Cowl pan and Hydraulic steering interference

[ddipert]

I just tried to replace my bridge port cowl (flat pan) with a 260 cowl and pan but my hydraulic steering does not allow the cowling to sit flush on the tuner.

Has anyone else had this issue?
Do I just have the wrong cowl or pan?
Do all new style pans have this dip in the front that is causing my interference?
Is my steering installed wrong?

I welcome any help.

[eli]

no from what i have read you have to trim the bottom of the pan where it interfears and fill the gap you made ,i have the same pans and want to switch over to hyd steering.

[ddipert]

I just find it hard to believe that everyone here on this board trimmed their pans to make a teleflex hydraulic steering work.

If this is the case why would they be so popular? This would be a major design flaw if you ask me.

[halveb]

I have SeaStar Pro on my HST and an aftermarket 260 Hi-Perf cowl and pan. I don't recall doing any trimming but I am getting old and my memory isn't what it used to be. I'll look at the cowl pan when I get a chance, it is sitting on my garage floor since I am moving motor to new boat and changing over to Alien cowl.

[bigboy]

What about mounting the steering at the underside of the steering arm? Dont know it there is enough clearance though.

[ddipert]

Clearance is tight but the problem with under the tiller arm is the underside of the tiller arm is concave. The hydraulic cylinder does not bolt up to the under side there is a space. I would have to make a spacer then the problem would be the bold head would hit the clap bracket.

I just spoke to several people who said there are 2 different 260 cowls one with the dip which is the early style and one with out the dip. I might have to buy a new cowl. I really don't want to cut the bottom of a cowl they have enough problems cracking without me cutting them apart.

Any cowls for sale on here? Or how hour 260 cowl pans? If I've got to buy a new cowling maybe I could find a drag cowl?

[ddipert]

Are the tiller arms for this engine all the same length?
Is someone has a seastar pro set up can you take a few pictures of it for me? Or measure the tiller arm length from the can to the end?

[mdc]

I have seastar pro steering with a 2.5 Drag cowl. I had to trim the pan to attach the tiller arm bolt.

[ddipert]

MDC thanks for the pictures. The would be ok if I only had to trim the bolt hole but your pan does not dip down as far in the front as mine does.

Would you take a picture and show how much clearance from bottom of the pan to hydraulic cylinder?

[mdc]

There is about 1" clearance from the bottom of the pan to the top of the tiller arm and around 1.5" clearance from the bottom of the pan to the top of the steering cylinder. The front of the pan dips down around 1/4"

[Vegas XT]

I bought a Eagle One after market cowl and pan but was not told that this would not work without some major grinding.If I was told I would have never bought it, live and learn. We took a dremel and notched out pan,still needs to be glassed in.I have since bought a factory Merc 260 cowling that I need to swap out ,sucks that I have to pull the motor apart again and have spent double the money! Always try and buy factory stuff,well worth the extra money.

[WATERWINGS]

My 260 pan hits the hyd steering, but so far hasn't caused a problem.

It seems to hit more when I turn full right or full left.

I figured I would just let the rubbing do the work for me......

[Burke Kilgour]

http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124624&page=3

[KIRCHNER]

i bought some polyurethane auto bushings [the red ones] put them on piston rod ends to limit travel.

[lbhsbz]

Back from the dead....

installed a new-to-me 260 (1992 model year, I believe) and using Pro-Marine steering. No interference when the engine is pointed straight ahead, but lots of interference if I try and turn.

I might have the wrong steering arm/swivel pin. I looked it up via serial number and the part number called out is for the old style skinny arm with 2 vertical bolt holes. My arm is the later style, what I believe is referred to as the "offshore" version with one vertical hole and 2 holes pointing forward. Seems the beefier style was for 1994 and later. Could this be the issue? Previous owner of the engine ran a seastar steering, which appears to be at least dimensionally similar to the ProMarine, so no idea how that worked for him but it did.

My options appear to be:

A: trim the pan
B: Machine a new plate to mount the ram to the tiller, extending it forward about an inch and dropping the cylinder end about 1.25" to put the works in front of the pan and below it
C: Find a different swivel pin / steering arm and hope that works.

544276

[David - WI]

Is there room to mount the "triangle" steering bracket under the steering arm?

544278

You would have to rotate the whole cylinder down/forward.

[lbhsbz]

Unfortunatly no....there is just enough room for the bracket, but no room for a bolt head or nut.