Hydrive steering ram bleeding

[bluefin59]

When I bought the boat I was aware of a few spots of oil on the steering ram but two trips in it didn’t appear to leak but last trip I bought it home and it’s leaking fairly quickly now , iv ordered a replacement as this one is fairly old now according to hydrive and they have a replacement version now . A recondition one isn’t economically worth it so I’ve ordered a new one that will be here next week , what do I need to do to bleed it though I read the manual online and couldn’t get my head around all the information. Can someone explain how to bleed it possibly.Thanks Matt

[Dignity]

The instructions cover autohelms etc which can be confusing but basically 2 extra set of hands works well but just another pair will work. It's good to have someone holding the fillup container which is screwed into the steering hub as you don't want this running out during the process.
Step 1 fill the screwed in container with oil, from memory I had the bottom cut out so I could top up as needed. I did have it zippy tied to a suppport as there was only the 2 of us. Have your mate crack the Port valve (with some plastic tubing attached into a drain bottle) and start turning the steering wheel Anticlockwise, you'll need to turn the wheel about once per second until the air is expelled and have your mate nip the valve back up. This is where the third pair of hands works well as the bottle can be topped up with out stopping as that'll let air move around and take a lot longer.
Step 2 is repeat for Starboard side turning the steering wheel Clockwise.
The drained oil can be reused or stored in a bottle but filter it first, I just used a funnel lined with paper towel.
You'll generally need 2 to 3 litres of oil.
Don't overfill the hub, if sitting in hot conditions the oil will force its way up through the hub. About 1/2" from the top of the hub is plenty full. This isn't a pressurised system.

All from memory so may have changed.

Edit: The first time I did it I recall I had the oil lines incorrectly connected back to front so steering was reversed. That was fun, not, fortunately I left enough tubing to reconnect it correctly but yours is already set up the right way.

[Tracker]

that advice is spot on. do it that way and you will have no problems.good luck.

[bluefin59]

Thanks guys that sounds easy enough , I appreciate the help . Matt