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Steering issue

Caleb Taylor

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2000
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Could someone give me a bit of advice I just bought a 2000 LS2000 and when its out on the water it is really hard to turn to the right not so hard to turn left but you do have to fight it a bit. When its on the trailer it turns just fine and the jets seem to move freely. Could this be something with the steering box behind the dash? If so dose anyone know if i can take that apart and service it or would it just have to be replaced? Thanks for any help with this.
 

treeskier

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Have you tried to move the jet nozzles left and right by hand with the boat on the trailer the steering wheel will turn freely. I suggest this in case one of your steering cables is broken the cables push and pull if one is broken it will pull but not push. Also it's important to know what speed this occurs and if the boat is straight at WOT. There really isn't much to the steering linkage up front.
 

Murf'n'surf

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Strange that it would feel different in and out of the water. It's possible you had some debris lodged in there causing hard steering.

Double check that both nozzles are actually turning with the wheel. If all looks and feels good, I would water test it again.

If there is an issue, it's a broken or seized cable. You'll need to change out both steering cables to prevent yourself from going one today and the other next spring! There is no adjustment at the steering box unless something is loose or you had items in the locker blocking the movement.
 

itsdgm

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Do check the cables as posted above to make sure that they are secure. But also, these boats do tend to be easier to turn left than right to begin with. It has a lot to do with rotational forces of the engines and how water is fed into one of the pumps easier while turning one direction over the other. (Trust me, I'm butchering the scientific reasons here, but I'm doing the best I can ;) ). In fact, the factory installs different impellers to counteract these unequal forces. So it's possible that your boat has different impellers than stock. However, it it did, you would notice that more while throttling up to speed. Also, keep in mind that Yamaha pumps use a box like deflector behind the pump to change the direction of the thrust. So if you're turning while throttling, you're trying to bend a solid stream of water at the rear of the pump. It's much easier if you simply throttle back slightly, turn the wheel, then reapply the throttle. Another trick is to simply lower the throttle on the engine that's inward of the turn. This will use the uneven thrust of the outward engine to force the bow in the direction of the turn.

You have to jockey the throttles a bit with jet boats, especially since we don't have rudders back there to help the boat turn.

Hope these tips help you out.

PS. Congrats on the new boat. ;)
 

Murf'n'surf

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Ahh good pick up on the hard to turn in the water @itsdgm !

@Caleb Taylor Is it hard to turn at speed or just sitting in the water or both?
 

treeskier

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Ok since @itsdgm brought it up here it is copied and reposted it's original author and publication unknown...


About Pump Loading
All technicians that build high performance PWCs quickly learn a few fundamental rules about PWC pump function. As you engage a jet-pump driven watercraft in to a high-speed (power-on) left hand turn, the engine/pump gets very heavily loaded, and engine rpms are usually “pulled down”. However, making a right hand turn at exactly the same speed results in no rpm loss at all … and often results in an rpm increase, often accompanied by mild cavitation.
The reason for this phenomenon is that the entry angle of water coming in towards the impeller has a big effect on how well the pump get “loaded”. In left hand turns, the water comes toward the prop at an angle that very effectively “loads” the pump with water, and allows for very minimal “cavitation”. A hard right hand turn has exactly the opposite effect because the water is coming in toward the prop in a way that is very “unfriendly” to pump loading. Anyone who has driven a single engine Exciter 135 will experience this phenomenon in a big way. Using aftermarket impellers with a better blade/hub design can greatly reduce the cavitation experienced under all conditions …including in right hand turns. But even the best designed prop cannot eliminate right-turn cavitation altogether.
Twin Engine Pump Loading
The phenomenon described above affects the twin motor jet boats in an entirely different way. The water intake surfaces on the bottom of twin motor hulls are on angled surfaces on each side of the hull. This “angled water entry” gives an effective entry angle that mimics the pump loading of turning the boat. This means that (while driving in a straight line) the drivers side pump (starboard) is receiving water at an angle that mimics a left hand turn (thus loading the engine rpms down). At the same time, the passenger side (port) impeller is receiving water at an angle that mimics a right hand turn (resulting in higher rpms and a closer cavitation threshold). This is why the left (port) motors of most twin-engine Yamaha jet-boats tend to run higher rpms than the right (starboard) engines.
Getting past the whole theoretical aspect, the functional result is what’s important.. Because of the phenomenon described above, the right side pump is generating more actual thrust than the left pump at any given rpm. This causes the steeringwheel to constantly be “tugging” toward a left hand turn, and at the same time causes the left side engine to rev higher than the right engine in order to generate the same thrust.
After weeks of testing, we eventually resolved all these problems (on twin motor Yamahas) by fitting better design impellers on the pumps, and applying a noticeably steeper pitch to the left hand side prop. The end result is engines that turn virtually identical rpms all the way through the throttle movement range, and an end to the steering wheel constantly “tugging” to the left. In most cases, the “off-the-shelf” pitch of the props we chose were not right on the money, so we custom pitch each pair that we sell to the specs that worked best during our on-water tests. Installing these “staggered pitch” aftermarket impellers is one of the most effective improvements that you can make to your twin motor Yamaha jet-boat."
 

Caleb Taylor

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Very good to know thank you and that dose enplanes a lot of my question about the steering. I will go and check my cables though because i still beleave there might be something wrong. I am guessing that even with this explained i don't think it should feel like i'm driving a car without power steering or should it?
 

treeskier

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It can be very tight at high speeds I will see what mine feels like this weekend. My impellers stock pitch as far as I know. I will burn a little gas, make some notes and let you know what I find.
 

Caleb Taylor

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So just wondering what are we talking when you say high speeds? My boat only show to go about 45 and the best not sure if that is actually very fast or is that about what those boats can do?
 

Bruce

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So just wondering what are we talking when you say high speeds? My boat only show to go about 45 and the best not sure if that is actually very fast or is that about what those boats can do?
Have you tried any GPS app on your phone to get a true speed reading? I would expect a LS2000 to break 50 on smooth water.
 

Caleb Taylor

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No i will have to try that though.
 

Caleb Taylor

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Have you tried any GPS app on your phone to get a true speed reading? I would expect a LS2000 to break 50 on smooth water.
So I got a GPS app like you said and it was showing my speed to be about 51.
 

4x15mph

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@Caleb Taylor , do you have fins on your boat? That would make it a little harder in a turn. Outside of that, just double check that you can turn the wheel and that you don't have a problem with a steering cable. You could also lubricate the cables with marine grease as well as make sure that the rubber protective "boots" on the steering cables are in place and not binding anywhere.

The other consideration is whether the jets are properly aligned. I am not suggesting that you go to any lengths to change this up but you could straighten the steering wheel, place a board across both nozzle ends, and ensure that the board lines up with both surfaces of the jet nozzles. If you are hitting 51 mph, I would say that the jets have to pretty well dialed in.
 

Caleb Taylor

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I do not have fins on it. I have been reading about ppl greasing the steering master assembly dose anyone know anything about doing that?
 

Kathy

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took the boat out for the first time - with a makeshift fix for the missing cleanout plugs(replacements on the way) I noticed even with the new fins on steering is really hard - I got a major arm workout ((slow or semi-fast speeds))

I did notice that when I was putting the fins on that I had a hard time freely moving the nozzles by hand from the back. I didn't know if that was normal being a newbie - though it seemed a little weird I thought.
I suppose I should pull the boat back out of the water to address the steering and leaks.
 

M@__

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Should take zero effort to move when at idle. Sounds like problems. You can look at the cables and the wheel gears in the helm.
 

Kathy

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Thanks will check everything this weekend
 
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