Nozzle Steering Linkage

[Raddies]

Hey guys

Just got me a Arco nozzle to replace the gate steering on my Jet32 (2 stage colorado). I realise first thing is to rid the plate of its gate brackets then bolt the nozzle on, My main question is the linkage for the steering. Will it be OK to spin up a knuckle that slots into the nozzle steering bracket then straight weld this to the shaft which delivers the steering?

Kind of hard to explain so hope you guys understand what I'm on about, Pics of the linkage/knuckle set up on modified jet units would be a huge help!
Anything else I'm forgetting in this modification?

Ill Make a project thread up and include this to help out all the boating newbies like myself 

Cheers, Nick

[Nigel]

yeah you can do that no problems but if its removable then its easier to pull your unit to bits when you need to

[turbine pastime]

quote...  Anything else I'm forgetting in this modification?

dont forget to swap steering cables over  behind dash. (left to right, right to left)
 would be horrible to drive otherwise.

[Paul]

Hi, first post here, so please be kind! 

I have a Colorado two stage, with a 'South Canterbury Jets' (- I believe that is 'Scott', isn't it?) nozzle on it.  On mine they just cut off part of the "S" shaped bit at the end of the steering bar, and this engages the hole on the top of the nozzle - no need for a knuckle.  I've added some suitable size nylon tube over the top of the stainless bar, so that it snuggly engages the hole on top of the nozzle.

It also looks like they originally just cut off the 'gate brackets' with a hacksaw, but I've later had the exit of the tail section machined flat, so now there's no more leaks of high pressure water!!

[Karl]

Paul welcome to the board!!

Do you get full lock? or does it bind up at the extremes of travel?

The end of the shaft is supposed to be ball shaped so it will allow maximum turning lock with minimum slop. One way is to just run heaps of weld around the shaft and grind back into a ball shape.   

[Paul]

Yes I get full lock (the nozzle touches the side of the housing).  I've converted it to a Teleflex push/pull setup, and moved the connection on the steering crank to about 1/3 radius of standard position. It results in full lock being fractionally over half a turn each way from dead ahead (fairly agressive I guess??).  The nylon over-tube is greased and gets compressed slightly at full lock.  Just checked and there is a slight amount of slop at dead-ahead, but definitely very workable/steerable.

Photos below.
1, dead ahead.
2, hard to starboard.

[Galvin HJ53]

Converted colorado gates to T3, not able to spend the bucks on the whizzy nozzles, so it'll do for now. Gotta be better right.

Used a fork hoist ram lever, cut and welded it to the original chrome plated shaft. The ball end is a very hard plastic resin (not seen). Added a couple of grub screws for extra security.

Felt modifying the bucket arms was going to be more trouble than it's worth. So mounted them on the inside edge. Slotted the holes as the arms do get pulled in a bit and modified the bucket for a flush mount. Sweet as !!

With a bit of thought just about anything could work, if it didn't I had a mark two and three in the pipeline from the scrap yard.

 

[Tonz]

 Budget or no budget you must be sure that steering ball won`t come loose or break      Bucket should be ok.

[Galvin HJ53]

Loctited on, it ain't coming off. Got a back up if it cracks.