New hydraulic steering install hooking up rams
 

Installing a new IMCO full hydraulic system, so far pretty easy install. Got the wing plates mounted and the triangle ram plate. Rams were shipped fully collapsed, any tricks on how to get them pulled out. Tried with none of the lines hooked up just couldn' t get the it to move at all. I was just thinking on waiting until the rest of it was hooked up and getting a little pressure on them. As they sit now I can't get them hooked up to the wingplates. I also tried putting a pipe in the eyelet and pulling pretty good on the rams...... nothing.

If no lines or plugs and they won't move, I'd think the seals are just tight since new. My tabs were the same and finally popped with some pressure.

That's what I am thinking too. Even tried turning them a few times in both directions thinking they might be in a shipping lock...no dice.

If no lines are hooked up, eat more wheaties,,,,,

That's might be the problem, I am more of a lucky charms guy. I will eat some wheaties in the morning and report back..��

Try a little air on one side as you tug if possible.

You might have got a set that had tight seals, there was some Rams that Imco used a different set of seals and made the Rams extremely tight and hard to move. We had this problem on a new set and we sent them back and they resealed them and they were much better.

Like said above, shoot a little compressed air into them with a rubber tipped blow gun to get them extended.

OK I did eat wheaties....that didn't help
Compressed air....that didn't help
Tried just putting pressure to the extend side, nothing I am at a loss.

Read my other post , then call Imco ...

Lube it up with what ever you are going to use to power it and get some leverage on your side , be it a hydraulic jack or long rod and fulcrum to pry it up.

I did I am thinking that might be the case, I just emailed them will see what they say.

OK got them to move with two 3 ton jacks. Got them hooked up and went to bleed the system turned to starboard great turn to port wheel starts spinning to starboard. No problem got the lines crossed switched them turn to starboard great turn to port wheel jumps back to starboard but doesn't spin. Wife let's power steering pump run dry......F@$#me not sure how long it was cavitaing shut off motor let it cool down fire it back up. Didn't sound like it was cavitating but I am not sure what to do now. Everyone just wants to go boating this weekend and WWIII is going on at our house, I am hearing things like just sell the F €£&#^g thing. It's horrible.

Dammit man! You're making me homesick.

Start drinking heavily.

You can move in anytime you want.

Yes started that, where do I start to fix this thing replace the ps pump? How can I bleed it. I am real sick of PS fluid I pretty much have it eveywhere.

Do you have the rams on the drive? If so, take them off and let them hang. You may have to find some less biased help to turn the wheel lock to lock while you crack the lines. I was in your shoes just yesterday and had my 5 year old son turning the wheel for me. Needless to say, I was headed back to the shop with a pissed wife at 9pm on Sunday with better help. Monday everyone is happy. You'll get it worked out.

Im just going to crack a beer, sit back and let you guys figure out all the bugs for me, Anyone want to guess what Im doing next weekend???

Yes they are on, I will take them off and get rid of that resistance until they are bleed off. I think I might have smoked my pump it got really hot. Like let the smoke out of it. I will need to check for flow tomorrow. Starting at the filter. If no flow I am going to replace it.

I will be able to tell you all the things not to do. It was going so good, but now it feels like I am starting over. The good thing is all the lines I made do not leak so that's a positive.

Told the ten year old that I am going to rachet strap a 2x4 to the drives and he is going to have to be my steering this weekend. He looked at me and said I am not sure I am going to be able to hold it when we are going fast.

The main reason for taking the Rams off or at least one is to avoid bending or stressing something if they are hooked up backward and fighting each other. I tested mine with one ram hooked up. That way I could see the tiller start to move from inside the boat.

I guess it's possible, but it's a pretty simple system, 2 lines off the helm pump to a T, the T hooks to the 4 ram lines. I thought when the wheel free spins in the opposite direction that means the lines are crossed.

This is exactly why I bleed the system only using the helm pump. Fill reservoir spin steering wheel and repeat until the Rams move. It's simple I can do it 100% by myself. It takes a little longer but it the end of the day power steering pumps don't get burned up.

Seems like a better way in hindsight, or the drill option. I am not 100% sure it is bad but I am guessing it is or it will not be long before it is completely bad. For the couple hundred $ I think I am going to replace it anyway.

I am writing this with my tail between my legs, but the good news is my new steering is fully functional now. Spent two days trying to figure out why I could only turn one way. Well, I was so confident in my own abilities that I hooked up the power steering feed line to one of the ram ports on the helm unit. Traced my lines three times and every time I thought it was in the right spot until I happen to glance at the diagram one more time. I felt so dumb, but I least I figured it out and we can go boating this weekend so everyone is happy at my house again. We also do not have to sell the boat anymore. The bad part is I can't even say something like I am not good at reading plumbing schematics, for years I spent time working on turbines and diesel gen-sets and that's all I did is read plumbing and electrical schematics. Ahhh..........

By the way Ron at IMCO is truly great and very helpful when you talk with him. Very please with his service.

X2 on Ron at Imco. Smart guy when you get into technical stuff aside from the rookie stuff like plumbing schematics....

Most people that never effed up haven't done much of anything!
Glad you figured it out.

Ron was excellent to deal with for me as well! I just finished up an install a couple weeks ago. Long story short, after hours of bleeding and re-tracing hoses, Ron diagnosed my symptoms over a 30 minute phone call as a bad helm. Got the new helm installed in 20 minutes, fired the motors and within 5 minutes it was good to go!

Yes definitely a rookie mistake, I even ran the lines one at a time and marked them so I wouldn't mess them up. No idea what I was thinking, I am going with I was tired late Sunday when I was finishing it up and hooking up the lines. I had looked at the schematic so many times I knew right where lines were to go on ghetto helm unit. Well that didn't work out for me, should have been looking at it while I was hooking them up too.

I agree, this wasn't my first time and I am sure not my last.

I was really starting to lean towards a bad helm unit too as it was the only reason I could come up with for the issue I was having. But it was acting like a bad helm unit because of my mistake.

My wheel would lock one way and just spin and spin and spin the other way. I had the rams rebuilt, local hydro shop showed me the old seals vs the new and the old were as hard as a rock, they blamed it on using ATF and not hydraulic oil (used system) so I bought a light weight hydraulic oil from them (cheaper than ATF by the way...) and flushed the system. I was convinced my problems were solved... NOPE! Boat was ready to be put up for sale, just like yours! I came back to it the next day with a more level head, decided to call Imco. Ron was excellent and nailed it! Luckily a local shop had one and I installed it that day, five minutes later I was hooking the truck and trailer to go test.

This thread rocks. Glad everyone is happy again. :nicethread: :daz: :thankyouthankyou: :Score-101010: