STEERING STIFF TO THE LEFT??? 2017 RZ2

[Dmcmahon]

First time in water. Steering to the right is smooth and fast. But steering to left is stiff. Need 2 hand or one good grip Any ideas what to do?

[Wakeman22]

Brand new boat? I would be at the dealer ASAP with that problem. Should not be stiff in any direction.

[hcooperrn]

Agreed, something isn't right, that should have been checked by the dealer before delivery, I would be giving them a call. I'm sure the factory checked things out, however, that doesn't mean something didn't get pinched in transit. My '17 Z3 is butter, pinky finger in both directions.

[IDBoating]

x3 on the above. Should be so symmetrical without prop spinning that you can't feel a difference. With prop spinning there can be a bit of difference but still, single pinky finger should spin it freely throughout its entire range of travel. You don't say if it behaves this way on the trailer or not.

On our 2009, the factory cable became progressively more difficult as seasons passed until I finally swapped it out (and upgraded to the top of the line version of the cable in the process). With the new cable in place I realized I'd forgotten how smooth they are supposed to be... now I can "flick" the wheel and it will keep spinning for half or more of a rotation, where before it was at least a firm grip with a single hand to move it.

As WakeMan22 said, if it's as new as its year suggests get it to the dealer. Something is wrong, but it's probably really simple and they can fix it in minutes. I'd normally say "just fix it yourself" but that baby's brand new so let the warranty do its thing.

[BCRider]

IDBoating: You still got the part number for that cable? It's on my list of too do's as well.

[chpthril]

Last thing prior to signing on the dotted line, would have been a final sea trial with you and sales agent. Its a good time to find and note theses things. Next thing you know, dealer says rudder is bent, not under warranty.

[IDBoating]

IDBoating: You still got the part number for that cable? It's on my list of too do's as well.

Sadly, I don't seem to have written it down in my maintenance log. However, your boat - while the same year - is the shorter version of mine so they likely used slightly different part numbers anyway to get the different lengths.

Tige maintains a record of every component installed into every hull. Call them with your hull (VIN) number and they will be able to give you the exact part number of the steering cable installed at the factory. Then I recommend you use that to cross reference to the latest, greatest version... it has better seals and helps the cable last longer.

BTW, eBay and SkiDim.com are great sources for these steering cables. Unless there's a vendor on here, such as ChpThril, that carries them (in which case we should support them!). But I don't recall anyone speaking of steering cables.

[onetogofast]

I just ordered a cable from skidim and those guys are very nice and helpful. Got my cable in 3 days from a distance


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[Wakeman22]

I love working with ski-dim. They are very helpful and knowledgeable. I had an issue once and they fixed it right away and paid the shipping each way on the return. Their main business in on inboard boat parts and they are very reasonable.

[Wakeman22]

I love working with SkiDim. They are very helpful and knowledgeable. I had an issue once and they fixed it right away and paid the shipping each way on the return. Their main business in on inboard boat parts and they are very reasonable.

[IDBoating]

They also almost always have a 10% discount running. I don't have the latest code but I bet a quick search would find it.

[Ken_Jamieson]

The saga continues with my brand new 2017 RZX2 that I mentioned last week. The steering stiffness with the Smart Wheel that was supposed to have been fixed this week while the alternator that was gone right off the bat and but they couldn't get a new one in time for our scheduled delivery appointment was being replaced. I complained about the stiff steering with the Smart Wheel but was told everything is just still new and will loosen up and its normal. I'm a structural engineer and not a mechanical engineer but i still have to call BS on that, i'm 6'3" 350 lbs and if i have to use two hands to turn it at times, i'd say that is a little more than is just going to loosen up! I was assured everything was fixed and picked it up yesterday. Only had an hour before rains screwed up the whole weekend but i took it for a ride and the steering was the same and I noticed the same high pitched whine that sounded like an alarm coming from inside the engine compartment but continuous when slowing down or running at around 10mph. I mentioned it last weekend and was told it was indeed just an alarm because of the alarm fault hat was going off on the Clear system because the batteries were getting low from running with no alternator. Although i was pretty sure this was not any sort of alarm, it almost sounded like the whine of turbo but at idle and slowing down there would be no turbo sound and i'm pretty sure the 460 doesn't have a turbo on it anyways at least not that i read about and obviously I was right.

Then docked and started going though a few other things, of course i wanted some tunes while i was checking out the boat. That's when things wen't from bad to worse. I plugged my iPod into the USB plug and saw that the charging indicator on the iPod came on meaning it was plugged in, but the Clear said on both the AUX and the iPod symbol (as who knows which one it should be when connected this way) but neither worked and it said to the effect of 'no device connected'. So after plugging and unplugging several times i found that the USB doesn't work only to charge, so I connected my phone via Bluetooth and ran it that way. Started playing with all the volume levels to get a balanced sound and found out that other than the one set of speakers on the tower, not one other speaker nor the subwoofer even work. Then i thought i'd check on lighting next, a few lights i'm not even sure where they are but after finding the tower blade LED lights and speaker rings didn't work, as well as the color changing buttons on the Clear didn't open another window to even make an adjustment on those that can be adjusted, that was it for me, i drove the boat back to the dealership and parked it at the dock and send them an email that as far as i'm concerned today I'm cancelling the whole deal on this $220k CND boat...

This many problems with an hour of running and never even towing one person yet...what is it going to be like after 20 or 30 hours? Told them i'm going to take a couple of days to calm down and make my final decision but I'm still confident its a done deal and I won't be buying another Tige that is for sure.