Controls

[davidk]

Anyone know the make of these controls? Are they late 40’s? Early 50’s?

[Mumbles]

They look like old Tru-Ster controls. They were probably an aftermarket company and would label their product with whatever type motor you were running.

Here’s a set someone posted earlier and they are marked ‘Johnson’. To be used with a Johnson outboard, they would have to be ’49 or later with the shift lever.

[davidk]

Wow, that’s cool, Mumbles! Thanks for finding those photos. Good point about the shifter lever dating.

“Tru-Ster”…….I wonder what the “ster” refers to or suggests?

[adam1961]

David,
If you look back to the July 2014 Outboarder, I wrote an article about these controls and the other ones available at the time. I suspect that the OMC universal remotes were inspired by these.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by adam1961.

[davidk]

I reread your article, Adam. Excellent! I bet those engine brackets for the cables are hard to find. I wonder if the OMC cables can be made to work?

Your article shows a good original decal in black and white. I wonder if you have a color version of that photo available?

[sydinnj]

Not the same as yours but here are the controls that came on my 1951 Old Town outboard and it had a 53 25 Johnson on it. There are special ends fitted on the motor for them, sorry no pictures of the motor ends right now. The loose cable fit on the ends of the rods that go back to the back side of the boat and the other end is what hooks onto the motor adapters. The work great.

[garry-in-michigan]

The controls Syndinn shows are Duotroll, They use rotating rods rather than the push-pull cables of the Truster controls. Truster also included a steering device that bolted to the rear of the outboard.

[davidk]

That’s a helpful explanation, Gary. I wondered how the push pull would work with the aft connecting block in Syd’s photo? Even after looking at Adam’s article with the photos of the works inside the box, it didn’t occur to me that this are rods running back that, then, connect to “flexible shaft assemblies.”

Adam’s article shows the Duotrol steering bracket at the back of the engine and the Tru-ster bracket in the front.

I’m learning that Tru-ster and Duotrol did a lot to advance the cause of remote operation but OMC seems to have perfected it soon after.

[adam1961]

David,
I will look around and see if i can find the color photo of the decal. The controls are at the cottage and I won’t be able to get there for a few weeks yet due to heavy snow this year. I have a set here that is branded for Evinrude, however the decal is weathered. I have seen Scott Atwater ones as well, but don’t have a set of those. The castings are the same, with the only difference being in the decals.

The only thing that I am missing to have complete setups for both the Tru-Ster and Duotrol setups is a pair of the rods for the rear mounted Duotrol steering bracket. I would love to find a set of those rods. I have been toying with the idea of making a mandrel and some jigs and trying to bend some up from spring steel, but have not made it past the drawing board on that project.

[adam1961]

I hope this image appears.

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