Full hydro steers by itself!

[TheNerple]

Well I got an orbital and such from Station and I've had a damn hard time getting it to work. When I turn the steering back and forth, there are times that once I start turning it, it will turn nearly to lock by itself and I have to physically grap the wheel to keep it from turning anymore! Also, if I turn it lock to lock back and forth at a normal pace it will go reasonably smoothly, but if I stop it along the stroke and go the other way, the wheel will sometimes turn about 1/4 turn before the orbital switches over and starts turning the ram. If I turn the steering wheel slowly it feels like it is grabbing and I have to jerk it passed the grab and then it will turn fine a little bit more. Does this sound like an air problem to you? I disconnected the ram from the axle so that the ports are facing up (as mounted they face out) and I cracked the lines at the ram and have been turning the steering wheel back and forth to get what little air there might be in there out. My orbital is mounted on the top of the frame right side up. The pump is just above that and the reservoir is hard mounted to the pump, just above it. I run a stock tacoma pump. In looking at the fluid when turning lock to lock it doesn't go down that much so I know the pump isn't sucking air when the ram is fully extended. I am using a single ended ram and the hoses go straight up to the orbital with no flat spots in the lines. Should I drill out the restrictor plate so it has full flow through the pump? I've cracked the lines at the orbital to get air out of the orbital so I don't think there is any there. I did have to snub the ram from 6 inches to 4 3/4 inches. I did this externally by getting a piece of tube that the shaft fits into, so that when the ram compresses it will not compress internally all the way. I wonder if that will not allow the air to completely bleed out. Anyway I'm going to take the ram off and disconnect the lines from it and bleed it manually to see if that helps. Anyone got any other suggestions. I've followed the bleeding instructions from BillaVista and from Howe until I am blue in the face with no success. Suggestions?
Thanks

[convertiyota]

Might be a good idea to take off the clevis and the limiting tube you put on and try bleeding it like that while it has full throw.

[TheNerple]

Have you had any problems with your pump overheating with the drilled out restrictor plate? Does it cavitate the pump? I had overheating issues when I tried this mod when I had hydro-assist using a toyota box, but it might be different with an orbital?

[redruM]

sounds like not enough flow to me

[EMIEVEL]

Just an update in case anyone else will experience this problem.
Erik swapped out the orbital as Sean advised and it is working beautifully! Turned out the orbital itself has something wrong with it. Thanks Sean.

[bgreen]

Good work guys...

Station is the man! And really wants to make sure his customers get what they pay for. When I bought a remote res and filter, and hooked it up backward on my Performance Off-Road hydro system, I had all kinds of fluid pouring out everywhere. Station stayed with me until I got it figured out, even though its really hard to trouble shoot that kind of stuff over the phone and via email.

(yes, I can tell the difference between the inlet and outlet of the res, but somewhere along the line I bought two of the wrong fittings, and in the rush of wanting to play with my new toy, I didn't check where I was putting the lines. Stupid eh?!)