Hydraulic steering over 70 mph
 

Why is this a good idea? The regular stock power steering won't hold up? What are the issues here?

Thanks

Re: Hydraulic steering over 70 mph
 

I am not an expert here but just installed a full hyd IMCO helm unit and got rid of that cable/Brazil valve POS. ALL of the free play is now gone, the effort is much reduced and the boat seems to handle much better (less chine walk) at all speeds.

Re: Hydraulic steering over 70 mph
 

I don't know where the "70 mph rule" came from but IMO it's a good idea on any boat that is driven hard and fast. Takes the stress off the tiller arm and gimbal ring and really tightens up the steering. It was a night and day difference on my Donzi Blackhawk.

Re: Hydraulic steering over 70 mph
 

I think the main issues is safety. With the higher prop torque there is more strain on the steering components and the chances of failure are increased. Given the higher possibility of failure and the higher rate of speed your chances of a bad accident are increased. If the P/S belt breaks at speed you are going to have a bad day. Control at speed is greatly increased with a hydraulic setup reducing the chances of any chine walk or other nasty traits.

As I see it those are the main points. If you are going into the 80's and above I would consider it a must. If you are mids 70's, depending upon boat weight, single or twins etc. you could get by with a Drew Marine stabilizer setup. This would give you a marginal safety factor but if your budget is a concern and you don't really hammer it too much that might be the way to go.

Re: Hydraulic steering over 70 mph
 

There is no question about it, get the full dual ram steering. You wont be sorry.

Re: Hydraulic steering over 70 mph
 

I run low 70's in my boat but was told it would be a good idea to switch to hydraulic...and it was the best thing I ever did on my boat. Besides the fact that my old steering unit was old and I was afraid something might break at any time, the hydraulic set-up made 100% difference in the way the boat steers and handles. There is no slop in the steering, which was getting dangerous when I got to higher speeds. no slop makes it easier when docking also. The hydraulic steering also holds the boat more stable, with mechanical steering I felt like I was constatly fighting the wheel. I feel I'm in much better control with hydraulic steering. just my .02

Re: Hydraulic steering over 70 mph
 

biggest reason is torque steer second reason is it saves the upper steering pin

Re: Hydraulic steering over 70 mph
 

best reason, your life is worth more than the steering. plus you can hoooolllldddddddd it with no worries,,,,,,, see

Re: Hydraulic steering over 70 mph
 

So, with these systems, do you eliminate the power steering pump all together?

Re: Hydraulic steering over 70 mph
 

I had the same debate - decided that the paying the ultimate price was so much worse than the cost of hydraulic steering that I went for it - during the install, the huge nut that seemed to hold the whole stock steering assembly in place and controlled the tiller arm on the drive literally fell off in my hands - and that on a boat only 3 years old. Scary to think what might have happened running in the high seventies if she'd gone - so even if you don't go hydraulic, get back there in that tight spot and do a complete inspection a couple times per year - btw- the full hydraulic, bought from Fred at Trick at a great price is great - also completely eliminates the dangerous pull that occurs when you come down from airing it out.

Re: Hydraulic steering over 70 mph
 

From personal experience I can tell you that at any high speed maybe not even 70 it can be a life saver. My boat, a Cig Bullet handled fine with the stock steering, but last year the big nut that holds the arm like was mentioned above came off. The keeper had loosened up somehow. The boat made a violent left hand turn. Fortunately I had just slowed down from a pretty fast run, so wasn't running very fast, and was able to pull the throttles back and stop without any damage, except for a mess in my shorts. So a few seconds sooner and the turn probably would have thrown me out of the boat. And I was just about to go under a bridge and a few seconds later I might have made a hard left turn into one of the bridge supports. I understand with hydraulic steering that even with a line failure you won't get that kind of torque reaction and are alot safer.

So bottom line is go for it.
John

Re: Hydraulic steering over 70 mph
 

Go for it, I had cable to the helm with an external ram, and there was a good 2 inches of slop, wish I would of had full hydraulic, but still was better than stock.

Slop was kinda unnerving at 80+ though.

Re: Hydraulic steering over 70 mph
 

No, it may require a small modification depending on whether you have 1 ram or two, to increase flow.

I lost a PS belt recently and was still able to steer my full hyd dual ram steering with a little extra effort :drink:

Re: Hydraulic steering over 70 mph
 

No, (at least on mine) the power steering pump stays. The whole mechanical actuator gets taken out, actually pretty much everything but the pump. Its all done through hydraulic lines up to the helm, which is all changed also. I know that a few companies make sytems that run off of the mechanical steering, but I would suggest just doing the whole thing, what a difference it makes.

Re: Hydraulic steering over 70 mph
 

you can omit the p/s pump, and use a capalano helm which skater o/b 's use, but i would opt for the full hydraulic
system

Re: Hydraulic steering over 70 mph
 

Those take way too many dam turns lock to lock. Ok for docking with twins but I would hate to use one on a single and need to dock it anywhere.

Re: Hydraulic steering over 70 mph
 

keep this in mind too,if your running a nose cone or any kind of performance lower casing that also puts extra stress on your stock steering.Teague strongly reccomends AGAINSTstock steering and partial hydraulic steering with nose cones,its because the extra length puts stress on the steering system,Smitty