Seastar hydraulic steering ram

Yes - I encountered the same problem about five years after installing a Seastar system. I was amazed to find that the stainless steel shaft had corroded slightly and was allowing fluid to leak past the seals. I found there was no option but to replace it. In the six or so years since I've been very careful to wash the shaft with fresh water after every use and to coat it with oil before laying the boat up for the winter.
 
I'm begginning to wonder if it is actually coming from the bleed screw? The fluid I'm seeing isn't on the stainless shaft but on the housing underneath the bleed screw...........
 
look at the rod very closly, if its pitted, you'll need to replace the cylinder. I replace the cylinder seals all the time, The pitting on the shaft is due to electrolysis. The newer rams come with a bonding kit to help prevent pitting, You can ordder the bondong kit if you replace the end caps. BTW, the end caps are pretty easy.
 
By easy, do you mean the end caps come off easy?

I looked at it again and see no pitting and appears as new. I checked the other side this morning and it is leaking too. Looking at the seal kits. Do you use the kit that comes with the new end caps? Or just get the kit with the seals? One comes with the pin wrench too, but it is over $100. Seems crazy for a replacing a couple pieces of rubber.....then again after all it is a boat we are talking about here.

Here's what my my winter time is looking like:

Seastar cylinder replace seals, refill, bleed. ~$150

2 new tires for trailer - blew one out last trip, will get two new and put the existing good tire on my 2nd spare ~$160

New VHF radio fixed mount inside the cabin (DRY) as backup w/ whip antenna on port side. Have had issues with my dash mounted vhf getting moisture causing it to not work until it dries out. Also do not trust the little hand held. Need peace of mind. ~$300

My old faithful Garmin 172c gpsmap sh!t the bed last time out. Did not go all the way out but the screen was fading out to the point I was preparing use the compass to get back in from 50 miles out. Instead of dumping $500 - $1000 into a new unit I found another 172c on craigslist in FL, called the guy and he is going to ship it to me. So for a total of $165 it should get me by for a couple more years (hopefully!).

Total: ~$775 (and I just spent $800 on replacing the trim assembly and a new prop a few months ago!)

Gotta love it.
 
I also had a garmin go dead on me, I got one off of a guy on the hull truth, worked great for bout 6 months, then it died. What I learned was while you still have some life in them ,make sure sure you transfer your numbers to something for safe keeping. I went to gps Babel and got them into a PDF file and can load them to other machines. I have about 400 spots and probably 35 really exist, I just don't know which 35. Garmin does not support any older machines. I think I have an old transfer cable if you need it.
 
Quote of $ 600 for disks and re pack bearings on the 4 wheels, and I decided to do it myself.

So far going ok.

Thanks for the heads up on hydro steering. I'll check too.
 
Phat don't think I can use a data transfer cable with my unit? There is no port that I see. Looks like I can save to a card. Does that mean I can save to a bluechart card??? I have a couple hundred numbers I manually entered in mine, while I don't use them all I'd like to have them without having to go through all that.
 
Did some poking around....Phat is this the cable you have? If so I'm definitely interested.

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I was going to order the seal repair kit but upon further inspection I found that the rod has several tiny scratches and one big enough to catch on my fingernail - all in one small spot I hadn't noticed before. So I went online, found and ordered the newer version of the front mounted seastar ram for $380 + $12 shipping. Should be able to bolt it up, fill, bleed and go. The newer model is HC5345-3. I called Teleflex to make sure I could swap it for my HC5345. The Telelflex tech said the newer ram has improved seals to help prevent what apparently happened to mine.
 
Blue, sorry just saw the question about the cable, yes that's it, I think. How many pins does your connector have? Mine also has a usb to transfer data to a computer. Do you use the mapsource program from garmin?
 
no phat I'm not using the garmin software on the computer. I'm using my work laptop which is completely useless for installing software, uploading pix (anything for that matter). I need to get a laptop.

So to use the cable with usb, wouldn't I need to have the garmin software installed? Which would allow me to download on the my replacement unit?

BTW - I got the unit from the guy in FL. Good looking unit and I've tested it out - works great! We'll see how long....

Good thing is, my other unit the screen isn't all the way out, just starting. I can carry it as a backup unit. :sly:
 
I just now seen this. I have a like new SEASTAR ram for a YAMAHA out in the shop. The bracket that connects the ram to the engine was broken because he trimmed the engine up with the jack plate down, but other than that it was almost new. I need to snap a pic of it and see if anybody could use it, getting rid of most all of my stuff because I can't work anymore.
 
It will be interesting to see how long this "improved" unit lasts. I feel like I'm getting a pretty good deal as if you look for HC5345-3 you can pay up to $600 or more.

I took my leaking unit for a cruise on the lake yesterday. I topped off the fluid at the helm as best I could. Definitely lots of slop in the steering but we were just putting around mostly. Had to blow the cobwebs out of the engine. lol
 
Blue, I think u have to have mapsource to download the info to the computer, then connect the new machine and upload to it.

Might want to call garmin support and ask them with the machine model #'s

Let me know if you need this cable, your welcome to use it, I got it on amazon for about $15. We'd have that much in shipping back & forth.
 
Yea Phat, saw it online for about that price and was thinking exact same thing about shipping back and forth. Appreciate the offer though. Think I'm just going to plug in the handful of numbers I actually use and not worry too much about the other ~150.
 
My brother in law helped me install the replacement seastar ram this evening. Not too bad. Got it bled, so far no leaks. The newer units also have zerk fittings on the mounts, which is where they tend to get seized in to the tilt rod from corrosion. Also they added a ground wire from the rod to the engine mount that is supposed to limit corrosion. In addition to the supposed improved seals....I'm glad to see teleflex delivering improvements to common issues with their product!

Went to rewire the trailer - wiring harness too short. Why in the world doesn't it say on the package how long the harness is?!?!?!?!?
 
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