Stiff Steering - Power Steering Assist - 290 outdrive - 271 VP Motor

[extrakatana]

Appears I have older p/n 852741 power steering assist unit on my 88 Holiday Mansion.
Very hard to turn from Lock to Lock
Just bought and probably sat for over a year (fresh water)
removed the steel link between end of piston and steering arm to isolate piston(or ram) with no load
moved wheel from lock to lock to see if shuttle valve(what i am calling it) will activate piston to L and R. Does not.
replaced power steering pump and belt. No apparent problem with pump itself. Probably didn't have a problem with the first one. return line allows steady flow of ATF back to pump reservoir.
moved wheel lock to lock and still no movement on the piston, which is still isolated with no load.
Removed high and low pressure lines (drained fluid) and removed belt from PS pump.
Turned wheel lock to lock and steering is now liveable. Basically no PS at all, but at least not the resistance I was feeling before.

Only noticeable observation at this point: Other than power assist ain't working, the shuttle valve seems to move L to R a total of 1/4" Lock to Lock. Just a guess, but seems it should move further to allow the assist to work.
Disconnect steering cable and tap ends of shuttle valve to free up and get more movement? Suggestions?

Thanks in advance

 

[Bondo]

Re: Stiff Steering - Power Steering Assist - 290 outdrive - 271 VP Motor

Disconnect steering cable and

Ayuh,.... How easy does the wheel turn, with the aft end of the cable disconnected,..??

Does the drive swing freely,..??

 

[extrakatana]

Re: Stiff Steering - Power Steering Assist - 290 outdrive - 271 VP Motor

Ayuh,.... How easy does the wheel turn, with the aft end of the cable disconnected,..??

Does the drive swing freely,..??

Pulled the cable today and the wheel turns smoothly. The drive swings with two fingers and a little effort.
while the cable was off, I worked the shuttle valve back and forth through about 15 repititions. It appears the valve is spring loaded in the nuetral position, which I had never heard before. I re-connected and power assist is working again.

The flying bridge is always harder to turn however and I'm not certain why. It is a continuous teleflex cable running from the FB down through the main cabin, and then back to the transom. There are no visible kinks...

 

[HorizonblueDK]

Re: Stiff Steering - Power Steering Assist - 290 outdrive - 271 VP Motor

This is probably the steering actuator you have.

They are quite heavy to operate, don't help much. I installed one on a friends boat some time ago, but replaced it later with an OMC Cobra actuator, since the Volvo actuator needed too much effort to operate, despite the fact that the boat has a short steering cable, that moves with no resistance. My friend has painfull joints in most of his body, so he would like to be able to turn the steering wheel easily.

Even I had to grab the steering wheel quite firmly in his boat, to make a quick turn, when it had the old Volvo actuator.

As mentioned, I replaced it with an OMC Cobra actuator, and this is a lot better, the steering wheel is much easier to operate now. Off course I had to fabricate a special bracket to hold the OMC actuator.

Since your boat has two stations and therefore a very long steering cable, the problem gets bigger. But I believe that the main problem is the actuator. Volvo also switched to another type later, that is probably easier to operate.