Ford 6610 steering problems.

Chssain

New User
Hello everyone,
New to the forum! Thanks for anyone's
future advise!
I recently purchased a 91 model 6610,
the previous owner told me it was having
steering problems and I got it at a
discount due to this. At time of purchase
the tractor wouldn't hardly steer at all.
You could top off the resivoure with atf
fluid and it would be hard to steer and
would quickly burp all the fluid out of the
cap.
The previous owner told me the tractor last
year was getting hard to steer. So they put
a new pump on it. This fixed the issue for
about 10 hours and then it started burping
all the fluid out and foaming up. They then
parked it untill the day I bought it.
So I pulled it in the shop and tinkered
with it. I read online about checking the
ps pump filter, so I pulled the can off the
pump to find it full of metal shavings.
This is a new pump but I guessed new pumps
could have issues too. Figure a seal was
out in the pump causing it to pump air in
the system.
So I put everything back together and
filled it with 10w40 just to get it out of
the shop. With the 10w40 it steered a
little better and didn't puke all the fluid
out.
But I went ahead and ordered a new pump for
it.
Before installing it I cleaned the lines on
the system the best i could. Put on new
pump, used 10w40 motor oil in it, fired
everything up and it steered great, for
about 10 hours, and now it is getting hard
to steer. And when backing up and turning
the wheel the wheels will try to go full
lock on their own unless you start turning
them the other way. So I thought maybe the
seals in the cylinder are bad?
I jacked the front of the tractor up and
you can grab the front tire and work the
wheels left to right fairly easy. Shouldn't
the cylinder hold the tires in one place
and not be able to work them back and
forth?
What are y'all opinions on what is going
on? I can't keep putting pumps on this
tractor every 10 hours! That gets costly!
Thanks
 
If you pulled the can off and found it "full of metal shavings", your first order of business should have been to remove and disassemble the cylinder to get all of the crap out of it as well. This is why most rebuilders of automatic transmissions will not warranty the rebuilt tranny unless you replace the oil cooler.
 
When I say full of metal shavings. It had a few small actual peices of metal, and the rest glistened in the light when shined on it. But yes I agree I should have done this. I just thought since the fuild is filtered on the return of that pump that the filter should have caught most of this stuff on the new pump.
So you think the new pump went to pot due to metal shavings from the last one?
 
It is all hydraulic. It is a MFWD tractor so the cylinder is a double acting ram built into the front axle housing.
 
If you got pieces of metal out of there, then in my mind something is coming apart in the steering cylinder. Yes, theoretically the filter should catch whatever comes out of there, but I would not leave that to chance.

If the metal chunk in question cannot be found within the pump, get that cylinder apart. Be sure to flush out the lines and cooler as well.
 
You're right, the steering motor should not be overlooked in this case, at a minimum from a system contamination perspective. That said, I've never seen one fail other than leaking seals. I have seen more than one cylinder fail, usually something like a broken piston, likely from the tires slamming into something hard.

To the OP: If you find the damage to be coming from the cylinder, once you put everything back together, leave the lines off going to the cylinder and cycle some clean fluid through the motor. If you do that, I don't see any further advantage to taking it apart to clean. Most people who do take those things apart usually wished they hadn't after the fact.
 
(quoted from post at 09:28:51 04/15/18) You're right, the steering motor should not be overlooked in this case, at a minimum from a system contamination perspective. That said, I've never seen one fail other than leaking seals. I have seen more than one cylinder fail, usually something like a broken piston, likely from the tires slamming into something hard.

To the OP: If you find the damage to be coming from the cylinder, once you put everything back together, leave the lines off going to the cylinder and cycle some clean fluid through the motor. If you do that, I don't see any further advantage to taking it apart to clean. Most people who do take those things apart usually wished they hadn't after the fact.

I appreciate this info. I will pull that cylinder apart tomorrow and see what I'm dealing with. Thank you
 
I can narrow it down, pump, control valve or cylinder.

I would not run anymore if filter is plugging with metal, one bad item will ruin the other two. Once you find issue the system needs flushed out good so more damage is not caused.
 
Well the cylinder all looks fine, and when I took it to the hydraulic shop I had a conversation with the owner of the shop. He is thinking that maybe the control valve isn't letting the fluid return back to the pump properly and casuing the pump to run constant pressure instead of making a loop. I am going to run the tractor to him tomorrow so he can take a look at it. ]
 
Hey guys,
I finnaly got some time to work in the tractor. The problem ended up being the steering motor. It was not allowing fluid to freely return to the pump. Thus causing the pump to pump constant pressure and over heat. I believe the inside of the steering motor was going to crap. My hydraulic guy figured that is where the metal shavings we're coming from because we took the pumps apart and they had some wear, and front seal blown. But nothing that would have thrown metal shavings.
So new steering motor, and another pump and I am back in business. Steering like a dream. Also pulled off all lines, and took cylinder apart.
Thank you all for the replies and the help!
 

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