Hydraulic Steering Problem

[Captainfred]

Greetings,
Been a while since my last post on this board. I ran into a problem with my hydraulic steering on my 1971 36' Sportfish (Christina's Hatt) this past weekend and I'm hoping to get some advice regarding the problem. My steering failed coming into my marina but fortunately I had just backed into the slip. I went down below to check the pressure in the tank and noticed there was no pressure and no fluid. I checked the cylinder and discovered a blown seal. I removed the cylinder and have it in the shop. However, before I begin the disassembly on the unit (Hynautic hydraulic steering) I am hoping some fellow members on this board have been down this road already and can provide me with some advice. I removed the end plates but they appear to do nothing but keep the shaft centered and do not contain any seals or "O" rings. My next step will be to remove the four threaded rods holding the end caps and cylinder together but I am not certain of what precautions I should be taking as I do not have a schematic of the internal mechanism. I expect there will be some type of seal or "O" rings inside but I don't want to damage anything when I get the caps off. ANy suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.....

Captain Fred Pucci
Christina's Hatt

[jim rosenthal]

Fred, you can probably get a rebuild kit from Hynautic, which is now owned by Teleflex. Some o fus have rebuilt the helm units- I don't know of anyone on the Forum who's rebuilt the steering cylinder, although it shouldn't require any special tools. Have you called or emailed Hynautic?

They also have an exchange program for most of these items- I think my '71 36C has several pieces in its system which I got through that program- the reservoir and at least one of the helm pumps.

Good luck and let us know what happens with this. Virtually all the boats on this forum have Hynautic steering.

[mr hatt]

On our 58 we got the # of the cylinder and called sams. The kit was around $60 and had a complete diagram. You can also look on here under the search "steering ram rebuild" its not bad to do at all.

[dastahl]

The ram was bad on my 58 LRC when I got her. Teleflex support was a great help finding the problem. I bought a new ram and will try to rebuild the old one. To me it is too important a part and had many miles on it. I wanted new with used back backup. I think I paid $600.
Skooch
Sassafras River Md

[Boatsb]

Take it to your local hydraulic shop that does rams for construction equipment. I paid about $50 for a complete rebuild a year or so ago and my dad did the same in NC and paid about that including tax.

[cb48lrc]

I caution you on rebuild shops. A friend sent his stabilizer cylinders out for rebuild these were 1.5" bore, 5/8 rod. The shop charged him a $200 inspection charge and wanted 1,500 each for new seals. When I found out I took them to a good shop and the total charge was $350.00. Know who you are doing business with, you tell them it off a boat and the price goes way up.

[SKYCHENEY]

here is a thread that addresses rebuilding:

http://www.samsmarine.com/forums/showthread.php?15228-Hynautic-Cylinder-Rebuild-Assist-Needed&highlight=CYLINDER+REBUILD+STEERING

[Captainfred]

Thanks for all the feedback relating to my leaking cylinder. The tread that Sky pointed me to was very informative. However, prior to reading the responses I mustered enough courage to dis-assemble the cylinder (a few shots of B&B helped with the decision). Basically I went through all the steps and all went well until I tried to remove the four rods holding the end plates on the cylinder. They backed off just enough to release the cylinder but not enough to actually remove the end plates from the cylinder. Two of the rods kept jamming. I worked on it for at least 45 minutes with no luck. So I took the unit to a reputable hydraulics repair shop I have used in the past and they rebuilt it for me for $95. They could not locate the rubber boots or the plastic bushing (split) that goes on to the ball joint at the end of the ram. So the hunt is on for these pieces. I tried Teleflex (in Canada) but they haven't returned my call yet. Tomorrow I'll try Sam's. Thanks again for all of your suggestions.

Captain Fred
Christina's Hatt