Rasmus - verus hydraulic steering

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Mar 21, 2007
2
Other Hallberg-Rassy Rasmu Chester, Nova Scotia
I have a couple of questions about the Vetus hydraulic steering on my Rasmus. The steering feels 'lumpy' from time to time which I think may be air in the system. I bleed it, but likely not too successfully. My wheel takes anywhere from 8 to 11 turns lock to lock. What I appreciate help with is: 1. how many turns should the wheel make hard-over to hard-over? 2. Has any Rasmus owners installed the little fluid tank (Vetus HTANK) on the pump? 3. Any successful methods to bleed the system. Mank thanks, Dave
 
R

Razzmatazz

Vetus steering fix

I had a similar problem with the old Vetus steering pump a few years back. The pump has small cylinders with pistons that move as the wheel is turned to provide the hydraulic pressure to the actuator. The piston seals are probably worn and so oil bleads past the pistons giving that lumpy feel. This also explains why the number of wheel turns varies. Fraid the only real option is a new system. I used the company in France in the attached link. I had to mod the the steering binnicle for the pump (actually made a new one with built in auto helm motor) and fit a steel adpater plate to the hull where the actuator bolts on. The number of wheel turns depends on what how strong you are! I went for about 4 turns each way (8 turns full lock). This has to be worked out from the respecive volumes of the pump and actuator and the length of the tiller arm. Oh by the way I fitted a new tiller arm as well cos the old one wasnt compatible with the new actuator. Hope that helps
 
S

Steve

Rasmus steering

I've been struggling with my Rasmus steering for years. It's a fine set up, but after 35 years, neither HR nor Vetus supports the hydraulics any more.

I too had a leaking wheel pump - at the end of travel, the wheel would still turn slowly, in small pulses.
VETUS USA ( in Baltimore ) was able to help with this - they did some sort of rebuild, said it was not perfect, no more parts were available - but the pump has been fine the last 7 years.

The problem with changing the pump is you'll usually have to modify the helm housing to fit the new one (no direct replacement appears available ). The origonal vetus system should be 4 turns stop to stop.

You can easily bleed the system at the cylinder on the quadrant (under port side rear berth ). There's a bleed valve for each direction. You either need 2 people (one to turn the wheel, and one to bleed the air), or a tube and bottle of hydraulic fluid. If you fit a small bit of tubing to the bleed nipple, and then run that below the level of the fluid in a jar, one person can bleed the system without introducing air.

The process is just like bleeding the brakes on a car. You push fluid out the cylinder, until no more air is in the system. But the reservoir on the Vetus pump is tiny, so you need to keep topping the cylinder (or you'll introduce air at that end). I added a small plastic reservoir to my helm pump, so have a bit more fluid in the system to bleed.

My problem now is on the cylinder end. I have leaking seals, and Vetus is unable to supply repair parts. I've shopped around, gone to hydraulic shops, etc without finding new ones. So I'll probably be out $ 700, and have to modify the mounts to fit a new cylinder - all for want of $ 2.00 worth of seals !

Good luck with it.
 

ffronk

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Mar 2, 2006
3
- - Friday Harbor, Washington
Rasmus steering

As a result of small and annoying leaks at the steering ram, I have just had a rebuild of my system...my system is a Waggener system from Canada and has the advantage of being "self-bleeding"...it takes a little while to get all the air out but seems to be okay. I had the work done by a shop in Bellingham, Wa and they do a lot of commercial work on fish-boat systems so have expertise in the field...the reservoir on my system is inside the pedestal and I have an Autohelm 5200 pilot installed...

ffronk/csj
 
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