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New 2010 180 Dauntless

Steering when underway at high speed is SUPER STIFF ONLY when turning to port.
Starboard turning is smooth as silk.

To get an idea of the stiffness, imagine putting a painter stirrer stick in the sand and trying to move it back and forth.

Any ideas?

Ultraflex's website is not much help.

I thought about bleeding the lines for air, but why would that help if it is smooth when turning to starboard?
Levels should be proper since it was just delivered from marinemax.......

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It has nothing to do with the Ultraflex hydraulic steering system. Your steering is "stiff" because of propeller torque.

You need to adjust your trim tab (torque tab) above the propeller. Move the trailing edge of it to starboard.

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Check the trim tab as Tom suggested. It may be adjusted in the wrong direction. On the other hand, I had a 150 merc with sea star and it had no trim tab. The steering was silky with one finger. I miss that hydraulic steering and cannot justify throwing away a good teleflex.
Good Luck.

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I would assume there is a problem with the system. With hydraulic steering, you she get NO feedback. I have run several boats with hydraulic steeing, and the main reason for switching over is to do away with feedback. I installed the Baystar system this spring, and can attest to the earlier post, silky smooth 1 finger steering in each direction. Maybe some debris in the system on that side of the steering pump.

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It is not exactly true that hydraulic steering offers no feedback, it is just that the feedback is in the form of resistance. It is true that with hydraulic steering the motor cannot move the steering wheel, but that does not mean you cannot feel resistance to running the steering wheel.

I have hydraulic steering on my twin powered Revenge 25. Before I converted one motor to counter rotating, there was tremendous difficulty turning to port during WOT test runs because both motors had a lot of torque steer. Because the motors were trimmed way out for top speed test runs, the trim tabs lift above the water and cannot compensate as they are designed to do.

Now that I have counter rotating motors, they cancel each other out and the net effort at the steering wheel is neutral, but remember, each individual motor is still experiencing great propeller torque; they are just bolted together by their tie-bar.

Propeller torque occurs during some set of conditions and some boats may never experience much of it, but it ALWAYS present.

Propeller torque is affected by:

- Boat speed. The faster you go, the more pronounced it becomes

- The propeller itself. Taller pitch props tend to have more torque steer.

- The power of the outboard. More powerful motor, more torque steer.

- The mounting height of the motor. Generally, raising the motor on the transom will lighten the steering effort and reduce the steering torque. But this is a double edged sword; as the motor goes higher, the less the trim tab can do anything, especially when trimmed out.

- The angle of trim on the motor. Tucked in the torque steer will be to port, trimmed way out it will be to starboard.

B1zzle -- What motor do you have on your 180 Dauntless? How is your trim tab set now? What propeller are you using? How high is the motor mounted on the transom?

I guarantee you there is nothing wrong with your steering system that is causing the "stiffness".

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150 merc--verado

it has no trim tab

i took it out last night, top speed, trimmed motor up, no change in stiffness when turning port--still silky smooth when turning starboard.

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Then add a trim tab or raise the motor.

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Ruling out propeller torque as the problem is easy enough. Is it still difficult to turn to port when the boat is at rest?

I lost the trim tab off my Etec shortly after it was installed but didn't notice any difference through my BayStar steering.