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Rebuilding helm and Steering cylinder


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Helm is not a biggie, you will be hard pressed to find a seal kit for the helm, they dont want to be liable for improper assembly. I took my helm apart and it's not rocket science, take pictures. Clean everything up and reinstall and see what ya got.

The cylinder is easy, only special tools you will need is for the seals at each end of the ram, it usually comes with the seal kit. Depending on how your splashwell is designed will determine how easy or hard it is. If the metal rod that runs through the cylinder has anyknocks, it will eventually wear your seals out quicker. If the Knicks are severe I'd send it off, unless it good at removing them. 

I'm going to flush mine with atf,  add new fluid and bleed. Those are great systems when they work like they are supposed to.

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Search on The Hull Truth forum, that's what I used the first time I did mine.  A guy did a pretty decent write-up with pictures. I've done a couple since and it's really no big deal. Once you get over spending $40 for a couple of o rings and a gasket it's pretty smooth sailing. 

One note of caution: When you disassemble the helm you'll see several spring- loaded pistons in the pump body, similar to bullets in a revolver cylinder. Do not push the pistons down into the cylinder before you remove them and clean everything. Depending on the amount of contamination in the helm the piston may stick in the down position inside if the cylinder then you're pretty much done for. If you decide to do it you will see what I'm talking about.

Like stated before, it's a very simple hydraulic system. I went into like this... The worst that can happen is you can't get it back together or it still isn't right when you re-install the helm then you send it off to Boat Steering Rebuilders anyway and you're out $40 and some of your time. If you pay attention to what you're doing and get it done, you saved yourself a couple hundred bucks and a couple weeks down-time.

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All I know is I had my yard take care of my little HPX 15 and  have the steering cable redone which was binding. It was10 yrs old. It involved lifting the motor to access and pull the old cable and re feed a new one.  Not something I wanted to attempt.  The system is   simple but the   removal and replacement of the cable is a bugger.  Give it a try and let us know how it goes.

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