Hydraulic steering hose kinked

I just noticed my hydraulic steering hoses both have a kink in them. I’ve never had hydraulic steering before so not sure of how big a problem this is. I don’t know what caused it, the boat is 5 years old and the hoses haven’t been touched. When I turn the motor to the right, they tend to bend at the kink.

I assume it’s not good in the long run, can I expect it to start leaking soon? There is plenty of extra hose in the bilge area, can they be cut and new ends put on them? If not is the next course to run new lines? Thanks.

I’ve tried to piece and repair these hoses for years with no luck! Buy new ones and replace. I’d like to see a better picture to see if you can reroute to eleminate the sharp turn, probaly need longer hoses. These hoses come in pairs and not hard to replace and are not real expensive. Had one fail offshore years ago and had to come in with a twin engine boat steering with the motors. I locked them with a pair of vice grips to keep them from moveing

Boatpoor, thanks, I’m not sure there is much I can do to change how the hoses are run. These were set up by seafox. I reviewed some earlier pictures I had of the splaswhell, there was a cable tie holding the two lines together just past the stress relief, it is gone now, this may have contributed to the kink forming. The lines together may have been enough to stop them from kinking.

Check out the stress on the hoses when the motor is trimmed all the way up, that might be the problem!

if the hose has enough excess below the deck, Yes, the ends can be replaced.

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IF I RESPOND IN ALL CAPS, ITS NOT ON PURPOSE, AND I AM NOT YELLING

A quick update, ordered new lines and ran them today, about 3 1/2 hours. The strain relief is bigger and the bulkhead flange is smaller then the old ones. Lots of extra line in the bilge just like before. When the motor is hard over to the right, the lines don’t kink but they aren’t far from it.

Chris, I tried to turn the elbow downward like you suggested but I was not able to get it to move. I didn’t want to horse it figuring I would end up breaking it with my luck.

Didn’t have time to bleed the system today, will do that tomorrow. A cleaned out peanut butter jar and two lengths of tubing should do the trick.

Used the same setup to drain the fluid prior to running the new hoses. The fluid came out looking like coffee. The steering was always tight, smooth, and responsive, no slack feeling, so I’m guessing this is somewhat normal.

Great fix! Glad you got it!

fluid should NOT look like that
it should also not be “tight”

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www.bombislandboats.com
IF I RESPOND IN ALL CAPS, ITS NOT ON PURPOSE, AND I AM NOT YELLING

Tight might have been the wrong word, the steering was smooth, easy to turn and responsive with the coffee fluid in the lines. What would cause the fluid to turn this color? The boat is 5 years old and this is the first time work has been done on the steering system.

Looks like some one topped it off with trans fluid!

quote:
Originally posted by boatpoor

Looks like some one topped it off with trans fluid!


yep

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www.bombislandboats.com
IF I RESPOND IN ALL CAPS, ITS NOT ON PURPOSE, AND I AM NOT YELLING

Filled and bled the system. Actually, bled, bled, bled and bled some more until there were no more tiny bubbles. Then bled a few more times. Double checked trimming up and down with hard over both ways, ended up needing a cable tie to hold the longer line from getting pinched under the cylinder when trimmed up. The line lengths in the splashwell seem to be about right.

Only complaint about the overall process is the seastar fill hose, when attached to the steering fluid bottle and inverted it leaked. They should include a washer in the cap portion.

Did the sea trial today. Steering felt about the same as it did before. I was half expecting it to be real mushy and requiring constant correction. Pleasantly surprised this was not the case. Instead discovered the motor wasn’t peeing after we were a few miles from the landing. Ended up being a plugged pee tube.

Thanks boatpoor and Chris for the insight and help.

quote:
Originally posted by demasb

Filled and bled the system. Actually, bled, bled, bled and bled some more until there were no more tiny bubbles. Then bled a few more times. Double checked trimming up and down with hard over both ways, ended up needing a cable tie to hold the longer line from getting pinched under the cylinder when trimmed up. The line lengths in the splashwell seem to be about right.

Only complaint about the overall process is the seastar fill hose, when attached to the steering fluid bottle and inverted it leaked. They should include a washer in the cap portion.

Did the sea trial today. Steering felt about the same as it did before. I was half expecting it to be real mushy and requiring constant correction. Pleasantly surprised this was not the case. Instead discovered the motor wasn’t peeing after we were a few miles from the landing. Ended up being a plugged pee tube.

Thanks boatpoor and Chris for the insight and help.


I’m guessing one of the little tiny black dirt dobers stopped up the tube? I’ve gotten into the habit of smearing a little heavy grease up the end of the pee tube every time I’m done with the boat.

“Why Bruce?”

Dirt dauber is my guess as well. Pulled a few hoses and checked for water at each point. Fortunately we had a cable tie on board that was small and stiff enough to clear the tube.