Hi Team - my new to me 1999 270DA has heavy steering last season. I am replacing the Bravo 3 and want to check everything as I do. Should the bell housing/ stern drive move by hand from the outside of the boat OR should it only move from turning the steering wheel? I plan to remove the steering cable and see how that moves once disconnected, but noticed today that I couldn’t move the stern drive / bell housing left to right, by hand, outside the boat. Thanks for your inputs!
Older boat ('92 with twins), but it's all I can do to move the outdrives by hand. The power steering doesn't allow much to come back up the line when on the hard with dead engines. Check to see if yours has an inline oil cooler. Mine went bad a couple years ago, contaminating the fluid with water. I caught it early on and was able to save the system with a thorough flushing. Make sure there's no "pink milk" in your P/S pump. And, welcome to the forum!
The drive won't always move when you push on it left to right or right to left. If you disconnect the steering cable it's still hooked up to the steering assist cylinder. I had the same boat and when the steering cable started to get tight it overworked the steering assist cylinder and I ended up having to replace that also. I'm betting that you have a bad steering cable and you're going to find that out when you disconnect it and it's still difficult to turn.
