29' Outlaw steering issue...HELP!
 

At the lake yesterday in my 1997 29' Outlaw w/twin 454EFI with no issues. Late in the day, on flat water running about 45mph it took a hard left turn and started darting left to right fairly violently to the extent that we nearly got thrown from the boat. Stopped, inspected lower units, tie bar, tabs, etc...and everything seems fine. Got it back up on plane and the same thing happened..Needless to say I idled back to the dock and loaded it up. I now notice that there seems to be condiserably more "play" in the steering wheel before the drives move. I can turn the wheel roughly 4" before the drives respond. It does not have hydraulic steering but I've had zero issues with it in the past even at WOT in rough water. Has anyone experienced anything similar? Before I take it to the shop I'd like to make sure I'm not missing anything obvious. Any help/advice is much appreciated!

Original transom assemblies? Can you move the drives by hand?

Being it happened all of a sudden, you might have cracked a gimbal ring

What to check Gimbel Ring Videos (jrmarine.com)

And then add hydraulic steering when fixed. Much safer.

Original gimbals and both drives move freely by hand.

drives shouldn't move. As mentioned, check gimbal rings, also take a look at the steering arms inside on the transom assembly.

drives shouldn't move. As mentioned, check gimbal rings, also take a look at the steering arms inside on the transom assembly.

UPDATE:

Tracked the issue down to the steeriing cylinder at the transom. Replaced it and it's been good for the last couple of weeks. Thanks for the feedback!!