Hynautic steering

[ian w]

I have to move the. Boat tomorrow so need information urgently
53 my
Put overhauled steering box on upper helm
Have pressurised system to 30 psi and opened the relief half inch bolts on the relief box at the steering
100 turns each way flybridge and lower steering
Lower steering works Flybridge nothing
What am l missing
Ian W

 

[JTS]

Crack one of the lines at the tee below. Steer in that direction. Tighten when oil shows. Similar to bleeding brakes on a car.

 

[cww]

I feel your pain, these are a real PITA to bleed. But on the bright side, once you rebuild the helm pumps, they last forever

 

[ian w]

So after many turns of the wheel the flybridge steering started working perfectly
Next day however no steering and no air pressure on gauge
Do I have a leak ?

 

[Captain Ralph]

So after many turns of the wheel the flybridge steering started working perfectly
Next day however no steering and no air pressure on gauge
Do I have a leak ?

Pssssssst
Sounds like it.

Air usually leaks first.
That is why I always check the air valve after charging.

The helm shaft oil seal relies on oil pressure against it from the inside of the pump. Any leak lower, the weight of the fluid itself will draw air in that same seal and mess up your fine work.

 

[31FlyCruzr]

Bleeding manual steering (Reposted from 2006)
Over the last 22 years I have only needed to bleed the system three times. The first was a long time ago, and then I had to do it last year due to seal leak in the helm.
I had trouble getting the air out, turning much more than the instructions said was necessary.

I replace the seals over the winter and thought about the problem, the cylinder in my boat has hydraulic lines half way up the horizontal cylinder meaning the air above the centerline of the ram cylinder can not be pushed out, so it was very hard to get the air out of the top half. I have the Hynautic system with a fluid control relief valve, and the rudders move when bleeding even though the fluid is being bypassed.

My solution was to tie the rudders hard left while bleeding to the right which keeps the ram piston at the end where I am bleeding air and all the air is purged. Then hard right while bleeding to the left.

This holds the piston at the end of the cylinder that the fluid is bleeding through and there is no room for air.

My 31 has an access hatch on the aft deck so I just tied a line to the rudder arm and ran it to the cleat on the stern to keep the ram from moving while bleeding.

By doing this, the instruction value of 30 turns actually worked pretty well.
Bill

 

[dar636]

Nice to know 31FlyCruzr, thanks!