Slack in hydraulic steering system

[cro142]

I have a nearly-new BayStar hydraulic steering system on my Cruise Craft Reef Finder.
There is quite a lot of play at the straight-ahead point, meaning that I have to turn the wheel nearly half a turn before the motor moves.

I assume this is may be due to air in the system.

Can anybody tell me how to bleed this system??

[Nicko_Cairns]

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?184037-Bleeding-Purging-a-Seastar-Hydraulic-Steering

Ausfish's search engine can tell you... 😉

[jmwarner]

I'm not sure about the bay star ones but i re did my lines on the weekend after one snapped luckily at home. I pushed the motor right across one way attached some small clear tube to the bleed valve to see if air was coming through clearly and kept adding fluid to the steering wheel reservoir making sure it was topped up so more bubbles didn't get through as i turned the wheel the same way the it would force the motor. Repeated the other side then once I thought I was finished i realized they were back to front F%#K! So changed them over at the wheel and repeated the process again. Not sure if this would get air out of the ram but definitely no air in the lines now.

[Spaniard_King]

I'm not sure about the bay star ones but i re did my lines on the weekend after one snapped luckily at home. I pushed the motor right across one way attached some small clear tube to the bleed valve to see if air was coming through clearly and kept adding fluid to the steering wheel reservoir making sure it was topped up so more bubbles didn't get through as i turned the wheel the same way the it would force the motor. Repeated the other side then once I thought I was finished i realized they were back to front F%#K! So changed them over at the wheel and repeated the process again. Not sure if this would get air out of the ram but definitely no air in the lines now.

No Mate, you will have air in the ram. You need to have the engine to the side where the piston is hard over to that side hence you only bleed the ram.. then wind hard over to the other side and bleed that.. the trick is working out where the piston is :)

[Noelm]

Or, just pay someone to power bleed it!

[jmwarner]

No Mate, you will have air in the ram. You need to have the engine to the side where the piston is hard over to that side hence you only bleed the ram.. then wind hard over to the other side and bleed that.. the trick is working out where the piston is :)

I had the motor and ram right across when I bled each side. I can turn the wheel each way without any jerks or loss of steering so I hope there's no air in the ram:o

[scottar]

A little bit of air in the ram won't worry the system unless you have an autopilot. It will generally gradually work its way to the helm over time so just periodically check the level of the oil in the helm unit. Unless your steering has play in or feels "notchy" - no need to do anything further. If you have a pilot, the air bubbles can get caught in the pump unit and cause an air lock. If this happens simply turn the wheel against the pilot motor for 20 - 30 seconds to bring the air bubble to the top.

[cro142]

I will try a few of these tricks and see how I go.
Thanks.