B&G autopilot ram needs rebuilding

[Sid at SailAway]

I have the T1 unit and the piston has gotten extremely stiff on the in and out stroke. Does anyone know of a rebuilder in the Annapolis area? Or, is this a something one can do on their own? Normally I do all my own maintenance and boat work but this my be beyond my skillset. Any help appreciated.

[colemj]

Most any hydraulic shop should be able to work on it. We had new seals put in ours in Colon Panama.

If you take the endcap off (I'm assuming this is the blue model - I haven't worked on the newer black ones), there is a teflon or delrin wiper that gets a bit gunked up and is easily cleaned. I doubt this is your problem though - yours sounds like check valves or something similar.

Mark

[Sid at SailAway]

Are the check valves electrically activated?

[DeepFrz]

Sid, maybe the bypass valve? It is electrically activated and allows you to steer without having to overcome the hydraulic pressure.

[colemj]

No, they are just normal hydraulic check and bypass valves. The only electrically active valve on that ram is the solenoid clutch.

That solenoid just locks out the bypass so that the arm will move with pump control.

Mark

[colemj]

Looks like Deepfrz and I were typing at the same time. The bypass on this ram is normally open and only locks when voltage is applied to the clutch. While possible that it is locked in place with no voltage on the clutch, that is a low probability.

Mark