I have an older Teleflex BA175-7TM hydraulic steering cylinder on my 2000 56' Ocean Yacht. I am experiencing very bumpy/lumpy steering as well as hard to turnover. In your opinion is this a system bleeding issue or something with seals in the helm or cylinder itself. I see no noticeable leaks. Another concern is that in the picture attached you can see the bleeder valves have been connected with tubing. I am unsure if that is appropriate to be like that all the time. I have read that this is a way to by-pass and bleed the system but unsure if it should be left there. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Your very bumpy/lumpy steering may not be from your hydraulic system. Air in the system may cause some mush but not hard to turnover issues. I fear you have fouled rudders or a binding rudder post. Disconnect the linkage and hand rotate the rudders to check this. Leave the bleeder tubing in place. It needs never be removed or opened up. I see pink in that picture, somebody already been messing with that cylinder or is it leaking?
Bumpy or hard steering isn’t an hydraulic issue but a hardware problem. I had this happen on an 84 which developed a hard spot turning to port. You d have to crank up the steering and then the rudder would jump Nobody could figure it out then while returning from a pre purchase survey sea trial the tiller just broke coming into the channel to the marina. Rudders were pretty much amidship so I put my poker face on and slowed down steering with the engines all the way to the slip. Nobody noticed… neither the surveyor, brokers, buyers etc. Turned out to be the rudder bearing.
I'm not sure, when I say bumpy/lumpy I mean there is a lot of play in the wheel. I can make a 3/4 rotation and the rudder won't turn. Then you may feel some resistance, then kind of a bump, easier, resistance, bump while then the rudder is moving and boat is turning. It is the same in both directions. Also, if I use the auto pilot the boat reacts to change in direction efficiently and like normal.
You might be low on fluid. The steering wheel is higher than the auto pilot pump. Auto pilot might have enough fluid to work well despite the system being low on fluid
You have no idea how hard that AP pump is working to turn the rudders. Yes, check the fluid levels. Then check your rudders as responded to and not argue to your responses. I am constantly at a loss when people argue with responses. If their the sudden expert, then why ask us?
I'm not saying I'm an expert, I'm being a bit humble in the sense I am not sure I am describing the situation and trying to provide as much info as possible. I am no expert by any means. Just having conversation between a group of helpful/knowledgeable folks and maybe learn something.
Call a professional or take the vessel to a boat yard to have fixed. Steering is nothing that you want to mess with if you're not knowledgeable. It sounds to me like it's frozen rudder bearings.
What I think you are describing is exactly how I described the feeling when my system was low on oil before I rebuilt the helm pump and steering cylinder. Check the oil level. Add if necessary. You may get lucky and it will self bleed or you may need to bleed it manually. That hose is just connected to the bleeder nipples. I have seen people store the hose that way so it' available when bleeding is necessary.
Store? No need to remove it from its service position. It the picture you can see the clear, by-pass tube still has fluid it it from it's last service use. In the picture is an old fluid stain possibly from that poor fitting hose clamp but that tube (hose) needs to stay rite where it is. Please re-read post # 2, 3, 4, 9 & 11.
Took a closer look at the picture . On my Ocean the setup is very similar but where the bypass tube (didn't know there was such a thing) is attached , mine has something like a brake bleeder valve that I attach a clear hose to perform the bleed process. I then close the bleeder and remove the hose. Please explain how this bypass tube works. Certainly it could be something more drastic but I still think the system is low on oil and causing the lumpy feel. Hopefully, if you didn't scare him off in post 7, the op will report back after there is a resolution.
Like a car brake bleeder nipple, Open these on each end of the cylinder and the helm pump will rotate the fluid full circle. Every tech has their own schedule on how/when to do this vs the position of the cylinder's position (full std/port). If I offer any more, I'll have to either kill you or you buy first round.
I'm a fan of keeping things simple. Mark the bolt locations on the tiller arms, and drop those bolts. 3 minutes are required to do this. Now you are free to operate the tillers by hand to check their mobility, and the ram is free to move without any resistance. You want to rule out cutlass bearing restrictions and know that your rudders turn freely without restrictions. At that point your issue has been purely reduced to the hydraulics.
I really don’t think so. First post stated “hard and lumpy and hard to to run over” low fluid level result in just the opposite: wheel will turn with very little effort until it suddenly gets some fluid and rudders start turning. completely different issue and symptoms
