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Steering wheel alignment


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Hi All

I have a 2001 response and my steering wheel has gone out of alignment. I have taken it to my dealer who has realigned it on 3 occasions - It is fine for 3 or so days then goes out of alignment again. Any suggestions..... Thanks in advance

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Weird...does it seem like it has play in it? Mine was a little mis-aligned and I just removed the allen screws and turned the wheel, then screwed it back on.

By the way, your username, 5 cougars...Is that better than 3 wolves? :unsure:

Edited by areamike
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When you say, "out of alignment", do yo mean on the trailer or moving in the water. When I'm sitting on the trailer my rudder and steering wheel are aligned. But when the boat is moving I have to hold the wheel slightly to one direction because the boat naturally turns because of prop rotation. I take this as normal.

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Hi and thanks for the replies,

When i say its out of alignment, - its on the water. I am driving in a straight line, the steering wheel used to be straight. It is now off center about 30 degrees. At one point it was almost upside down. The mechanic dropped the steering rack and re-aligned the wheel (which i had marked center or straight with tape)with a straight rudder.

The steering wheel was straight at speed in the water but then it was off center. By the way, I was told by the dealer that on this model, the steering wheel had to be aligned while driving at 32mph.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

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Hi and thanks for the replies,

When i say its out of alignment, - its on the water. I am driving in a straight line, the steering wheel used to be straight. It is now off center about 30 degrees. At one point it was almost upside down. The mechanic dropped the steering rack and re-aligned the wheel (which i had marked center or straight with tape)with a straight rudder.

The steering wheel was straight at speed in the water but then it was off center. By the way, I was told by the dealer that on this model, the steering wheel had to be aligned while driving at 32mph.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Going 32mph when aligning the steering is tough. Be sure to have plenty of open water when removing the wheel. The hardest part if for the guy under the boat being able to tell you when the rudder and wheel are aligned. :crazy::innocent:

Edited by WakingMeHappy
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Going 32mph when aligning the steering is tough. Be sure to have plenty of open water when removing the wheel. The hardest part if for the guy under the boat being able to tell you when the rudder and wheel are aligned. :crazy::innocent:

OKAY, now that made me laugh.

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Going 32mph when aligning the steering is tough. Be sure to have plenty of open water when removing the wheel. The hardest part is for the guy under the boat being able to tell you when the rudder and wheel are aligned. :crazy::innocent:

:lol: Now that's funny. :crazy:

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Im not sure if Malibu's use the same steering rack as my Sanger (teleflex) but I had a similar problem. Your steering hub might be rotating independently of the pinion. It turns out there is a long bolt, about 12" long that connects the steering hub to the pinion. To tighten it, I had to pull off the "horn" button to access the head of bolt, and use a wrench on the other end to hold the nylon insert nut. Tighten it up but not too much because I think this bold holds the tension for the thrust bearings for the steering rack.

Hi All

I have a 2001 response and my steering wheel has gone out of alignment. I have taken it to my dealer who has realigned it on 3 occasions - It is fine for 3 or so days then goes out of alignment again. Any suggestions..... Thanks in advance

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  • 2 weeks later...

Has anything been replaced or are you just making adjustments? Are all of the connection good and tight? While on the trailer have someone hold the rudder and see if you can move the wheel. Put some muscle into it. It’s like something is loose and giving way when forced.

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Thanks for the replies,

I phoned malibu and they told me to try what WakingMeHappy posted. holding the rudder and steering wheel (yes and on the trailer - for the comedians out there). There was some play in the wheel. Malibu suggested it might be the tiller arm needing adjusting or tightening...

Any thoughts?

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