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Old 29-12-2019, 12:15   #16
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Re: Hydraulic Autopilot Bleeding

Good suggestion.

In my case the Hynautic reservoir was not at the top of the system. Plus one of the valve bolts on the reservoir was snapped off in the closed position. Hynautic wanted $200 to replace the valve and I was unable to obtain the part. So bleeding like I did based on the hours it took me previously was incredibly easy and fast.
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Old 29-12-2019, 13:14   #17
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Re: Hydraulic Autopilot Bleeding

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Originally Posted by s/v Jedi View Post
If you have the Hynautic reservalve (reservoir + valves) then you don't need to do the trick with two hoses into an oil container because the reservalve does that already.

what you need to do is bypass the ram. if it has bleeding valves then you can attach a piece of hose between them, then open the valves so that oil flows around the piston.

now open the two valves on the reservalve. Now you can circulate the oil by turning the steering wheel or making the AP pump run. Whenever air bubbles arrive at the reservoir, they bubble up and only oil goes into the outgoing hose. Just keep circulating until no more bubbles show up.

About the reservoir: keep oil level up. If space is tight, put a 3/8" clear vinyl hose in there leading out and up to a funnel. If the reservoir is the highest point in the system, you don't need to pressurize it. When pressure falls away, you do -not- get air in the lines as long as the oil is up at level.
I need to grab some better pictures - the setup is like in the image. And here is a couple of the reservoir and ram.

Not sure I can see the bleed valves on bottom or on ram?
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Old 29-12-2019, 13:39   #18
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Re: Hydraulic Autopilot Bleeding

I agree there appears to be no bleed screws on the ram
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Old 29-12-2019, 14:18   #19
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Re: Hydraulic Autopilot Bleeding

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I agree there appears to be no bleed screws on the ram
Any idea what the silver screws are for?
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Old 29-12-2019, 15:40   #20
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Hydraulic Autopilot Bleeding

possibly a bleed screw. I was looking for a hose bard. Is there only one? Maybe someone else could comment
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Old 30-12-2019, 03:30   #21
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Re: Hydraulic Autopilot Bleeding

Here's a picture of my RAM installed after I rebuilt it earlier this year. As you can see the hoses are connected to elbows like BigAl has. This s*cks and long term best you can do is replace those elbows with service valves as shown in the other picture. The hoses connect to them but it has a valve and the hose barb for servicing. To do that, you need a small piece of transparent vinyl hose that fits between the two valves on the service hose barbs. Put it on, then open the valves and oil can bypass the cylinder through the hose. Start circulating oil which moves air from the service hose plus what is in the lines towards the reservoir where it is vented and replaced by oil.

if no bubbles were seen nor heard for a while, you can close the service valves and move the rudder back and forth using hydraulic. Then open the service valves again and circulate through the bypass. This should remove the last air that was left in the ram the first time. Last is removing the service hose and emptying it into the spare oil container.

When the ram is completely empty, like after my rebuild, you fill the reservoir, then pressurize it, then open a service valve (or loosen the hose connector when you're without service valves like me) and let the air escape. You probably need to refill and re-pressurize the reservoir a couple of times.

Like someone wrote before, it's best to take the RAM off while keeping the hoses on and move it up to the highest point. In my case I put some manual switches on my AP hydraulic pumps so I can run them either direction by flipping a switch and circulate so easy that all air is gone within a minute.

The Hynautic instructions about bleeding the ram while extended in one direction, then repeating the other way around: this works of-course but the ram must be fully extended so you must take it off the rudder quadrant because that limits maximum ram movement. With the service bypass valves & hose you don't need all that
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Old 21-11-2020, 18:53   #22
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Re: Hydraulic Autopilot Bleeding

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Any idea what the silver screws are for?
Update - these are the bleed points on the Hynautic cylinder, and the nuts at the bottom of the RV60 reservoir also must be open during bleeding. Someone may find this helpful in future.
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