Ever disassemble a Teleflex Rotary steering helm?

[Mark42]

Both my boats have Teleflex Rotary steering from the '80's. Both work fine and smooth. But they both have what I think is too much play in the gears, resulting in about 1.5 inch of play at the rim of a 12" steering wheel.

Anyone know if this can be adjusted or is this normal for these older rotary steering units?

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Ever disassemble a Teleflex Rotary steering helm?

I have a few apart here now, they both have wear in the upper and lower nylon or plastic bushings, which allows added play in the gears. I stole some used bushings out of a few others and can make it almost perfect with some less worn bushings.
The gears on these are just straight cut, and so long as there's no corrosion, they aren't likely to wear much just turning an outboard. I have seen a few pretty corroded up, but usually there's so much grease inside nothing really gets the chance to corrode.
Check for side play in the steering shaft, if it's loose, chances are thats where the problem is. The inside is pretty simple, just a few bushings, an input shaft, two gears and lots of grease.

 

[gejandsons]

Re: Ever disassemble a Teleflex Rotary steering helm?

Since the wheel is normally at a staight ahead position it is safe to assume the gear itself would have wear in that position. If you pull the cable end out of the steering helm & then reinstall it with the wheel a 1/2 turn from its original position it should eliminate some of the slack.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Ever disassemble a Teleflex Rotary steering helm?

I took the output cable end cover off and held the cable while turning the wheel. It "turns" out (pun intended, hee hee hee) that the play is not in the helm, but in the cable. When holding the bare cable end, there is practically no play in the helm. But when I move the wheel enough to watch the cable end start to get pulled into the helm, then watch the outboard end, I can turn the wheel a bit before the outboard moves. I guess there is some wear in the bends and that allows the cable to move or bunch up in the cable housing before moving the end piece. Maybe as much as 1/2 inch of cable slack.

Im going to look into a new cable.

Thanks for your replies.