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Volvo Penta GL 5.0L J with SX-A Outdrive on a Glastron DS205

V

virendra

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We have always had a steering issue on this boat and wondered if anyone has experience on diagnostics on this. When underway the steering springs to PORT very aggressively and you need to really use a lot of force to keep it straight and even worse to turn it Star Board. We did a test as follows . First test on dry dock. Disconnected the linkages to the Stern drive and checked the cables, all fine and very smooth lock to lock. Moved the stern drive and that too moved from one side to another with no effort at all. Then turned on the engine on dry dock and did the same. Seemed harder to steer with engine running than with the engine NOT running. We then launched the boat in the water and ran the engine at idle in neutral. Its harder to turn lock to lock with engine running than it is when engine is OFF. Checked the reservoir and oil is fine, checked the bilges and joints of all pipes and not a drop of oil anywhere, opened one of the high pressure pipes when engine running and oil does come out of the hose. Checked the cooling tube and no oil and water mixture there either. Can the ram be defective on a 4 year old boat with just 25 hours?? Any other tests to isolate the problem of a faulty RAM or a pump not giving enough pressure, air lock. You literally can not leave your hands off the steering at any speed on this boat. Skegg is fine , no other adjustable trim either. Thanks
 
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Sounds like your trim fin/torque tab is either out of adjustment, or it's the wrong one for your drive.

If the propeller causes the drive to pull the hull towards Port, then turn the trim fin/torque tab also towards Port as to "counter" this.
Do the same but opposite if the boat pulls toward Starboard.

Can you post a photo of your drive for us?


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HI, This drive DOES NOT have any TRIM TAB. We even tested it idling with gear in NEUTRAL. I could imagine the problems with the prop RUNNING. Here we are talking about the prop stagnant. If the prop is not moving the steering should move the same or better when powered with the steering pump and engine running. In this case if boat is in water with engine OFF, the steering moves from one side to another with a little effort. However the minute you start the engine and do the same in Neutral it needs more effort. Obviously the engine running causes some resistance to the steering hydraulics that oppose the steering movement. The closest pic I found was on this video which uses the same drive as ours the SX-A 2007-2011 manufactured with 1:51 ratio. Thanks for the help.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZEsELbJUYc
http://www.marinepartseurope.com/en/volvo-penta-explodedview-7746270-44-9556.aspx
 
I may not be fully understanding you. Are you saying that this problem exists while not moving or being up on plane?

If that's the case, you probably have a faulty hydraulic slave valve that is attempting to hydraulically operate the cylinder when there is no actual steering demand.


Here's the thing with Power Assist steering.
The OEM decided that the trim fin/torque tab was no longer needed with Power Assist steering.
In reality, the system masks any "steer torque" from being felt at the helm.
Meanwhile, all of your steering components are still countering this torque, and it may cause pre-mature wear and eventual failure.

IMO, the OEM did a disservice to the owners by doing this.



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Thanks, The problem exists all times. When not moving its hard and its worse when planning .. I looked around to see if there is any grease point or a resistance bolt that could be adjusted but found nothing. This is why we removed linkages to check for cable problems, gear box transom shield link issues but everything runs smooth alone. Only when you link it to steering ram and turn on engine , it gets WORSE. I was thinking of either bleeding the system again and then testing or removing the cylinder and pump and doing some bench test if possible or recommended by the experts . What do you recommend. Is the hydraulic slave valve in the shaft or rack pump?? There are just 2 parts to it really, the pump and cylinder.
RicardoMarine said:
I may not be fully understanding you. Are you saying that this problem exists while not moving or being up on plane?

If that's the case, you probably have a faulty hydraulic slave valve that is attempting to hydraulically operate the cylinder when there is no actual steering demand.


Here's the thing with Power Assist steering.
The OEM decided that the trim fin/torque tab was no longer needed with Power Assist steering.
In reality, the system masks any "steer torque" from being felt at the helm.
Meanwhile, all of your steering components are still countering this torque, and it may cause pre-mature wear and eventual failure.

IMO, the OEM did a disservice to the owners by doing this.



.
Click to expand...
 
Temporarily disconnect the drive belt from the Power Assist pump, and see if the issue still exists.
By doing this, you will have eliminated any hydraulic fluid power, of which in turn will temporarily eliminate the slave valve function.

NOTE: this will also eliminate any hydraulic cylinder function.


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