Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:23:25 -0600
I looked at this site. Boy, all I can say is what a Hack! The guy totally destroyed or cut the Tru-Course cable! Obviously he didn't understand or appreciate what OMC engineers had designed, a system that easily unattached for servicing (compared to rope-pulley or mechanical rack/pinion.)
I have a couple of pictures of Tru-Course setups - I'm attaching. I will also try and get the length of the cable used in my 66 Sportsman which should be same for any Sportsman. (An Explorer will need to be longer.)
You can re-mount your steering wheel, but the helm shaft assembly is different and at least the hacker has left that in-tact. The best part about his setup is the hard-to-come-by, beautifully sturdy stainless steel OMC steering wheel, which you could probably sell to tons of other OMC boat owners who want to replace their cracked original steering wheels. You should have enough behind the dash room to accommodate the Tru-Course helm assembly, I know it was not a problem on my Sportsman, and I ran with my original wheel until I cam across the OMC SS wheel.
The hack also has the intermediate TruCourse steering shaft and gear (but it looks fairly corroded and the hack will never be able to disassemble it for you. So you'll end up shipping an intermediate housing to get a shaft and steering gear.
Here's the deal -- you want.need an appropriately sized Tru-Course cable. Factory supplied cables are pre-strung with each end already attached. That's the ONLY way I would recommend or consider acquiring a Tru-Course system, as pictured in the attached photos. You CAN disassemble the ends, but you don't want that head-ache.
So whatever the hack wants for this setup won't get you where you want to be.
You other alternative is to explore the mechanical rack system using the external tiller arm. The only specific OMC part you'll need to do that is the bracket the drills into the exhaust housing on the sterndrive leg. I'm pretty sure everything else is still available for those systems.
Lee
________________________________
From: omc-boats-bounces@... [mailto:omc-boats-bounces@...ultimate.com] On Behalf Of BLDFW
Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 7:26 PM
To: Evinrude & Johnson Boats of the 1960's and 70's
Subject: Re: [OMC-Boats] Tru-course Steering
Hey Lee,
Can you take a look at these pics and give me your thoughts as to the feasibility of converting my Explorer over?
http://www.4shared.com/file/119671275/7ac61f50/PICT0114.html
The steering wheel end unit seems bigger than I was anticipating and have no clue on the intermediate housing end. Could I still use my original steering wheel?
Thanks.
-Bill
Dallas, TX
1970 Evinrude Explorer - 155 Buick V6 - OMC Sterndrive
http://www.photobucket.com/evinrude_explorer
--- On Mon, 7/20/09, Lee Shuster (lib1) <lib1@...> wrote:
From: Lee Shuster (lib1) <lib1@...>
Subject: Re: [OMC-Boats] Tru-course Steering
To: "Evinrude & Johnson Boats of the 1960's and 70's" <omc-boats@...mate.com>
Date: Monday, July 20, 2009, 6:59 PM
So Bill,
What's you plan for a "true" course correction?
Lee
On Jul 20, 2009, at 12:08 PM, BLDFW wrote:
Is that like a Rolls with Chevy sheetmetal?
-Bill
Dallas, TX
--- On Mon, 7/20/09, Lee Shuster <Lee.Shuster@...</mc/compose?to=Lee.Shuster@...>> wrote:
From: Lee Shuster <Lee.Shuster@...</mc/compose?to=Lee.Shuster@...c.utah.edu>>
Subject: Re: [OMC-Boats] Tru-course Steering
To: "'Evinrude & Johnson Boats of the 1960's and 70's'" <omc-boats@...timate.com</mc/compose?to=omc-boats@...>>
Date: Monday, July 20, 2009, 12:09 PM
But what you don't see the are the dual Automatic Discharge Fire-Boy-Xintex Clean Agent FE-241 MA-2 Extinguishers. And the CruzPro GD-25, Gasoline Vapor Detector and Alarm.
:-)
-----Original Message-----
From: omc-boats-bounces@... [mailto:omc-boats-bounces@...ultimate.com] On Behalf Of jd
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2009 10:22 AM
To: Evinrude & Johnson Boats of the 1960's and 70's
Subject: Re: [OMC-Boats] Tru-course Steering
HMMMM......i see the fire extinguisher seems to be
missing...............tsk tsk ......not safe..... ;)
On Jul 19, 2009, at 1:01 PM, Lee Shuster (lib1) wrote:
> Bill,
>
> In my opinion this is an upgrade worthy of serious consideration for
> all OMC boat owners. AFter I did mine, I found it makes for much safer
> operation with a much greater degree of reliability. Steering effort
> is reduced and tracking is improved.
>
> First a little history as a lot of people confuse the (3) steering
> systems that OMC Electric Stringers could be equipped with:
>
> 1) Rope-Pulley (Aircraft cable) used on ALL OMC built boats ( a carry
> over the days of outboards)
>
> 2) Mechanical (rack/pinion) with single cable and transom- penetrating
> tiller arm (popularized by Kiekhafer's Mercury Ride Guide system, now
> offered by several vendors).
>
> 3) OMC's unique Tru-Course (sealed proprietary cable system) (Perhaps
> they didn't like Mercury's system?)
>
>
> Tru-Course Steering was introduced by OMC just after our OMC boats
> ceased production. It is referred to a Pull-Pull steering system
> (sometimes mistakenly called a Push-Pull system).
> It's a well-designed system and if it had been available when our OMC
> boats were in production, I'm pretty certain it would have been their
> system of choice. But our boats were designed in the early sixties,
> almost a decade before TruCourse came along.)
>
> You can convert your boat over to it as I have with I replaced my V6
> Buick with the V8 Chevy.
>
> The conversion requires changing out the follow items:
>
> 1) Steering shaft and gear assembly in upper gear case (Tru-Couse and
> Rope-Cable are different!)
>
> 2) Measuring AND Finding the correct length Cable assembly for your
> specific application (OMC originally offered them in 8, 10, 11, 12,
> 13, 14, 15, 16, 17,18, 19, 20 on up to 46 to 50 ft !!)
>
> 3) Removing the rope pulley from the helm steering shaft and mounting
> the TruCourse adapter.
>
> The downsides to doing this conversion are finding the correct parts
> which could take awhile. My donor V8 came out of a TruCourse- equipped
> boat so I didn't have to replace item 1).
> Item 2) the correct length cable was more of a challenge. You must
> carefully measure the helm-to-stern drive shaft to shaft distance to
> +/- 2 inches. Because there's very little margin of error.
> The finding either a used or NOS TruCourse cable will be a challenge.
> I found one after months of searching in a NOS dealer inventory, using
> the OMC part number (I keep reaching how important OMC Service part
> numbers are!!) The 3) step at the helm is relatively simple once
> you've covered steps 1) and 2). You'll be able to retain you stock
> steering wheel but might have some difficultly getting the existing
> rope pulley off if there's corrosion.
>
> Good Luck..
>
> Lee
>
> Below is a picture where the TruCourse helm connection and cable is
> not yet hooked up:
>
> <hp_inst_tn.html.jpg>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Jul 19, 2009, at 12:59 PM, BLDFW wrote:
>
>> I'm curious if anyone converted their cable steering system over to a
>> Tru-course setup. When I had mine out the other day, the steering
>> locked up on mine. I was able to get it unstuck but don't want to
>> have to deal with that if I don't have to.
>>
>> I see them on eBay running from 175.00 (I think used) to $580 new.
>>
>> -Bill
>> Dallas, TX
>> 1970 Evinrude Explorer - 155 Buick V6 - OMC Sterndrive
>> http://www.photobucket.com/evinrude_explorer
>> _______________________________________________
>> OMC-Boats mailing list
>> OMC-Boats@...
>> http://lists.ultimate.com/mailman/listinfo/omc-boats
>
> _______________________________________________
> OMC-Boats mailing list
> OMC-Boats@...
> http://lists.ultimate.com/mailman/listinfo/omc-boats
_______________________________________________
OMC-Boats mailing list
OMC-Boats@...
http://lists.ultimate.com/mailman/listinfo/omc-boats
_______________________________________________
OMC-Boats mailing list
OMC-Boats@...
http://lists.ultimate.com/mailman/listinfo/omc-boats
_______________________________________________
OMC-Boats mailing list
OMC-Boats@...</mc/compose?to=OMC-Boats@...>
http://lists.ultimate.com/mailman/listinfo/omc-boats
-----Inline Attachment Follows-----
_______________________________________________
OMC-Boats mailing list
OMC-Boats@...</mc/compose?to=OMC-Boats@...>
http://lists.ultimate.com/mailman/listinfo/omc-boats
