I've got a similar system on my rock buggy, but there's way more feet of hose in the boat.....

I think I've got some air trapped and want to bleed the sytem- is it a 3 person job? (one to fill res, one to crank wheel and one to crack lines?)

Anybody have any tips or preferred methods? Its twin /Imco

If it hasn't bled on its own, I suggest a 3 man job. I've tried one man and two man, but three should get it done.

Turn the wheel to one of the locks (right or left)

Bleed the ram lines that are extended (under pressure). Tighten, check reservoir level and then turn the wheel to the opposite lock.
Again, bleed the ram lines that are extended.

I'd do this several times, you'll see the air come out. If it's a single engine, make some tubes out of muffler hose or PVC to divert the water away from you while running the engine. Either that or get wet!!!

Here's another guys explaination:

First step is to make sure the supply/return (pump) circuit is full and bled. That's just a matter of making sure the pump and reservour is full, and cranking the wheel around.

Then the three-person process begins. Crank the wheel to one side and hold it there. Crack the line on the farthest ram from the helm that is supplying pressure to the ram - the one farthest from the extended ram. Let it bleed a bunch of fluid, so you're sure no air is left. While the wheel is in the same position, crack loose the opposite fitting on the opposite ram, let it bleed.

Make sure the guy (or gal) filling the reservour keeps up the level.

Crank the wheel to the other side, and bleed the opposite fittings, keeping the fluid level up in the reservour.

Repeat about 3 times and you should be good to go. This job sucks. Warm exhaust water blowing in your face, ATF everywhere, it's no picnic. But it should get you where you need to be

Ck out my thread theres some good info on there

goodluck
Rob
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...light=sterring

The only thing I would add is something WPM told me..

On first start up the hydraulic fluid gets very aerated, so bleed as above the first day and do it again the next day/week for best results.

That was worth reading just for the drill trick rather than running engines- PSC motorsports is a great place to get pumps tested/rebuilt/replaced- they do a lot of circletrack and 4x4 stuff (one of my sponsors).

Normal PSI is 1400ish. On the crawlers- we run a bit smaller pulley to get optimium flow/psi at idle speeds cause we do a lot of that and want to be in the zone.

Mine's not terrible, but needs to be done over the winter.

Well- after all that.....

I was a quart low. I was checking cold and engine off.

When I checked at idle and let my son steer while I looked in the res with the cap gone I could see it was not keeping up-

I added to level while idling cold, put the cap on tied a small tell tale white rag around the cap to see if any vented out the cap- all is good- steers nice