| Hydraulic Steering: Installing a Hydraulic Steering System |
From "Shipshape Boating"
episode DSSB-110 |
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In this segment host, John Greviskis, will discuss hydraulic steering systems and show you how to install one from scratch. For this particular project, Greviskis worked on a recently restored 1976, 21-foot Seabird. It's just been painted with a special type of polyurethane marine finish, and a big 225-horsepower Mercury outboard engine was added. When you're talking about an outboard engine that's 150-horsepower or higher, you're going to be dealing with an engine that can't be controlled by a single, manual steering cable. It has too much power and torque, so what you need to do instead is to either install a duel, manual-cable steering system -- one that has two steering rods connecting to the engine -- OR install a hydraulic steering system, which is what Greviskis does during this segment. Components of a Hydraulic Steering System - Steering Wheel -- The particular steering wheel used for this project was chosen for the color (yellow) of the grip, which matches the color of the non-skid on the boat.
- Hydraulic Helm (figure A) -- The steering wheel is attached to the hydraulic helm, which is the pump and hydraulic reservoir together. Note that you have to back out the thumbscrew in order to add the hydraulic fluid.
- Hydraulic Lines or Cables -- The cables are attached to the backside of the hydraulic helm on the fittings (figure B). The lines/cables will run down beneath the deck back to the engine, where the steering ram assembly will be attached.
- Steering Ram Assembly (figure C) -- The steering ram assembly is attached to the frontside of the tilt tube, and it's bolted to the tiller arm. This is how you get to steer the boat back and forth.
Installing a Hydraulic Steering System - First you want to install the helm into the center console. Tape off the surface of the center console where the helm will be attached.
Tip: Be sure to tape off the surface in order to protect the paint from being chipped by the drilled holes that are needed for the installation. - Be sure to use the drilling template that comes with the hydraulic steering system. The template lets you know where to drill the mounting hardware for the helm. Tape the template down on all four sides securely.
- Drill the holes. A good tip is to start with a smaller (1/8") drill bit first in case you do accidentally tear the template as you're drilling into it, you'll still have a visual reference. So drill the outside holes first w/the smaller bit.
- Come back with a 5/16" drill bit and drill the holes (figure D).
- Once the holes are drilled, use a 3" hole saw to cut the opening for the helm in the middle (figure E).
- Switch the drill one more time and use a countersinking bit to countersink the holes. Bevel the top side of the mounting holes.
Note: Countersinking the holes will prevent spider cracking . - Now that the holes for the hydraulic helm are done, you'll need to remove the masking tape and template.
- Test to see if you have a good fit for the hydraulic helm. If you do have a good fit, it's time to seal the core of the fiberglass center console. The core is plywood, and if you don't seal it rotting can occur. Use a two-part, five-minute epoxy -- equal parts base and catalyst -- poured into a mixing cup. Mix well and apply with an artist brush.
- While you're waiting for the epoxy to dry, now would be a great time to rout the hydraulic steering lines/hoses. The hydraulic fittings on the end are covered with caps (figure F) to keep matter from entering the lines. The different colored caps are there for a reason. The green stands for the starboard (right) side of the boat and the red stands for the port (left) side of the boat. It's important that you rout these hoses accordingly.
- Rout the hoses down through the rigging tube inside the center console and into a rigging way underneath the deck back to the phalange that comes up through the deck out through the transom and back to the engine.
- Once the center console is dry, rout the other end of the hydraulic hoses up through the console and attach to the hydraulic helm, which will have a "S" and a "P" -- thread the green or starboard hose to the "S" and the red or port hose to the "P".
- Once the hoses have been attached securely, it's time to mount the hydraulic helm to the center console. Use four washers and stainless steel nyloc nuts to secure the helm with a deep-socket wrench (figure G).
- With the helm secure, install the steering wheel by removing the steering-wheel nut and attaching the wheel onto the shaft. There's a groove that's been milled out to make it easy to pop and lock the steering wheel onto the shaft. Once you slide the wheel into place, screw the nut back on securely with a socket wrench.
- Once the steering wheel is nice and snug, attach the dust cover.
- Next is the steering ram assembly installation. Start by using tef-gel to isolate the dissimilar metals. Apply the tef-gel to the tilt tube, and then thread the adjustable collar onto the tilt tube (figure H).
- Remove the collar from the ram assembly and grease the shaft with marine-grade grease.
- Slide on the hardware -- a washer and two spacers that slide onto the shaft.
- Slide the shaft into the tilt tube on the starboard side of the outboard engine.
- On the other (port) side, attach a washer, two spacers and the collar. Secure tightly.
- Attach the pivot arm onto the tiller arm using a bolt and wrench (figure I ). Be sure "not" to strip any of the threads. Install a nut up underneath the tiller arm to help prevent stripping the threads.
- Now it's time to attach the hydraulic hoses to the ram assembly, and the main thing to remember here is that the green (starboard) hose and the red (port) hose are crossed at this point.
Important: At the steering ram, connect the port hose (red) to the starboard side (right) of the ram and the starboard hose (green) to the port side (left) of the ram. Just think "crossed" for this final step! - Screw on the fittings for the hoses and tighten securely.
- The final step of installing a hydraulic steering system is to insert hydraulic fluid into the hydraulic helm reservoir. Simply remove the thumbscrew (or set screw) from the topside of the helm, screw in the fill tube and attach the quart of fluid and draw the fluid into the system by turning the steering wheel over in a couple of directions (figure J). Once the reservoir is full, you'll need to bleed out some of the air. Do this by attaching a hose to one of the bleed screws, unscrewing the bleed screws on the ram and bleeding out the air. You have to do this for both bleed screws. After bleeding from the first screw, then do the same process for the other bleed screw. You may have to do this five to 15 times, according to how much air needs to be released. Once you have "pure fluid" coming out from the bleeds, you're done!
Note: Along with the air, some of the fluid also will shoot out.
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