Hydraulic or push/pull cable steering

[McKnight]

I am doing a reno on an old fibreglass boat, long story short I have an '06 model 90hp TLDI Tohatsu to bolt on. The boat was set up for pull/pull steering but the pulleys and everything have seen better days. I want to know who has had experience with both hydraulic and push/pull steering on the same boat/engine combination (not my boat, yours) and whether there really is a great deal of difference. I understand that there isn't any feedback through the wheel on a hydraulic system which makes it lighter to steer but is the push/pull really heavy? I want my wife (not a delicate flower but also not a she hulk) to be able to drive the boat as well so hydraulic would do the job easily but if cable isn't all that heavy in steering than I will go with it.I am also aware of the maintenance issues with cable and it rusting up in the jacket. any help would be great.

[LittleSkipper]

Gidday McKnight. I've had cable steering on my 75hp Mercury previously and now have a Baystar hydraulic system.

In essence hydraulic steering prevents two stroke prop torque from running its way up to the helm making steering that much more enjoyable.

Cable steering isn't heavy it's as I mentioned the prop torque you receive at the helm that makes it painful at times to steer.


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[Fed]

But what about the 4 stroke prop torque?

[LittleSkipper]

But what about the 4 stroke prop torque?

Not sure Fed, I have no experience with a four stroke but hoping that will change when I repower early in the new year.

Hopefully someone here who has experience with four strokes omitting any prop torque can comment?




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[simsavage]

Hey McKnight,
I have cable steering on my 55HP rude. It can be heavy when travelling at speeds but it is not uncontrollable. the cables restrict the transom though. I cannot put my electric on without restricting the movement of cables. an aux bracket will fix this issue though.
I have considered the swap to hydraulic but I'm just not sure if it'll be worth the hassle.

[LittleSkipper]

Hey McKnight,
I have cable steering on my 55HP rude. It can be heavy when travelling at speeds but it is not uncontrollable. the cables restrict the transom though. I cannot put my electric on without restricting the movement of cables. an aux bracket will fix this issue though.
I have considered the swap to hydraulic but I'm just not sure if it'll be worth the hassle.

Don't think of it as a hassle! Think of it as a convenient alternative to cable.


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[scottar]

If you can afford the extra - go with hydraulic. I fitted it to my last rig - a 4.5 metre tinnie with a 40 because I wanted my young son to be able to have a steer if he wanted. Once fitted I could steer the thing with a single finger. The other time it made a heap of difference was when I had to run the motor at trim settings that made the steering heavy to do whips with a tow tube or when it was rough. With the hydraulic this was very easy compared to the cable

[Moonlighter]

On my last boat, a 4.8m heavy duty plate alloy cuddy, I had normal cable steering on my Tohatsu TLDI90 to start with. I maintained it well and lubricated the cable on a couple of occasions with ATF so it was nice and smooth and as light as is possible.

It was fine most of the time, but when driving into a head-sea, when you needed to trim the motor down/in to keep the boat's nose hard down, the torque steer was very noticeable and quite tiring after more than 10 minutes. It was, to be blunt, hard work.

After a particularly nasty 45 minute trip home across the bay into a solid 15-20 knot south-westerly, i had had enough.

I changed to Hydrive hydraulic with the side-mount ram, and honestly, i wished that i had done it much earlier. So much nicer to use. The difference was like going from a car with non-power assisted steering to one with it. I wouldn't want to go back again. Fitted it myself, if you follow the instructions 100% it isn't too hard.

My new boat was built with Hydrive steering fitted as well. No issues at all in nearly 5 years.

By the way, the TLDI 90 is a great engine! Great reliability and terrific fuel economy, better than equivalent years 4 strokes!

Just check that the injectors are the upgraded ones, some of the earlier models had a few issues with them but they were properly fixed with an injector upgrade in later models. Also, there was a recall in about 2008 i think due to a fuel filter rubbing on the inside of the upper engine cowling, again, all done for free even though the engine was out of warranty. So if you get it checked by a Tohatsu dealer they should be able to verify these 2 things.

The only other thing I would mention is that the standard Tohatsu alloy prop is pretty hopeless. I had cavitation issues, even when trimmed most if the way in, in any sort of turn it would lose grip. Also, it was always a bit doughy in the acceleration phase, even though it hit max rpm when it got going.

The good news is that the standard Merc Vengeance stainless prop fits right on and wow, what a transformation! Acceleration like a sports car, hangs on nicely in corners and rough conditions. I can probably go back into my records and find the exact model, size and pitch if necessary. I am pretty sure it was a 14" pitch, just cant recall the diameter.

edit: did a search and found this on one of my Ausfish posts:

My TLDI 90 was fitted with a 13.75 x 15 alloy Tohatsu prop which revved to about 5500rpm, and my mechanic recommended that I go for a Vengeance in a 14". I did some research on the net and found that Merc make a 13 3/8 x 14 so that's the model we decided to go for. Max rpm now 5800 and picked up about 8km/hr top end speed too.Acceleration out of the hole is now brilliant!

[McKnight]

Thanks for the responses, some very useful info. I had definitely been leaning to hydraulic but now it will be a certainty is there much difference between the side mount and bullhorn?

edit:

Thanks moonlighter the prop that came with it was shagged anyway. looks like it had hit something.

[LittleSkipper]

I wouldn't think there would be much difference between side or bullhorn as the design is to accommodate different types of splash wells.


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[scottar]

The side mount will have a difference in the effort required to steer between port and starboard due to the difference in the volume of oil to fill the cylinder but it will be fairly minor. Side mount is typically cheaper. As Little Skipper has already added, not all systems suit all boats due to space requirements.

[robothefisho]

I'm going to buck the trend and say I prefer non feedback mechanical steering over hydraulic. Hydraulic is far to slow in turning the motor. I suspect many people dislike mechanical because they haven't set the trim anode to properly counter prop torque. When set properly it should require the same force to steer in both directions. Hydraulic steering just hides this more effectively.

[Fed]

I think there's case for both, depends on the rig balance, the setup & the usage.

What boat is it on McKnight?

[McKnight]

It's on a 17ft Caribbean Crosby runabout. here it is when I first got it.

[Crunchy]

Thats a big arse splashwell, will fit most hydraulic systems in there. I had a cable snap on me and nearly ended up on the rocks, change to hydraulic and would never go back to cable (90HP 2-stroke) sooo much nicer to drive now. Never tried NFB mechanical so cannot comment on that option.