have a f302 with trs drives yhe steering is sloppy like driving an old tractor. when the boat is in the water and there is slight waves the drives move back and forth arent they suppose to be stiffer steering then that? do i need external steering?

Sounds like something is worn out. I have a 32' Baja, and the regular steering setup is fine on my boat. There may be 1/2" play at most at the wheel, and small waves don't really move the steering at all.

You generally only need external steering if you're going to be running at high speeds for your length of hull. I would tend to think that you should be fine with internal steering on your boat up to about 70mph.

Not sure what year they changed it but the upper swivel shaft on the older models was splined on the steering arm end and the gimble ring end. The splines would get beat out and you end up with a lot of play. Then they switch to square cut ends to keep it tighter. You can actually buy a kit to convert to the square ends which has the gimble ring, steering arm, and swivel shaft but their high dollar. Last I seen they were $1200 but that was 10 years ago. There is 1 on ebay now for 1300.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mercr...item2c54faf2ee
You can find complete gimble assemblies new or rebuilt for that price. You want the one that has a "U" bolt in the gimble ring at the top. I found a new transom assembly in the classifieds on this site a year ago for $650.

when i have the engine hatch up and move the steering the steering wheel moves 3.5 inches before it starts to move the drives

A lot of the slop in my TRS setup was the rod going from the servo to each of the drives. Where it connects to the steering arm there was a lot of slop. Looked like an easy fix (went hyd. though) to either replace the rod or the bolt, which if I remember right, was like a pseudo ball joint. Randy

do i need external steering?
YES