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Power steering actuator problem

I

iaff284

Contributing Member
I have a 1995 Crownline 225BR with a 350 mag and Alpha Gen II drive. I had incredibly tight steering that I traced down to a bad helm/cable that I have on order. With the cable disconnected I tried moving the outdrive and it wouldn't move. I removed the steering ram to check it and with the flats on the actuator oriented horizontally the cylinder will move and push fluid but when hooked up and the engine running it wants to constantly turn the outdrive to the starboard side. When I reorient the flats to vertical the drive wont move by hand again? Anybody got any ideas on if this is normal or if the actuator is bad?
 
Thanks for the link Bt....I had already seen that and it makes a point of the flats needing to be oriented vertically, but when I do that and I push/pull on the od that connects to the outdrive it won't budge. If I turn the flats horizontal I can move the outdrive and it feels like there is fluid moving and the outdrive will move port and starboard. It seems reversed to me and thought somebody would have an idea if a valve is stuck or if the cable has to move the actuator to cause fluid to move with the flats in the vertical position?
 
I think I have found what I was looking for.....I found a video on youtube that shows the actuator in operation. It appears that the tube that the cable threads onto moves about an inch or so in either direction and allows the fluid transfer for the steering assist. I was having a hard time understanding the "shuttle" motion of the tube and cable assembly. I will check it later this week with the flats in the vertical position and report back after the new cable and helm are installed.
 
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