motor was binding up and even that is pretty much overcome with hydraulics.

 

[ahicks]

Maybe I'm wrong, but sounded more like the issue is exaggerated when at speed on plane, yet still noticeable even with engine turned off:/QUOTE]

From post #8
"The boat does have power trim. When trimmed up, the wheel is much easier to turn both left and right because of the gravity. But it is harder to turn it back to middle from left or right. I never tried to see which side is better."

When I read this originally, I assumed the boat was in the water at the time, which I found puzzling. Now, pretty sure it was not.

My best guess now, is that the OP's biggest issue is his lack of experience....