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power stearing for twin legs

H

hordos

Contributing Member
I lost all the oil from the systom and I though this is a good time to get rid of all those hoses and tidy up the engine compartment. With two pumps this requires a spliter control box and two coolers and a lot of hoses. Does anyone have a twin engine setup and run it on a single hydrolic ram instead of a power assist setup. If so dose it work well enough and how large a cilender is needed.
 
First of all, all those underlined words you typed? That means they are misspelled and if you right click on them it will correct the spelling for you. It just makes it easier for us to understand your question better.

Generally speaking, no, you should not use a single ram to operate a twin installation. If you convert to unassisted hydraulic, it will simplify the engine compartment because you can delete the power steering pump, cooler, hoses, and actuator. You will need dual rams and a single (2.4) helm.
 
I've had 2 boats with twin Cobra's (4.3's and 460's) and they both only had one power steering setup. The pump was always on the STBD engine and there was just a metal bar joining the 2 together. It worked very well, the only downside was if your STBD engine had a problem and you were limping home on the port with armstrong steering! My marina neighbor had a 31' Larson with twin Bravo 3's, same setup as well.

Sorry for the crappy pic, only one I could find that shows the single pump on the STBD engine and a bit of the metal steering tube joing the 2 together.

engines.jpg
 
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Again, not being a fan of stock outdrive power steering setups, I would highly recommend the Teleflex 2.4 helm and individual rams for each outdrive. There is a conversion ram that goes in place of the existing steering actuator, making for a very tidy set up. You'd only want to bleed the rams once though, if your engine area is anything near as tight as that pictured above. Cost including rams helm, hose and labor will be in the $2K range.
Thing is with the stock steering you have TWO systems in place, the push pull cable and the hydraulic ram. To my mind it is very overcomplicated and subject to too many failure points (v belt, linkage, fluid loss etc.) The hydraulic has two moving parts, the helm rotor and the cylinder ram. They are very robust and trouble free steering systems.

(Bob, if it were me, I'd make the jump. You won't be sorry.)
 
OK sorry about the spelling and I also can`t type. My system is the same as your picture Bob except I have twin hydrolic helms and pumps on both engines with a lot more stuff to cause me grief. This conversion ram that you refer to I am not familure with. And the two rams, do you just leave the legs connected with the white connector bar and attach twin rams. When I bought the boat first trip I knew I had to simpleify this systom or I would eventualy have problems.
 
Helm is Teleflex/Baystar HA5271. Piston for non power assisted OMC Cobra and King Cobra steering conversion is Teleflex HC5326 which needs rod end adapter HA5424. One for each drive. Remaining parts are the hose, which I got thru Mcmaster Carr for a few bucks The Teleflex hydraulic fluid and the odd plumbing fitting. Use regular brass compression fittings on the nylon hose. It isn't too complicated to do yourself if you are comfortable with bending over engines and bleeding hydraulic systems. Need one helper to turn the wheel while bleeding.

If you have two steering stations, it is very easy to add one more helm with t fittings.

Selection Guide here
 
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