raymarine st400+ tiller pilot ram dissembly

[Birdseye]

I would like to strip and service this ram but cannot find any instructions on how to do this. What I get from google is mostly about wheel pitots and the limited comments on tiller versions are mostly people like me asking for help.

So has anyone taken one to bits and if so - how?

To avoid any misunderstanding it looks like this

 

[Kwik Decision]

We have an ST 4000 tiller pilot, with the ram exactly like you have referenced. I partially disassembled ours this spring, while on a buoy off Sark. This was after hand steered across the chanel, as George gave high current draw alarms, and stopped several times. There was nothing obvious wrong, but I cleaned and re-lubricated the moving parts, and it has been fine both coming back across the chanel, and more recently on our cruise to the West Country.

I didn't take any photos while doing so, unfortunately, but it was relatively straightforward.

Starting at the back, the bit where the cable comes out:
1. undo the plastic nut / grommet which holds the cable
2. unscrew the back bit, with the pin which goes into the deck (wear rubber gloves to get a good grip of the aluminium tube?). This then slides down the cable, and I think the motor comes out. Otherwise, unscrew the next section.
3. from the other end, ideally you would use a C spanner with pins to unscrew the plastic end where the ram emerges. Falling that, mole grips with some rag to prevent damage to the plastic worked for me.

As said, all the above exposed enough of the workings to get everything cleaned, and I then re-lubricated with teflon lube as I re-assembled.

Hope this is helpful!

 

[Birdseye]

Thanks. Just what I needed.

To go a bit further, does your system autotack on both tacks? Mine will happily autotack to stbd but wont to port. I have heard said that this is down to a gybe prevention software issue but I'm not sure. If your does work, do you have the wind system plugged in to the pilot?

 

[Kwik Decision]

Yes, we have the wind instrument as part of our set up, and George sails very well to a specific wind angle, provided the boat is reasonably well balanced. We don't use the autotack feature I'm afraid, and so can't comment on that.

 

[earlybird]

My ST4000 Tillerpilot, connected to ST60 Wind, autotacked both ways.
I've a pdf for ST4000 maintenance, covering both wheel and tiller autopilots inc. exploded views. If you'd like a copy, pm me your email address.