seastar hydruic steering

[mick.j]

hi all hoping someone can help, i have a seastar side mount ram on a power cat twin engine 70hp set up and have a leak in the off side of the engine to where the ram is mounted can someone advise on getting this ram off and resealing it.

[scottar]

The sidemount rams normally screw onto the outboard tilt tube. You will need to remove the hoses from the ram, remove the linkage from the pushrod to the outboard tiller and then unscrew the ram and withdraw it from the tube. Traps for young players - Best idea is to get a couple of hydraulic fittings to cap off your lines once removed - stops oil getting out and dirt getting in. Also the ram will obviously be full of oil. Once you get the lines undone try to rotate the ram to a point where you can get a bucket under the fittings and GENTLY manually push the outboard from lock to lock before you disconect the tiller to get the oil out without making a mess. This prevents your ram from becoming a giant supersoaker should the pushrod get inadvertantly pushed in or pulled out during removal. BLA are the agents for Seastar. Probably worth a phone call before hand to see if they have a seal kit available. If they dont a good hydraulic workshop may be able to help. Have a good look at the push rod to make sure it has not been scored. Any damage to the push rod will damage new seals.

[bigjimg]

103222
This will have all the part numbers for your installation. Jim
Hopefully it will attach.

[Moonlighter]

I dont know whether this applies to the Seastar side mount units, but on my previous boat, I had fitted the Hydrive side-mount unit.

It was perfect, until I had a new outboard fitted by a dealer who will remain nameless. Then the problem occurred.

When they fitted the motor, they obviously had to remove and reinstall the hydrive side-mount ram. When the reinstalled it on the new motor, they neglected to fit the lock nut first to the tilt tube, and instead, screwed the ram all the way in until it was tight on the tilt tube.

Wrong, wrong wrong!

This caused the inner seal on the ram to foul on the end of the tilt tube and within a few months, the seal was stuffed and we had a bad leak. New seal kit and then bought a new lock nut and reinstalled the ram to the tilt tube and used the lock nut to make it tight before the inner section contacted the end of the tilt tube. Hope that makes sense. Problem solved and never had another problem.

Just saying that it might be worth figuring out why the seal had failed on yours. Could be the same reason as described above. If you can get a copy of the installation manual off the Seastar website it might help you figure it out.

[ifishcq1]

I rang Seastar about repairs and installation they told me to follow the instructions and then they asked me what I did for a living
I told them plumber why? he said that's okay because we tell hydraulic engineers to read it at least twice before starting
just backing up bigjimg with an installation manual
http://www.seastarsolutions.com/support-2/installation-manuals-controls-cables/installation-manuals/seastar-installation-manuals/

[scottar]

I rang Seastar about repairs and installation they told me to follow the instructions and then they asked me what I did for a living
I told them plumber why? he said that's okay because we tell hydraulic engineers to read it at least twice before starting
just backing up bigjimg with an installation manual
http://www.seastarsolutions.com/support-2/installation-manuals-controls-cables/installation-manuals/seastar-installation-manuals/

That would be a case of "Don't tell me buddy. I know boats"

[mick.j]

thanks all i will let you all know how i go.