With the holiday season fast coming to a close many owner drivers may be completing maintenance tasks on their trucks.
Air entrapment can occur if the hydraulic circuit is broken in any fashion. The circuit could be broken during routine maintenance or due to inadequate / worn hose clamps on the suction line of the hydraulic reservoir which could allow air to be sucked into the system.
Prior to fixing the air problem by performing a hydraulic steering system bleed identify the source of the air and rectify that issue.
If the air is not bleed out correctly the steering will begin to behave strangely, potentially beginning to baulk or kick back through the steering wheel.
Unfortunately every vehicle configuration is different, but the basics of hydraulic steering system bleeding are the same.
In the case of difficult to bleed configurations Hydrosteer have developed a series of tools, techniques and upgrades which help get the job done, for instance 9916-7566-01 Cylinder head for M110 Series steering gear with Hydraulic Power Steering Bleeding port. This port is specifically designed to allow the air to escape in particularly challenging vehicle configurations.
Our partners at R.H. Sheppard have provided us with a short video (below) which runs through the basic steps. Although the video shows R.H. Sheppard equipment the basic principles are applicable to all makes and models of steering gear.
They show us how to bleed a master gear only configuration and a master/slave gear configuration.
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