Rebuilt my Zieger hydraulic steering jack
 

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Noticed a leak around the wiper on my Zeiger steering ram recently. Water around here is screwed due to rain literally everyday. Ordered the seal kit from Paul Everett @ Zeiger. I could not break the piston end cap loose by myself. Took the jack to a hydraulic shop where we still had to apply heat to break cap loose. Once apart, pretty straightforward DIY repair. New O rings, pip seal, wiper seal.

When it came time to re enter piston into jack cylinder with new seals, I could not push down hard enough while holding jack. Applied slight propane heat to cylinder cap end and lubed piston slid right in. Blue loctited piston cap and torqued per Paul's recommendation. Old seals required virtually no effort to move piston back and forth in cylinder. New seals require you to work for it.

Installed and bled with fresh ATF in PS system. No leaks.
Now, maybe I can use this boat instead of work on it!!!

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I recently sent a ram back to Zeiger to be rebuilt. Great customer service and Paul is a pleasure to deal with.

I agree. Worked with Paul in the past on a project. Good guy.

Just did the same. Got the kit from Paul and had a local hydraulic guy rebuild for $45. Ram is super tight now. What was your bleed procedure?

This is from Zeiger and off their website. Basically, fill ps reservoir, turn wheel left until lock. Turn wheel right until lock. Turn wheel left to lock again. This should extend the ram. Break loose the transom hose to jack connection that is opposite of extend. Turn wheel right as air is pushed out of line until steady stream of ATF flows. Do opposite for other hose. Continue until no air escapes. Plan on bleeding thru about a quart to get air out.

Thanks for the info, good to know Zeigler has good customer service!

Padraig

Yes...good info. I capped my lines on transom as soon as they were removed then pre-lubed the ram by putting both lines in a jug of atf. Pushed the ram in and out to bleed then quickly installed lines as not to introduce any extra air. I have about an 1/8" of ram play currently so the line bleed method you mentioned may be the last step for me. That play was after running it and doing lock to lock on the wheel for 5 min or so.