Had a leak in the front seal of out Teleflex (Sea Star) hydraulic steering this weekend which caused us to cancel a trip offshore. Thought I'd share what I learned in fixing the problem. First, if you are not greasing the steering hub annually, start now. It's the one thing we didn't do and it took two of us 5 hours to remove the steering wheel from the pressure shaft. We tried everything and broke two steel steering wheel removers until I tried a HEAVY DUTY one that finally worked. My 272 Sailfish is a 2000 model and I ran around yesterday (July 4th) trying to find a seal kit in Ocean City, MD. AKE's (http://www.akemarine.com) came through as they apparently keep a bunch of front seals and kits in stock in the back. Love this place!!! Anyhow, the problem seal is on the front and easy to get to after removing a bunch of plates and screws. If you haven't changed that seal yet, it would probably be a good idea to do so sooner than later since IT WILL fail at some point. We also decided to replace the back plate seal which required removing 6-8 screws (probably easier to disconnected the pressure lines and removed the entire pump). Removed screws and could not get the back plate off until I decided to turn the wheel which blew the plate off and dumped oil all over my brother. Worth the mess! Anyhow, we replaced and bled the lines which was a fairly easy process if you follow the directions on page 47 the manual (http://www.teleflexmarine.com/wp-conten ... 784-AO.pdf). Steering is back to normal and we are good to go next weekend!
Replacing Sea Star steering seals
- Thread starter grady33
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