MacGregorSailors.com

Steering, never light to begin with, has been getting more and more stiff as the season has progressed. The problem is the Honda BF-50 becomming more difficult to turn. It is well greased, but seems inordinately difficult to turn. Checking the catalog, I discern no ready fix, but there's gotta be a friction adjustment of some kind on it. Does anyone know? Thanks!

I would disconnect the linkage to the motor and isolate the problem.

Without the steering wheel connected to the motor, turn the wheel and see if that is stiff. If it is not, hand turn the motor and see if that action is stiff.

If it is hard to steer while driving, you might think about the trim tab adjustment. The trim tab compensates for torque steer and if not set correctly, the torque can steer you to one side and make it hard to steer back the other direction.

Just some thoughts.

Thanks, Randy. However problem is in motor in my case: after disconnecting the steering from the motor steering becomes light and responsive, and moving the disconnected motor by hand without load (sitting in the slip) requires much more effort than it should. I assume that there is a means for increasing or reducing friction (as I've seen on much smaller tiller type outboards) but can find no reference to that for the Honda BF-50

It is mentioned here around page 77 or so

http://www.honda-marine.com/mar_pdf/31ZW4603.pdf


http://www.hondanews.com/CatID6037?mid= ... 5&mime=asc

I wish I knew how to stiffen up a Yamaha. Mine flops down on a heel, by that I mean if I let go of the wheel, it'll spin making the boat fall off the wind.

Thanks, Craig. Curious observation, the 2000 manual you referenced notes the friction adjuster without reference to type (tiller or remote control), suggesting tightening it to prevent motor movement while trailering. The 2003 PDF manual I have on my computer lists the friction adjuster only under the LH and LHT (tiller) types, again to prevent movement, leading to some selective reading on my part. Will have to check what my 2005 hardcopy manual now sittling on the boat an hour and a half away says when we go down tomorrow.
Again, thanks

Dubraque, when you grease your steering sleeve on the motor, does grease come out of the fitting on the top? Pardon if this is too basic, but some people don't put enough pressure in the grease. When I first got my boat, it seemed like the P.O. had never greased it and the motor had a heck of a lot of friction (and water came out of the sleeve when I greased it). Now I grease it about 2-3 times a year and it turns like butter.

John, its a bit expensive and may be hard to find now but the sportpilot autopilot will stop it from flopping too .. and also has a lot of other good uses! Being as I sail my boat single handedly about 99.9% of the time, the A/P is the best thing since sliced bread. I guess the much cheaper solution is to get a small piece of line (or bungee cord) and tie the wheel so that it can't spin.

[quote="Dimitri-2000X-Tampa"]Dubraque, when you grease your steering sleeve on the motor, does grease come out of the fitting on the top?

Dimitri: I hadn't greased the motor since spring commissioning, but the first thing I did after determing it was the motor that was binding was to grease it. I'm not sure what you mean the the fitting "on the top": if its the collar, then no, no grease coming out, although I did have a little grease coming out the side opposite grease fitting on the port side of the engine

So how do you know you have put enough grease in then? On my Merc, I get a lot of grease that comes out of the collar up at the top, when I see it oozing out, I know I've put enough in. As I mentioned when I first got the boat, water was coming out of there so I knew it hadn't been greased properly, there was also a lot of turning friction. If it is full of grease, then no water can get in and friction goes way down.

I believe the friction screw pushes a half a collar up against the shaft so my assumption is that as that wears down, there should be less friction, not more. But I could be wrong. This is the only reason I keep going down the lubrication path. Its easy sometimes not to have the grease gun completely down onto the nipple (there should be a click), in which case, you may not get the necessary pressure to blow the grease all the way to the stops and perhaps it could be partially binding.

Sloop John B wrote:I wish I knew how to stiffen up a Yamaha. Mine flops down on a heel, by that I mean if I let go of the wheel, it'll spin making the boat fall off the wind.

Blue pills are supposed to work on Johnsons, wonder if they work on Yamahas?

Sorry,
Rich

Good point, Dimitri. I'll take my lube gun with me down tomorrow. Hopefully that's it.

Not an obvious lubrication problem: enough grease coming out the collar to keep the Golden Arches in business for a year.

Curious observation: I had mentioned earlier the differences in the 2000 manual mentioned by Craig and the 2003 PDF version I had, though both refer to a steering friction adjuster part way down the swivel case. The 2005 model shows no friction adjuster on the remote model, while using a more readily accessible slotted arc with a tightening nut on the long tiller models.

Too bad it is hardly ever the "easy" answer. My Merc has a big "F" engraved on the head of the friction adjusting screw (or was it a bolt). Doesn't do you much good on a Honda though, perhaps someone with a Honda can help out.

I notice in an earlier post, you said some grease came out of a hole opposite the grease fitting. That is pretty much where my friction screw is...maybe yours fell out and now the friction plate is somehow crooked and causing extra friction? Thats about all I can think of. I suppose taking that puppy apart is no minor job since you would probably have to pull the powerhead off and then dissassemble the motor bracket.

I had the same problem before summer; I tried to solve it by greasing the steering, but it didn't have too much of an effect. Untill one day, when going out sailing, it broke. We were without steering during a tack, with the rudder hard backboard, the motor up and the sails fool of wind. I run to free the motor, take it down, and try to steer by hand directly with the motor (Yamaha 50 Hp) to get the sails down and return to harbour. In the meantime, my wife was at the radio letting out a "securite". I could do it, but a little bit too late: we had a small collision with a 270 feet working boat... but this is another story.

Now the steering (and the effects of the collision) is repaired. I was told that this steering was too light for the boat (I was not the first one with the problem), and that having the motor up when sailing helps to force the steering. Since then, we sail motor down....

My Mac is a 26X 99 model (so with the "improved" steering). My mistake was to not take to pieces all the steering system, and change the piece that later broke.

Fair winds,

Miquel