Hydraulic Steering

[boney-leg]

What maintenance do you need to do with hydraulic steering? Do you need to change oil after long periods?

[Noelm]

don't think it is done as a general maintenace item, but I guess if it has been in use for many years, then it can't hurt.

[PADDLES]

i taken the position that unless i have actually contaminated the oil with dirt/water then i'm be leaving it all well alone until i can see signs of a failure. ie. leaking seals or fittings. i mean the oil gets put under a bit of pressure but it doesn't get heated up to degrade quickly like say a suspension or engine oil. i'd be interested to hear feedback on this myself though boney.

[cormorant]

The fluid doesn't do much work when you consider it is aircraft hydraulic spec fluid but does take the torque of the motors- it would probably do better if it was warmed up and used a bit harder. It is suseptical to water and degrades with moisture. Every couple of years we bleed some fluid and check it's colour and contamination. If it doesn't come up 100% we flush and bleed the system with fresh avaition hydraulic fluid. We end up doing the flush and replace about every 5 years for peace of mind while checking all hoses and fittings and we have had no major issues with seals as long as there is no growth or grit on ram shaft.

Have seen some pitting on shafts that wears the seals very quickly and needed replacement.