Steering shake on take off

[Chopper]

G'day Guys,
My 98 SN steering wheel vibrates & rattles quite badly when first taking off. Is there any way to eliminate this problem.? Is it something to do with the tilt adjustment.?

I do use it for wake boarding and use about 650 litres (approx 1200lb) of balast in the form of fat sacs. Could this be contributing to the problem.?

Andrew
Brisbane Australia.

[NautiqueJeff]

My SAN does this sometimes too. It seems to do it more often when the boat is fully weighted with ballast and people. My dealer couldn't duplicate the problem, and had no advise on what to do about it, so I'd be interested in any responses too.

[Chopper]

I'm thinking the problem occurs because of the rudder being located directly behind the prop (which I have upgraded to a larger 4 blader), and when ballast is added the additional weight accentuates the problem back through the steering cables to the steering wheel.

There does appear to be some vertical (up / down) movement which I'm thinking is from the tilt adjustment. If the tilt adjustment can be stiffened up, this mat fis the problem.

Can this be adjusted.?

Andrew

[Rick]

I would check the attachment of the steering cable to the Tiller arm and also the pivot post in tha back of the boat. If either is loose you need to tighten them and if the shake returns tighten them again. I would hat to lose steering taking off with that much weight in the boat.

[ccskier16]

Any weeds in the lake?

[AirNautique211]

My 211 reacted the same way to start when the steering adjustment fin on the rudder was adjusted dead on from the dealer. I noticed it most under the same conditions as decribed above, but mostly when I nuetralized the steering wheel befor take off. Try a slight right hand adjustment of the rudder fin or start with the wheel turned right during take off.

No matter how tight you get the cables, it is possible to get chatter off of the prop as water is sent across the surface of the rudder. Those cables control the upper shaft of the rudder, but the surface area of the rudder is so large that it can over ride the stack up of tolerances in the assembly when changing from static to non-static. As water passes by the rudder the slack comes out of the system and the chatter goes away.

I guess to make it simple - you will never get all of the slack out of the system - steering systems must be free to move or you will get a tight steering situation. A couple of of trial adjustments of the rudder fin will torque the slack out of the system and position the system in a tighter start off position. You will also notice a better wake on the drivers side and a more comfortable pull of a rider.

8 years at Purdue school of engineering and 10 years working at TRW Commerial Steering as an ME - that's the best explanation I can offer.