UFlex steering Sucks!!!

[home made tunnel]

So I’ve bled and bled and bled.... I can’t win. I’m pissed.
I have the cheesy bay star steering on my red boat and it’s worked flawlessly. Hasn’t had to be bled in 3 years and it’s right as ever.
HOWEVER, This more “performance” uflex thing sucks!

When I’m talking Gallons bled through this system, I mean it! Completely bubble free for gallons—- and the ram is tight for 5 minutes. After resting for 5 minutes, it has almost 1/4” travel when pushing back and forth on the motor. On top of the 115proXS spongy motor mounts—- it makes a scary sloppy steering ride.

Who else had uflex problems?!

[89LASER]

I have it on my 22 Activator and love it, never had a problem bleeding it when I changed the hoses.

[V-bottom]

IMO the problem is with their helm not the cylinder. The check valves in the helm have too much "play" or "slop" to use in a high performance application. I took a video of the play and sent it to their engineering dept. Once he saw the issues I had described they told me to take it out of my boat and DO NOT use it in high performance applications....I have the emailed response somewhere. I took the steering out and put my seastar back in. I put the whole silvertar system in our ski boat so it is nice and easy to steer....almost as easy as power steering. But definitely not rated for anything over 60-70 mph. To give them the benefit of the doubt my Silverstar system was 2 or 3 years ago. Maybe they have improved it since then??

[Euroski]

The 2 systems(sea-star) on my past boats always had slight play but never had any control issues. One way to look at it the engine always has some torque loading the cylinder to one side. That's my 2 cents.

[XstreamVking]

I have several sea star pro systems in my boats. Newest one in my Stream, is 5 yrs old. Never touched. They are as tight as cable steering. They might have 1/16'' movement at center. I keep repeating that you need to fill the hoses BEFORE installing them in the boat. I learned that trick overseeing the rigging of one boat per day for years at a boat factory. Steering problems when arriving at the dealer went to zero. Most problems not mechanical in nature, are caused by a small amount of air in the hoses.

[home made tunnel]

Hmm. Helm issue aye? I think I bought this steering system about 2 years ago. It’s been a while until I got the boat out together.
I can say the effort to turn it is way less than the baystar/seastar systems.

[Greg G]

My U-flex has been perfect. Just my .02

[Fullthrottleguy]

My U-flex has been perfect. Just my .02

Same experience here - I put it on my 'stream in 2013 and it's been perfect all along, zero slop or need to re-bleed. You can let go of the wheel at +100 and it tracks dead straight. I have a seastar on my current boat and if anything it has more play.

[stokernick]

I have Uflex silverstar and love it, no issues!

[Radiant]

I have Uflex silver steer on my boat and no issues. I can let go of the week at Wot if I wanted to. I will say there is a tiny amount of play. 1/8" total. Haven't noticed any chine walking or handling issues because of it

[home made tunnel]

Looks like I'm part of the minority here then. It was well over a year ago that I purchased this, before the boat was done... I don't think returning it is an option at this point haha.

[checkmate45]

We have had a bleed issue on one Uflex hydraulic, I believe it was the system under silversteer.

It took about 6 times re-bleeding the steering before it took. We had to take the fill plug out of another system to fix the air leak issue

[home made tunnel]

We have had a bleed issue on one Uflex hydraulic, I believe it was the system under silversteer.

It took about 6 times re-bleeding the steering before it took. We had to take the fill plug out of another system to fix the air leak issue

I cant imagine the full plug is my issue. It was oozing a little fluid out the top right after reinstalling the filler cap. Like there was a teaspoon too much fluid.

[olboatman]

I cant imagine the full plug is my issue. It was oozing a little fluid out the top right after reinstalling the filler cap. Like there was a teaspoon too much fluid.
Hey HMT....why don't you try removing the hoses and filling them before reinstalling as XtremeVking has said. It makes since to me as you may have an air bubble trapped in a high spot. JMO
Gary

[Greg G]

Another thought is to take the boat on the trailer and push it up on a pair of ramps, then drop the tongue overnight. The trapped air might make it's way to the end.

[V-bottom]

Make sure the hoses don't have a loop or a high spot like a camels hump in them...this creates the air pocket. Make sure the hoses are as flat and level as possible. When I am bleeding the system I normally put 2-3 quarts clockwise rotation with cylinder the one way then 2-3 quarts thru counterclockwise with cylinder the other way then repeat 2-3 quarts thru side A again and 2-3 quarts thru side B again until there are no bubbles. Make sure you use the recommended oil. I only use the seastar hydraulic oil. It doesn't get the tiny air bubbles that you can get in "other" fluids that I tried. The other brand oil always had a few tiny air bubbles that just wouldn't go away.

[roadkill636]

Heres my lil trick that worked great for me. Instead of only one bleeder at a time into a jug and running the helm low. Tie a CLEAR18" hose from one bleeder to the other bleeder and open BOTH bleeders all the way open and start turning the steering wheel. You will see the fluid fill the line . Start very slow and once that air gets back to the helm it will rise to the top. Then the hosrs and cyl are full and you can turn the wheel faster. While the wife is turning the steering wheel continously you can push the mota from lock to lock side to side and see some air bubbles come thru the clear hose and go back to the helm. Try it. Its super easy and i leave the hose on there.

[XstreamVking]

If you have slop, you have air.....Fluid (as we all know) will not compress easily. Air on the other hand.......

[home made tunnel]

Hey HMT....why don't you try removing the hoses and filling them before reinstalling as XtremeVking has said. It makes since to me as you may have an air bubble trapped in a high spot. JMO
Gary


Another thought is to take the boat on the trailer and push it up on a pair of ramps, then drop the tongue overnight. The trapped air might make it's way to the end.


All good ideas - But I don't think I need to remove the lines. Because like I said, the steering ram was rock solid immediately after bleeding... Then 5 minutes later, it went wiggly again.
We did this 3 times before I got tired of refilling / transferring fluid from the back to the front. I use hoses and clean cups to catch it all.
The fluid was solid, no micro bubbles or anything.

Mayyyyybe one of the fittings at the rear is not sealing? or a seal on the cylinder is bad?

On a side note - - - My reservoir still splooges out some extra fluid Though the oring is tight and cap on with pliers (snug).

Anyone want a U-Flex steering system? :D

[home made tunnel]

Heres my lil trick that worked great for me. Instead of only one bleeder at a time into a jug and running the helm low. Tie a CLEAR18" hose from one bleeder to the other bleeder and open BOTH bleeders all the way open and start turning the steering wheel. You will see the fluid fill the line . Start very slow and once that air gets back to the helm it will rise to the top. Then the hosrs and cyl are full and you can turn the wheel faster. While the wife is turning the steering wheel continously you can push the mota from lock to lock side to side and see some air bubbles come thru the clear hose and go back to the helm. Try it. Its super easy and i leave the hose on there.

WOAH!!!! hMMM.......You sir may be on to something here..... So in this aspect, you really don't need to keep filling.... I like this idea !!!!

[Whaaaaat]

Or find someone with a power bleeder,
Have you tried turning the wheel past full slightly until it gets real tight then back off fast. Sometimes this helps, not sure if it's condensing micro bubbles or what but it seems to get air out.

[Whaaaaat]

also yours looks like the ram is higher than the helm. Try leaving overnight with the bow jacked way up. Any micro bubbles in the lines should end up in the helm and work out the vented cap or fill tube

[Krazymaan]

I just use my vacuum pump with a catch can to pull the fluid through. That seems to work and you can see the bubbles being drawn out, they don't have the chance to roll back in.

[kbahus]

Old post but relevant. I just installed the same system on my Triton/Merc 150 and have a similar amount of play as what was shown in your Youtube video in the ram. I also have a fair amount of dead travel in the steering wheel and a click sound when movement starts which I was not expecting with hydraulic steering. The click I am assuming is a check valve moving and might be normal for Uflex? I believe I have the system bled well, but before I continue were you able to get all of the play out of your system?