offthefront

iTrader: (1)

My 311 had a tie bar and the standard cable PS for 15 years without issue ....m

BUIZILLA

not sure yet, it was sold new this way though..

handfulz28

Stress is induced whenever the drives aren't trimmed exactly parallel.

By "inner tie bar" we're talking the standard piece connecting the starboard steering assembly to the port drive's tiller arm correct? I would expect the one bolt that connects that rod the starboard assembly to be the weak point. But it's possible the steel swivel shaft ends up imparting the most stress/wear on the gimbal ring when you have both int and ext tie bars and then trim the drives out of parallel.

What does it look like inside the cable steering helm? Something in there had to break in order to get a free spinning steering wheel correct?

BUIZILLA

the inner tie bar connects both tiller arms
the helm has not been dissected yet... in fact, the boat is totally intact, uncleaned, on it's trailer, and undisturbed right now awaiting teardown analysis (this is where the big jerkoff comes in)... the cable broke through the lining and wrapped itself up OUTSIDE the lining at the steering valve juncture... nobody has EVER seen this scenario of events but, clearly, somebody screwed up, definately NOT an owner/operator issue.... if he gets jerked around any more this coming week, it will be displayed for EVERYBODY to see at the Ft Lauderdale and Miami Boat Shows within his own vendor display for public opinion that's for sure, leftover bloody paramedics gloves and all, hopefully it shouldn't come to that, but he's getting REAL pissed off and he WILL do it if pushed... it's too bad to, it was a beautiful boat and he love's Formula's..

RedDog382

I ran my '89 311 with 650 h.p./600 ft.lbs. torque @ 80 m.p.h on Merc mechanical steering with a Latham external tie bar for years without any steering problems at all. It is not a problem and even highly recommended to add a external tie bar with this set-up if running in excess of 70 m.p.h.

The problem with binding mentioned is when two tie bars are both mounted externally, one from rear cap to rear cap (or top cap to top cap) and the other from the aft trim cylinder mounting pin. This combination is when the binding occurs.

It sounds like this problem started with the gimble ring. It was either a defect in the part or SOMEONE drove this boat hard on some rough water at some point in the boats history and broke the gimble ring. It probably snow-balled from there.

I had a friend that broke a gimble ring by running hard on rough water while over-trimmed trying to impress a girl. Fortunately, he caught it before it became a disaster like this case.

This is what happens when a gimble ring snaps. I honestly don't see this as a Formula-specific issue.

RedDog382

Maybe on the staggered set-up where the drives are close together ...? I have not seen many set up this way.

RedDog382

I very strongly agree with this statement.

mopower

I run 2 extermal tie bars an my '89 with no bind as long as the are trimmed equally

handfulz28

Wow, that has to be unique to the repair. Either way, sorry to hear of the troubles.

The key to having two tie bars is perfectly parallel trim, regardless of where the two tie bars are mounted. It's a very simple concept that four rigid lines always need to form the same plane if there is to be minimal stress on the corners. With an external tie bar, two of those corners happen to be the upper swivel shafts in the gimble ring. Trim drives seperately, and the stress goes through the hinge pins and the swivel shaft.

This might be one of those rare multi-causal scenarios.

offthefront

iTrader: (1)

Just a thought here .... wonder if the Drive indicators were off?
You would think the drives were even all the time when in fact they would always place a strain on the Drive train. Didn't you mention that the boat handled strangly? Seems it have to be way out of adjustment to cause the kind of strain that could cause all the damage you have described ....m