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Don Allen Pedestal Steering

2K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  VallelyJ 
#1 ·
Re: Don Allen Pedestal Steering.

Can anyone explain to me how the roller chain runs from the steering sprocket, which is athwartsip, to the rack and pinion sprocket, which runs for and aft.

How does a #40 roller chain twist 90 degrees in 30 inches? Is it a special flexible chain? Is there some sort of transfer gear inside the pedestal?

I am converting a 1978 Catalina 30 from tiller to wheel. I have all the Don Allen parts, but I can't figure out how to run the chain.

Although usually very helpful, the guys at Catalina didn't have a clue on this one.
 
#3 ·
Do yourself a favor and rethink converting your boat to that system. I know you have the parts, and it seems appealing, but Don Allen went out of business, IIRC, in the early 80's. IIRC they basically built self steering vanes and then tried to jump on the production boat boom and compete with Merriman and Edson.. The gear was only marginally reliable and parts are pretty much impossible to find.

I have come across three boats with those systems and only two boats had problems that were repairable but required full custom machine shop work to fix them at darn near the cost of a new and reliable Edson. One of them was suffering from a crumbling base because the metal used was of extremely poor quality. The year after the repairs to the shaft/brake and sprocket the base self destructed and left the owner needing a tow. The third Don Allen system I came across was a push/pull system and no parts were avaible to fix it at any cost. There was only one stamping on the cable which was apparently a custom made cable stamped Don Allen Inc. or Co., can't recall which.

Sell it for parts and save up for an Edson kit..
 
#4 · (Edited)
I had a DA rack & pinion system that I pulled off in favor of tiller steering. I just went down the cellar to look at it. The chain twists 90 degrees inside the pedestal. The 2 ends of the chain are linked by a steel bar about 3.5" long, about 5/16" square, radiused at the ends. The holes drilled at either end of the bar, into which the repair links go, are oriented 90 degrees apart.
[See my next post, below.]
JV
 
#5 ·
Correction to my earlier post:
I just took another look There are 2 bars as I described above--not one. They're opposite each other, on either fall between the sprockets. So there is no twist in the chain. The lower chain, around the pinion shaft, is oriented 90 deg. from the upper chain, that goes over the wheel shaft.
Hope this makes sense.
JV
 
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