Logo
FULL SITE MENU

Steering issue

H

Herkel

Member
2000 Johnson 50 HP 2 stroke. Sitting on a 2000 logic v17 hull. Bought not to long ago. First boat. Noticed that when I steer to the right it will turn just fine, nice and tight turning radius. But when i steer to the left, it only turns about half way of the other side. Is this normal or is there something wrong?Seems like to me, common sense would say that it should turn an equal amount either way. It does this on trailer and in water. Help. Thanks!
 
A couple of possibilities. Can we assume the cable goes through the motor's tilt tube? If not, that could be the problem. I can't see from here, but does the motor's steering arm have two holes in it? I believe the steering is supposed to connect to the (aft) hole closest to the motor. And finally, it could have a steering drag link that is the wrong length.

And of course there is the rare possibility that something is preventing the motor from swinging both ways. Disconnect the steering and see if it will swing both ways by hand.
 
Fdrgator: first thanks for the quick reply! The steering is remote, the cable attaches to the rod that runs thru the motors transom mounting assembly if that makes sense, then it does attach to the arm with the 2 holes. It is attached to the hole closest to the motor. When I turn to the right, it will keep going until the rod that the cable is attached to, hits the side of the transom. Now when I turn back to the left and it stops as far as it will go, that same rod seems to still have about 2 inches left of possible movement but it stops. Haven't found anything so far that is restricting it. Is there a possibility of a cable being shorter than it should be up in my steering wheel?
 
Update: I disconnected my motor from the steering linkage and motor right away turned all the way left as it should so I know my problem is somewhere between the cable and the helm. I'm assuming from some Internet research that I have a bad cable.. ?
 
Racerone , I don't think it is. Yes it does hit the side of the transom but when it does make contact the motor is pretty much maxed out on the turning of that direction. I would say it's pretty close to perfect size if anything. I wanna say the cable in the helm is going bad. Not sure how to confirm that though.
 
Unless something has changed since I've worked on them, the cables are all the same as far as travel goes. It is possible that there might be crud (rust) in the tilt tube, preventing the cable from retracting all the way. When is the last time it was disassembled, cleaned and re-lubricated? That is a regular maintenance item, y'know.
 
OR, by any chance does the cable have a zerk grease fitting? If so, it is possible to over-grease it to the point that the rod can't retract because of that wad of grease in there. Unscrew the cable nut from the tube and see if you can pull it back, maybe expelling whatever is in there.
 
I do have grease fittings and just the other day I put more in there not checking it before hand. Was not aware of the steering being a regular PM area. Still new to all this. I will take a look into that. I took the boat out on the water today. It's kinda odd, I have to hold the wheel at all times to prevent it from wanting to turn all the way to the right. If I let go while in motion it will quickly start veering right. If I'm holding the wheel to keep it straight the boat kinda is leaning more on the left side. Is there an adjustment somewhere to correct this?
 
There is a trim tab on the lower unit.--------If boat is pulling hard to the right you turn the trim tab more to the right !!
 
Back
Top