290DP Stern Drive Steering Fork/Arm issue.

AQAD41A engine with early 290-DP drive.
I recently purchased a new steering yoke kit with protection cap P/n 873183 as the sealing ring had let salt water past and had badly corroded the steering shaft just below the spline where the steering arm mounts on.
I had Volvo Penta certified mechanic around to reinstall the drive for me. The first thing he noticed was the old steering arm would not fit on the splines of the new steering yoke kit (very close) he said the steering arm should side on with little or no force required (yes he tried spreading the fork at the pinch slot various widths) I ordered a new steering arm P/n 853017 which matches the steering yoke kit above thinking that maybe the old steering arm may have become distorted over time or misuse. However the same issue occurred when we tried to fit the new arm to the new fork - I used the same Volvo mechanic again (he is one of the best in our region) we tried the new arm and the old arm back on the original old steering fork, there is still a reasonable amount of spline left at the top of the shaft to fit on - both slid on by hand.
I went back to the company I purchased the fork and arm from from - another Volvo Penta dealer.
He to was little mystified as to why it would not fit on easily as he had just fitted 2 new steering forks to a vessel a couple of weeks back and they just slid into the old arming arms without any problem.
It is as though the spline on the aluminum shaft/yoke is slightly over size, he rang Volpower New Zealand to see if they new of any issue, but no and of coarse they have ran out of steering arms until sometime in Apirl so they couldn't check themselves.
They sent down a new steering yoke kit so he could compare, I have just been in to look at it and it looks to have the same issue. Forcing the steel steering arm on looks as though it will gall up the the aluminum splines on the steering shaft
Has anyone encountered this issue before?

No, but I have seen other issues that Volpower NZ "have never seen before", or were unrepairable, or........ How many books do you want to read???

Take all that "never seen it before" with a grain or two of salt based on my experience. Here is the most valuable advice I can give a NZ based Volvo owner. Ditch the Volvo dealer network (especially if in Auckland) as much as you can and call John at North Harbour Imports for your Volvo parts and advice. He works from home and won't travel usually, but he will tell you the real truth, has many used spares, and will often sort you new parts at a fraction of the cost of buying them through the Volpower network. Failing that, get used to getting your own parts off EBay or similar. I consider Volpower to be way to greedy, and nothing like as customer focused as I would expect. Same comment for some of their major dealers.
As for your worn steering shaft/yoke, a packet of JB Weld and some careful work with some sandpaper will probably fix your old one so that you don't need a new one. I have fixed several parts on 290 drives with this due to the ridiculous parts costs and have yet to have one fail. If it is just pitting and not structural damage, get the bad 'new' parts refunded and go hard with the JB Weld. Cost you $20 and a couple of hours. New set of the nylon bushes, new set of seals and bang it all back together. Should be out fishing at this time of year, not getting stuffed around with dodgy Volvo parts.

Thanks for your reply aliboy, I agree with your comments re Volpower and also have heard simalair comments from the Volvo agents I deal with.
The steering fork unit I took out had allready had the pitting ground out and filled with JB weld or simalair some time in the past, the pitting was very deep and was completely around the circumference, I considered it at the point that it's structural integrity would compromised a sort a secord opinion from an company that specializes welding alloy metals, as we regularly cross Cook Strait and sometimes in less than perfect conditions having the part fail mid way across and lose partial steering is a major safety concern.
I took the parts back to the Volvo mechanic that I purchased them from, he agreed that there was something amiss with the spline tolerance on the steering fork, he then spent 2 hours at no charge to me carefully making the two parts fit together.
As for purchasing other Volvo parts - I always check EBay and other parts suppliers off shore before purchasing anything locally, some items there is little difference to others up the 50% less even with freight included.
I try and support the local guys when I can, for the back up they provide, as above

Sounds like you are well on top of things. Do try John at Nth Harbour Imports if you need parts. He has a great network and can usually save you a bunch of money. We had multiple Volvos before I managed to get rid of them all and dealing with Volvo parts through the Volpower dealer network in NZ is just horrible. Just as a quick note in case you don't already know, most bearings and seals for your 290 are off the shelf parts at your local bearing shop. Can be 50% to 70% cheaper for the same parts. Next time you do a gimbal bearing or drive seals etc try taking the old parts to your local bearing shop and see what they can do for you.

Thanks for the info on Nth Harbour Imports I will definitely make contact with John soon.
Re bearings and seals etc yes I am aware that the large majority are standard off the shelve sizes and have in the past purchased from the local bearing supply.
I fitted the steering fork/arm this afternoon after the mechanic had made the bits that wouldn'd fit together fit.
Everything slid together perfectly took all of 15 minutes, we were about to reinstall the drive but it poured with rain.
Something to do tomorrow.
I would be very interested to know if anyone else around the world encounters the same problem with the steering fork/steering arm spline fit in the coming months

keverno said:

Thanks for the info on Nth Harbour Imports I will definitely make contact with John soon.
Re bearings and seals etc yes I am aware that the large majority are standard off the shelve sizes and have in the past purchased from the local bearing supply.
I fitted the steering fork/arm this afternoon after the mechanic had made the bits that wouldn'd fit together fit.
Everything slid together perfectly took all of 15 minutes, we were about to reinstall the drive but it poured with rain.
Something to do tomorrow.
I would be very interested to know if anyone else around the world encounters the same problem with the steering fork/steering arm spline fit in the coming months

Click to expand...

Hi from UK

Just come across the exact same oissue and i feel a number of hours with needle files will be required. Be interested to know how your mechanic made then finally fit.

Hi Mtrigger,
Just picked up your post, I believe the mechanic worked the steering arm on and off a little at a time, he said a couple of times the steering arm locked on the spline and was hard to remove, I believe he had to apply a little gentle heat to remove. Something to I noticed was the steering arm would not line up exactly 90 deg' to the steering one spline either way was still not 90 deg' as unluck would have it the angle reduced the max steer throw a little after setting up a little toe in on the legs as per the Volvo workshop manual. I may swap the steering forks over next time I take the legs off next time if it's an issue this the offset would work in favour
I haven't had a chance to run the vessel at cruise speed yet to see what the drive alignment is like
Good luck