Hydraulic steering help

[balou]

Just noticed on the weekend that my Seastar hydraulic system on my tomahawk with 175 zuk was stiff when trimmed in but got better as it was trimmed out. During the day it loosen up a lot but a bit even when trimmed in. The steering hard a quarter turn play and nice and light turning left but harder turning right. I topped up the fluid which was only missing a 30-40 ml but made no change. I had the seal replaced 2 years ago and the boat 3.5 years old. Any ideas on where to start....


My mud boat has a hydrive system on a 90 etec. Maybe because it a smaller motor but the system is so light and a dream to drive.

I never liked the steering on the tomahawk even when it was new. Never as smooth and light as the hydrive

I thinking of keeping the helm and hoses and swapping the 2 bull horn system. The hoses and helms both look similar. I can live with the Seastar on the mud boat. Will this work? Or should I just buy a new hydrive bull horn.

Not keen on a visit to QM as the replacement seals on the Seastar was over 500 ( from memory ) last time.

Appreciate your advice

[NTFizzer]

Convert to Hydrive

[jabsy]

Mine is the same as yours Balou, also a Suzuki 175. When I checked it out its the kit for 0-150HP on my boat.... I just keep topping it up but its getting worse. A mate gave me a hydrive kit and spare seals, but guess what... 0-150HP rating. Guess I'll swap it out sometime but expect it to happen again until I pony up for the bigger ram.

[balou]

Mine is the same as yours Balou, also a Suzuki 175. When I checked it out its the kit for 0-150HP on my boat.... I just keep topping it up but its getting worse. A mate gave me a hydrive kit and spare seals, but guess what... 0-150HP rating. Guess I'll swap it out sometime but expect it to happen again until I pony up for the bigger ram.

If your running a Seastar kit it's for 150-350 hp...my hydrive on my 90 etec rated to 200hp. Seriously thinking about swapping over the 2 bullhorns.

[jabsy]

I'll take another look tomorrow then. Either way, it's firetrucked. The spare kit I have isn't hydrive, its ultraflex in a hydrive box...

Good luck with the changeover, you can get aftermarket seal kits from Ebay (maybe usa??) for a much better price than genuine.