| Liquid Addiction |
07-31-2017 07:10 AM |
I have gathered more information and found a solution to the steering issue first reported.
On a 33 Donzi with a steering cable to an internal actuator and external Latham hydraulic steering rams the internal actuator acts as a fluid diverter rather than a pump to push fluid. The internal actuator simply diverts the fluid to the port or starboard external steering rams when the wheel is turned left or right just like the internal helm would on a full hydraulic setup. So there are a couple of modifications done to retrofit a new internal actuator to work with this system. First, if the actuator is taken apart so you can see the end of the shaft with the plunger, you will notice the plunger has a rubber o-ring around the outside of the plunger and this fits snuggly to the inside of the cylinder housing. If the boat did NOT have external hydraulic rams then this plunger setup would work fine and act as an internal hydraulic ram assist. But since we do have external steering rams, the plunger MUST be changed to one that is smaller and does not actually push fluid so that the actuator can simply divert the fluid left or right respectfully when the steering wheel is turned. The second modification is on the end of the internal actuator housing two more lines most be connected to run the hydraulic lines to the rear of the transom where they will connect to the external hydraulic lines to the rams. So the end of the cylinder on the actuator must be machined to add one fitting on the large cylinder and another fitting on the small side of the cylinder...hence, left and right fluid movement.
If these modifications are not made to the steering actuator and the plunger is not modified, then the actuator will fight the external rams and eventually break the steering lever at the transom assembly as it did in my case. Hope this helps the next person who encounters a similar problem.
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