Why are the tie bars on these boats located on the saddle?

And on these boats they are inline with the steering rams... Advantage?

More inline examples...

Directly in line is better. Just try doing a little force-vector diagram and you can see with the tie bar low and the steering ram high the outdrive will want to twist. This will put added wear on the gimbals bearings.

On a side note:
Twin tie bars if not directly above one another will cause the drives to bind.

DS

Thanks for the repliy Zanie.

Both is best....... we try to stabilize the lower units because the props are so close!!

How do you tighten the saddle bolts enought to keep the saddle from movving back and forth at speed and gouging the top of the outdrive?

Mine are doing this and I'm at a loss as to how to get the ting stay in one place..

Mine was a pretty easy fix:

Before....

...after!

But seriously, notice in the first pic how the saddle tilts backwards slightly? This lessens the movement from the water crashing against it. Mine always ended up in this position, so that's how I put them back together after wrenching.

Brian