Raymarine Smart pilot X5-R repair?

[EKoselny]

The best lubricant is sea water... Take it out to 200' of water, drop it overboard and don't look back!!

 

Seriously though, I tries several times with different lubricants and greases and none of them helped my unit. The steering wheel got so tight I could barely turn it. I removed mine and replaced it with an octopus drive unit and its works so much better and is so much quieter. Definitely money well spent.  

[Bad Habit]

Interesting thread. I bought a Penn Yan last year with the same auto pilot. The steering is really hard but never thought about that being the problem. Do I need to take the whole unit off the steering column to see if that is the issue or can I just disengage it somehow? I don't have any experience with this unit.

[EKoselny]

IF you pull the safety pin on the bottom of the unit you should be able to turn the steering wheel and the drive unit will turn with it. If the steering is easy doing this then you know its the drive unit causing the problem

[Bad Habit]

 Thanks, I'll give that a try.

[Bad Habit]

  I pulled the safety pin today; sure enough, the steering works fine. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I'll probably try to take it off and lubricate it. If that doesn't work what is involved in replacing it with an Octopus drive unit? What can I expect as far as cost? 

[Sealegs]

I had the same problem, was scary to dock the boat while putting everything I had to turn the helm.  If you’ve already got hydraulic steering a pump is the way to go IMO

[EKoselny]

Quote

I replaced my Raymarine helm drive unit with an Octopus drive. I got it used off from someone on this site for $500. It sucks to spend that money to fix something that already cost of lot of money, but in the end it was worth it. With the Octopus drive you just have to make sure you have enough room behind the dash to install it. I had very little room so I had to get creative. I also had to move a lot of wire harnesses out of the way to make room to get it in. But after all of that it is really not that hard to install. However, depending on which Raymarine control unit you have, you may not have an output from the controller to power the clutch on the Octopus drive. I had to add an extra switch next to my P70r display to engage the clutch. The reduced amount of noise is also a really nice bonus as well. 

 

[Bad Habit]

 outback kennels 2, What did you use to grease the unit? I figured I would give it a try. The unit is no good like it is so I have nothing to lose.

[Tondi]

SUCCESS AT LAST! Raymarine eventually advised me to lubricate the spring with 'Copperslip', a type of grease used in car brake assemblies.

And it worked - my Smartpilot now is so easy to turn.

This grease is very thin, almost watery, but much more effective than the other greases I have tried.

[Bad Habit]

That,s great!! Where did you get the Copperslip? is it a spray or solid? I'll try anything at this point. Did you take the spring right out of the unit or just take the cover off and put it on?

[Tondi]

I took the spring out - I had to clean off all the other grease I had put on it previously.

Bought the Copperslip in a small tube from a car accessory shop. It is like a thin watery sort of grease, not very sticky like most others.

The spring is a pain to put back on - I used 2 screwdrivers to gradually work the spring back, working from one end.

Raymarine said to use it sparingly to avoid contaminating other parts.

[Bad Habit]

Thanks for the info. I found this on Amazon. Does this look like the same stuff? https://www.amazon.com/COPASLIP-High-Temperature-Anti-Seize-Compound-100g/dp/B00AFTGN0M
 

I’ll just have to figure out how to take it apart. 
 

[Tondi]

Yes that's the stuff, or one brand of it. I think several companies make it.

[Bad Habit]

 Tried the Copaslip today. Unfortunately, it didn't help the binding at all, but my Grandson did learn a few new words while I was trying to get that spring back in!!! 

[Tondi]

That's a pity. It did make such a huge difference to my steering.

Did you take the spring off and grease the hub as well as the spring?

Judging by your grandson's newly expanded vocabulary you probably did!

Sorry it didn't work for you.

[Bad Habit]

 I did grease the hub and spring. I also greased the worm gear and all the brass parts that had any contact with moving parts. I wish I knew which parts were binding.

[Tondi]

It's the spring binding on the hub surely?