Originally Posted by inspectorudy (Post 126144)

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:

Originally Posted by inspectorudy (Post 129755)

I was told that I would need a different axle for the conversion so that's what I did. Rich at Patton's told me that I could also use a JD power steering valve which was true. I listened to the guys that have a lot more knowledge than I did. One thing I do know is that the 1862 axle has a better turn range than my 1811 axle did. With PS it is so easy to turn that you need all of the turning range that you can get. To me it would seem that your axles are the same in size since they are from the same basic model. The PS lever arm that sits atop the spindle on the left side has to be of a certain strength because of the pressure imparted to it especially standing still in mud or deep dirt. No matter how the wheel is mired it will turn! The arm on the 1862 spindle was much beefier than the OEM one on my 1811. The only negative I found on the 1862 was that it did not come with bushings on the spindles. My spindles are a little wobbly and there is nothing I can do about it except bore out the axle and add bushings. I asked if anyone had done this but got no reply. Good luck with your project and I will be glad to help you any way I can. :beerchug: