Not sure I'd use the word exciting, but it'd be something! I thought it was bad when I had one drive get stuck in reverse when I was backing out of my slip. That was a treat...but, having tie rod fail when docking or on plane would be worse.
I definitely noticed the little bit of play in my steering but it never bothered me as I knew it was not at the steering pin, drives are tight. Being mechanical a little play is par for the course. Hats off to you for taking steps to tighten it up, nice project and nicely documented here for anyone who is bothered by it.
mine has all sorts of play in it...you can swing the out drive by hand a lot but I have a new steering pin and it did it before and after...are there no adjustments to the steering cable itself? Boat has 300 hours on it so hard to think it would be stretched or a problem with the cable itself...always have bigger fish to fry it seems to really dig into it.
I received the new tie rod yesterday. I had to cut 6 inches off for it to match the original measurement. (The 92020A2 kit adjusts from 30”-46”, my measurement was 40” center to center). The old pins in the new holes have the smallest bit of movement in them now. The machine shop told me that the pins were slightly worn also (they measured them with a micrometer when they were at the shop). I have new pins on order.
The new tie rod is in (with old pins) and I would say it took care of 75% of the play in the drive. I set my phone up and took a video of the actuator while I moved the drive back and forth. The rest of the play is at the holes for the pin in the actuator. Hopefully when I receive the new pins it will take car of that, if not, I’ll think about replacing the actuator.
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Dream 'Inn III -- 2008 400 Express