Steering
- Thread starter DanB
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Churchill_d
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grease the fitings and check fluids in stearing system
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Well Sir,
Here's what I "might" know about your situation. A good buddy of mine recenlty purchased a shorter Benny, about a 22' with I think a 200HP of which brand I'm not sure. He and his wife asked us along for a sort-a maiden voyage. We'd cruised around the lake a bit and he wanted to go tubing (at about 65 year old I might add
) and I took over the driving. MAN, was I surprised on how hard his steering is compared to ours. Ours is a '14 Tri-toon Benny 25RCL with EPS, the Yamaha 350HP F-350XCB and a 16.25 x 17" SS Saltwater Series prop. (although it NEVER gets used in Salt water!) We also have the Seastar Power Assist steering. With ours, you*One finger* it in any direction, at any speed, slow or fast, load or no load.But with his, I noticed his steering is considerably harder and, when I was driving and would make a turn, maybe a left turn while he was tubing, it was TWICE as hard as at any other time of driving. I thought WOW, I'm sure glad we happened to purchase our boat with PA steering.
So, with yours being hard for the most part and, harder during left turns, I can't say for sure. I just know his was considerably harder to steer in any direction WITHOUT that power assist unit that ours has.
Scott
May I ask, WHAT grease fittings. I think I remember maybe one or two on the motor but, I'd have to go out and look to see where I saw them. But on our noted boat above, I surely don't recall any grease fittings pertaining to any part of the steering assembly. Just learning here.
Scott
DVW
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A cable steer system will have a visible grease fitting at the cable end but no hydraulic fluid. A cable steer system under high thrust conditions will take more steer force in one direction when not trimmed right. A worn out cable steer rack under load will feel like you are turning a gear with worn out teeth.
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I surely thank you for answering me on this. Just also wondering, are there boat manufacturers still using cable systems these days? The OP states model of his boat and the engine but not the year. I'm kind-a under the impression that Benny has been using hydraulic steering for years, no?
Scott
BigKahuna
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My old Benny I/O had built in power steering! Turned like a Cadillac! Ha! My current boat with a Mercury 150 came with Seastar hydraulic steering. We asked about power steering when we bought the boat but was told that we didn't need it on a 150 and they were right. We never had an outboard before so that was an education for us! We do a lot of skiing and have no problem turning the boat!
DVW
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From my observation push-pull cable steering is still the most popular steering on pontoon boats. It is the default on Bennington’s build and price app. For now power assist for hydraulic steering adds about $7000 list price to the basic cable steering. That could change when the steering supplier works out the issues on power assist for cable steering (less than $2000).
I would have done that except I don't see anywhere to check the fluid level. And I do not see anything to grease. Its a 2008 with hydraulic steering Thanks
Its an 2008 Has Hydraulic steering. I saw a video of a person adding fluid to his system on the helm steering shaft. (not a Bennington) but I do not see anywhere on mine like that. Then says to bleed air out but totally different boat. It has to be vented then wheel turned back and forth. I get the idea but so far no where is it and how do you do it. May just have to take it into a boat repair Thanks for the comments.
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DanB,
If you're sure that you have hydraulic steering, then yes, you're going to have, or SHOULD have, a helm "plug" of some type, somewhere near the top of the dash/helm. In many of the youtube videos, they show that plug as being right behind the steering wheel. But, on our 2014 25RCL Tri-toon with the Yamaha 350HP, that helm plug is off to the right on the rail, very close to the right end of the wind shield. While I'm certainly no expert on any of this, I have done quite a bit of research and learned about hydraulic steering, filling it, bleeding it, purging it and all that.
Ours also has the electronic Seastar Power Assist. I just serviced ours. I had some air in the system which caused sloppy and slow reaction steering. That's not good when you're trying to negotiate tighter docks and mooring and even tighter coves and close proximity to other boats. So, I followed all the instructions for Seastar Power Assist steering manual which basically states:
1. Make sure the Reservoir is topped off. The reservoir is either directly below the plug on the helm (or in my case, a tube from that plug down to the reservoir). BY the way, the reservoir is also a manual steering hydraulic pump. You're turning it is what provides pressure in the lines to the steering ram on the engine.
2. Once the reservoir is topped off, then proceed to bleed the Seastar Power Assist unit BEFORE you move on to other bleeding ports in the system.
3. Then move to the steering ram on the engine and proceed to bleed each port by turning the wheel in a given direction for one side of the ram and then, move the ram to the other side and turn the wheel to the other direction. You need clear vinyl tubing for all of this so you can see the air/bubbles being forced out of the system at each bleeding session and each port.
It's not an overly hard or even that complicated of a job. Although all or at least most of the bleeding/purging of the system can be done by one person, it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better to have two. Our steering now is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better now that ALL the air has been removed. Again, if you're dead sure you have hydraulic steering, you definitely should have a helm plug somewhere in the vicinity of that steering wheel or close by.
Scott
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Thanks you and everyone for the comments. I just took the boat to the local boat shop and told them to fix it. The guy seemed as though he’d seen this before so hopefully by the end of the day it’s fixed. Then I can move on to the next little problem getting my trim gauge to work. Thanks again
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DanB,
Well, hopefully they'll be able to satisfy all your needs. If you would, please report back EXACTLY what they did and, if they found a reservoir plug, where it's located? Always learning here.
Scott
Well, hopefully they'll be able to satisfy all your needs. If you would, please report back EXACTLY what they did and, if they found a reservoir plug, where it's located? Always learning here.
Scott
So I got my boat back from the shop and we took it out this weekend. The steering was great! So the filler is located in plain sight on the top right side of the helm. Its a little black screw plug. He said it takes two people to do the job. So he removed the steering cylinder and installed new insert plugs in each end. Then he bled the system with the help of his assistant. He said the system had air in it. He did all that changed the oil and filter and serviced the lower unit for 231 bucks. I also did a speed check using my speed box app on my phone. with 1/2 tank fuel (aprox 17 gals) and 5 people I hit 31 mph. Thats up 7 from when I first tried out the boat. All I did (a lot of work) was clean the logs and the SS prop. Hope everyone who commented found this useful. Thanks Dan