Hydraulic Steering

[ddurden]

I bought a new 208 Sea Pro with a 150 Suzuki back in April. The steering has been stiff from day one. The dealer finally sent a tech down to check it out. He said it seemed fine to him but would go back and investigate. Three weeks later he called and asked if it has a U-FLEX25T or a 28T helm pump. It has a 25T. Three weeks after that no call so I called the dealer. Now he is going to send another tech to check it out. My previous boat and all my fishing partners boats have hydraulic steering all are nowhere close to being as stiff as this one. All that have driven my boat even with out knowing of the stiffness has said man you need to get them to check your steering. Sea Pro only uses U-FLEX systems. Can anyone tell me if the 25T helm pump is the right size? One more thing when the water is calm enough that I can run 28+ and trim it out as much as possible half the stiffness goes away. But where I fish very seldom is the water that calm.

[Moonlighter]

Dont know about those helms but ......

Have you disconnected the ram from the outboard and checked how easily the motor turns side to side by itself? It could be that the steering pivot has not been kept greased up enough or wrong grease used and has become frozen.....Contributing to how hard the motor is to turn.

Wouldnt be the first motor to have this happen.... its not a Suzuki issue, its common to all motors. A maintenance issue.

I inow you said its been like this since new, but might be worth checking anyway. Something may not have been installed right in the steering.

When disconnected from the steering, the motor should be very very easy to turn side to side. Basically no resistance at all if its been well maintained.

[artdf175]

If this is similar to my hydraulic steering the pump is on the steering column
On the top side there is a thumb screw with about a quater inch fill hole
If yours is like this I would suggest checking if the unit is full
Art