Prostar Rudder Attachment Options

[Dacon62]

Wondering which attachment point everyone is using?

The one furthest away or the one nearer the rudder shaft.

Mine is a 17 and the distance from the furthest attachment point to the rudder, centerline to centerline is 5.5”. Is this consistent with model years 14 to present? Or have they changed the rudder arm (tiller?)length over the years?

I think the furthest point is factory?

Of those of you that moved to the closer hole has it been a positive experience or have you moved back to the furthest hole? Any clearance issues with the near hole?

Thank you for your comments.

 

 

 

[swc5150]

Inside hole makes the steering much more precise. I moved mine and would never go back. But that was on a ‘15, so I’m not sure if there were any other in years after to improve steering.

[skibug]

Ditto on our '15. Moved to the inside hole. Drives better, reduces oversteering. Also ground the opposite side (port side) of the rudder to reduce some of the torque.

[Dacon62]

@skibug same here. Ground the port side a bit to reduce pull to starboard. Was just too much from factory.

Still hope to hear from someone with a 14 PS to see if they changed the length of the rudder arm(tiller?)

[Chuck_Dickey]

Mine is in the outside hole and was set there by Mr. Will Bush. Most important thing he did was to shim it with some washers which are up the slack in the stock connection.

 

[Chuck_Dickey]

Mine was a promo boat for several years and all the drivers loved it.

[Dacon62]

@Chuck_Dickey if I recall your promo was a 14? Was your tiller arm 5.5” connection point center to rudder shaft center as well?

Trying to determine if the tiller arm length was changed at all from 14 to 17 model years.

Looks like your set up has 2 washers on your horizontal bolt. Mine has 4, but all that matters is that the slack there is taken up. Are there extra washers on your vertical bolt as well?

[ScottScott]

I'm not sure I see what the extra washers are doing? On the vertical bolt, pairing up washers could allow easier pivoting, but there's really no pivoting on the horizontal. Looks almost like it was re-assembled wrong, should have one under the head of the bolt and one at the nut? For the vertical bolt putting 2 at each end could help with movement.

[Dacon62]

My understanding was that if not enough washers were used on the horizontal bolt(same could be true for the vertical bolt)there was some slop. My guess is the selected bolt did not have threads far enough down the bolt and the nut could not tighten up enough without the washers taking up the space left.

Don’t know for sure though.

[ScottScott]

@Dacon62 Thats possible if its a partial thread bolt, which would make since in this application....didn't consider that. For that purpose it really wouldn't matter where the washers were along the bolt. I haven't taken mine apart to see.

[sodbuster88]

Moved mine on my ‘14. Same response and results.

[Dacon62]

@Chuck_Dickey just noticed that your connection point is above the tiller arm while mine is below. Which way is factory? Which way is best?

[ScottScott]

I saw that also, mine us below.

[Dacon62]

Moved my attachment from outside to inside hole. Like it and all was well until I reversed a bit aggressively at full steering lock to try and clear some weeds out of the prop and the rudder pushed over the full lock from the pressure and chewed up the prop. $#*!. New prop on the way...hope the shaft didn’t take a slight bend!

 

 

[Andre]

Ouch! How's the rudder?

 

[Dacon62]

Rudder OK. Hit the top back area where it’s the thickest.

[MichaelWiebe]

Moved mine to the inside on my '14. Same response and results. Very nice.