FIRE UP
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Hey Gang,
Been a bit since I've been here. I have a kind-a weird situation. We came home from a 5 week RV trip recently and in making my rounds of the house etc. I found that there was an oil puddle under the very rear of the center pontoon on the concrete. Obviously it's not the lower end of the prop etc. since it's farther forward. It was red-ish in color which auto-pointed to the steering system since I used ATF when I filled the system and bled it way back a while ago. Well, upon further inspection, I found what you see in the pic. It's a bent 90 degree fitting that one of the steering hoses connects to on the Seastar HC5345 cylinder.
At first, I thought what in the he.. could have actually bent that fitting, especially in the UPWARD angle. It's bent enough that it almost touches the bleeder right above it. The other 90 degree fitting on the other hose is perfectly fine. But, due to the stress of this bent fitting, it has caused a leak at the threads. Since it was at such an angle, I immediately thought the cylinder was damaged and I began searching for a new one. They're not cheap folks! I was looking at spending somewhere north of $800 for a new HC5345 cylinder with attachments.
Well, I got around to removing that cylinder today and brought it in to the work bench. I had to remove the bleeder in order to gain clearance for the swing of that bent fitting while I unscrewed it. To my surprise, upon removal of that damaged fitting, it appeared/appears that the threads in the cylinder are not in any way damaged. I just happened to have a 1/4" short 2" brass pipe nipple hanging around in my junk plumbing box and screwed that nipped right into those threads without any form of interference or off camber attitude. Those threads are perfect.
Ok, that's the history. I've acquired a new fitting for the cylinder and will install it and the cylinder tomorrow and reattach the hoses and all the rest of the components. Then, due to the bend, which caused the threads to stretch on the bottom side, it had leaked for a while and the warm weather we're having here in Havasu which is about 200 degrees in the shade, and a few drips when the system was taken apart to work on that cylinder, I'm gonna have to bleed the system. I have done it before and with decent success. But, that was a while ago and I'm gonna have to do it again. I've watched a good half dozen videos and some are kind of conflicting with others. There are numerous "kits" for this operation on line, especially Amazon.
Many of those kits supply and employ a short clear line with quick release fittings that connect to the bleeders. But, where I'm a tad confused is, when people are using that line, and it's connected to the two bleeders, the bubbles are simply transfering from one side of the system to the other. And back and forth. I'm just not quite sure how that works. And this leads me to my topic or heading of this thread. How many of you that do this type of work, do your own steering system bleeding and may I ask what your methods are? I sure appreciate any help or advice here.
Scott
Been a bit since I've been here. I have a kind-a weird situation. We came home from a 5 week RV trip recently and in making my rounds of the house etc. I found that there was an oil puddle under the very rear of the center pontoon on the concrete. Obviously it's not the lower end of the prop etc. since it's farther forward. It was red-ish in color which auto-pointed to the steering system since I used ATF when I filled the system and bled it way back a while ago. Well, upon further inspection, I found what you see in the pic. It's a bent 90 degree fitting that one of the steering hoses connects to on the Seastar HC5345 cylinder.
At first, I thought what in the he.. could have actually bent that fitting, especially in the UPWARD angle. It's bent enough that it almost touches the bleeder right above it. The other 90 degree fitting on the other hose is perfectly fine. But, due to the stress of this bent fitting, it has caused a leak at the threads. Since it was at such an angle, I immediately thought the cylinder was damaged and I began searching for a new one. They're not cheap folks! I was looking at spending somewhere north of $800 for a new HC5345 cylinder with attachments.
Well, I got around to removing that cylinder today and brought it in to the work bench. I had to remove the bleeder in order to gain clearance for the swing of that bent fitting while I unscrewed it. To my surprise, upon removal of that damaged fitting, it appeared/appears that the threads in the cylinder are not in any way damaged. I just happened to have a 1/4" short 2" brass pipe nipple hanging around in my junk plumbing box and screwed that nipped right into those threads without any form of interference or off camber attitude. Those threads are perfect.
Ok, that's the history. I've acquired a new fitting for the cylinder and will install it and the cylinder tomorrow and reattach the hoses and all the rest of the components. Then, due to the bend, which caused the threads to stretch on the bottom side, it had leaked for a while and the warm weather we're having here in Havasu which is about 200 degrees in the shade, and a few drips when the system was taken apart to work on that cylinder, I'm gonna have to bleed the system. I have done it before and with decent success. But, that was a while ago and I'm gonna have to do it again. I've watched a good half dozen videos and some are kind of conflicting with others. There are numerous "kits" for this operation on line, especially Amazon.
Many of those kits supply and employ a short clear line with quick release fittings that connect to the bleeders. But, where I'm a tad confused is, when people are using that line, and it's connected to the two bleeders, the bubbles are simply transfering from one side of the system to the other. And back and forth. I'm just not quite sure how that works. And this leads me to my topic or heading of this thread. How many of you that do this type of work, do your own steering system bleeding and may I ask what your methods are? I sure appreciate any help or advice here.
Scott
