Final note on the power steering
 

I did my first mowing today and although the CC steered very well it was not the twirl and go I had expected. I watched the spindle on each side to see if it hit the steering axle stop and they did not. That meant that stroke of the ram was not enough to reach the two stops. I grabbed a couple of wrenches and moved the ram spindle bolt to the outer hole which is about a 1/2 inch away, or closer to the wheel, and boy did that change everything! The steering is very quick now and the spindles hit the stops as they should. Who would have ever dreamed that a 1/2 inch could be that important?:beerchug:

Nice job on a getting it dailed in!

What Duke said!

Rudy,
Great thread on adding the PS to your Cub. Like lots of other projects not for the weak of heart. You did a nice job documenting your work and some of the challenges you had finding and or making/ improvising parts.
I was interested in this thread if I was to build a articulated Cub.
Regards,
Chris

Power steering opens up new areas of concern
 

Thanks for the props and I hope any of you that want to add ps will call on me for help. With my old steering I never noticed the wobble in my two front tires/wheels before. Now with ps it is obvious that there was some play in the system. It turned out to be the four bearings. They were not real bad but with ps they made it feel sloppy when going straight ahead on pavement. I'll up date the results when I get the new bearings in. I will list my costs so that any of you that are considering the conversion can see where you might be able to save some money.

1. PS valve from a JD 318 $125
2. Hoses and fittings $125
3. 1862 axle and spindles $125
4. PS valve bracket $30
5. Hyd ram with hoses $125
6. Old steering column $20
7. Two heim joints for ram $20
8. Four new bearings $60
___
Total $630
1. sold steering column -$ 90
2. Old axle and parts (-$100)
______
Total out of pocket costs $440

As you can see if you already have some of the parts you can save money.
The JD PS valve must be a five port model and they usually are cheaper than CC and are the same. The valve was from a tilt wheel model and so it had a short shaft. That's where the old steering column came in. Rich at Patton's acres gave me a box of hard lines that I could have used but it would have been much harder to route them than nice flexible hoses. BTW, I mailed them back to Rich so they are available if you purchase from Rich, maybe. I would not recommend using any of the 3/4 inch spindles since you can really put a lot of pressure on the steering system while sitting still or in the mud where you get a lot of resistance to the turning. With the short shaft on the valve you have to figure out a way to align the new shaft and the old one. The old one has only about two inches exposed so it is challenging to get them true. I cut the old column tube and spliced it onto the short one on the ps valve. I cut four short vertical slots into the new column and pushed it on to the old one and welded it closed. I tried a tailpipe expander but the tube would not budge.It is really self explaining once you get into it and only becomes an assembly issue. I do not understand why other non ps front axles will not work. I did not see any big difference with my OEM and the 1862 I bought. The steering arm on another model might have to be beefed up a little but I just didn't see any significant difference. I will never get my money back but when you are using the tractor is makes it all worth while. For some reason when I submit this article it will not maintain the columns that I so neatly typed. I am not dyslexic! :beerchug:

New question that I have about PS
 

I have a steering knob on my wheel that was left over from my mechanical steering days and I have noticed that it may start out at the 10 o'clock position and end up at the 5 o'clock at the end of the day. What is happening? I do not know enough about the PS valve to figure it out.:bigthink:

Rudy

The steering wheel changing position is just one of those things you will have to live with. The reason is that the valve is not conected with a drag ling and the internals slip a little. All my Supers and my Kubota BX do the same thing.

Yep, the steering wheel can go beyond normal position compared to a non P/S unit. Hence the reason I took my steering knob off of my BRS. It ended up all over the place. The only way I can think of maybe keeping it from moving is to not go lock to lock on the steering and keep applying pressure while turning.

There is a spec on the amount of slip in the "pump"
( that is what it is actually called)--- usually so many degrees in a certain time.
Since there is no direct connection in what we refer to as a "steering gear" it is normal.
If you hold it all the way to the L.or R it will continue to turn, ever so little.
Many many fully Hyd ag/industrial steering systems work that way.
it's perfectly normal,and expected

Whew!
 

Thanks for the explanation guys. I was waiting for the reason to be that I needed a valve overhaul. Actually it is turning out to be a blessing because it makes me use either hand instead of my left only. One last thing to ask you experts is can a front axle that does not have bushings for the spindles be bored out and bushings added? The only slop or play that I have left is in that area and I would like to fix it if it can be done cheaply. My old 1811 axle has bushings and it would seem that the only issue would be getting the spindle holes bored out. What do you think? Also, why does my steering wheel turn the wheels when the engine is not on? Where does the connection between the steering wheel and the spindle come from?