Terrified and about to Reseal Hydraulic Steering

Grand Caper Bill said:

Hi All!
I have 1979 Sundeck trawler (skyline 39) with leaky helm pumps. A previous owner has added transmission fluid and the manufacturer of the helm system (Wagner) calls for Shell Tellus 10. Since this is no longer available Shell tells me that S2 BL 10 is the new product. Today I received the smallest container (18.9 liters) of this product. I have a seal kit for the rudder cylinder, one for the 701 lower helm and a kit for the 700 upper helm. I will just try to drain all the old fluid out, refill and bleed then pull the helm pumps to fit the reseal kits. What should I watch out for?

Click to expand...

We have a Wagner that is has transmission fluid. Is your fluid RED?

Yes

Grand Caper Bill said:

Yes

Click to expand...

Is the Shell stuff you bought RED! I will check when I get back to the boat and let you know what I use. You have to use the right kind of trans fluid.

Why drain the whole system if you are just dong the helms. Messy job. Make sure you buy a lot of diaper/soaker upper pads sold at most marine stores.

I too have Wagner 700 series helm pumps. Last year one started to leak at the shaft seal. I just drained the system at the cylinder, removed the steering wheels, and pried the seals right out of the front. Then I cleaned the recess and tapped the new seals into place using a piece of plastic tubing/pipe which slid easly over the shaft. There was some looseness in one of the shafts but not bad for 20 years use and I decided to see if the new, more flexiable, seal would cure it (otherwise the housing needs to be bored out and a bushing installed).
Over the years since I installed this system I have used both hydraulic jack oil (which is SAE 10) and ATF fluid w/ no problems except both made the steering heavy in the winter. So I decided to try something lighter. This time I used Arctic Blue hydraulic snowplow fluid. This is great stuff, thin as water, good lubricating properties, harmless to seals, & available at Advance Auto Parts and others. Steering much easier & smoother, no rattleling noise from pump, blue dye to help spot leaks, autopilot likes it better too.
Happy camper. Wagner was great stuff. The Wagner in my Willard is 51 years old and still going strong.

I was told by the Wagner person 15 years ago to use ATF type FA for older vehicles.