TheBurningRom
New User
I've been lurking on this forum for a while now, but I finally have a question that I can't find the answer to, so I figured I'd post and see if anyone has any advice on this issue.
I picked up a 1975 John Deere 2630 a few months ago with about 1750 hours on the clock. It spent most of the first month I had it sitting around while I gathered some obvious parts that were needed. Then the last month and a half was spent rebuilding the seat assembly with all new (and not cheap at all) bushings. Now that it's back together though, I did some work with it last weekend and noticed the steering was a bit off. It seemed slow to react to direction change. My dad seemed to think it was always slow (even when not changing direction) and that it takes almost 1/4 turn before the tie-rod/wheels will actually move. To me, it seemed like it was only slow to react when changing directions (going from left to right or visa versa). If you wanted to keep turning the wheel the same way, it was responsive, though this doesn't work well when you need to drive down a straight road and keep the tractor going straight.
I know the system is hydraulic at the column to a manual linkage that runs up to the front. It doesn't look like there is play in the linkage, so I'm thinking it is an issue with the column. I also know that the tractor could use a fluid change. I haven't checked the level yet, but the hydraulics on the FEL seem slow to come up to pressure (they chatter) until the engine is throttled up a bit, and I lost the loader once when I was parked on a steep grade. I have 10 gallons of hygard and a new filter to put in, but I'd like to figure out if the column needs to be rebuild first so I can rebuild that and change the fluid at the same time. I'm also going to remove the extra hoses hanging off the back when I change the fluid and also remove the weird T they put in for one of those hoses. They Tee'd it off of the connection on the bottom right side where the loader is also plumbed in.
I'm open to suggestions or things to look at.
I picked up a 1975 John Deere 2630 a few months ago with about 1750 hours on the clock. It spent most of the first month I had it sitting around while I gathered some obvious parts that were needed. Then the last month and a half was spent rebuilding the seat assembly with all new (and not cheap at all) bushings. Now that it's back together though, I did some work with it last weekend and noticed the steering was a bit off. It seemed slow to react to direction change. My dad seemed to think it was always slow (even when not changing direction) and that it takes almost 1/4 turn before the tie-rod/wheels will actually move. To me, it seemed like it was only slow to react when changing directions (going from left to right or visa versa). If you wanted to keep turning the wheel the same way, it was responsive, though this doesn't work well when you need to drive down a straight road and keep the tractor going straight.
I know the system is hydraulic at the column to a manual linkage that runs up to the front. It doesn't look like there is play in the linkage, so I'm thinking it is an issue with the column. I also know that the tractor could use a fluid change. I haven't checked the level yet, but the hydraulics on the FEL seem slow to come up to pressure (they chatter) until the engine is throttled up a bit, and I lost the loader once when I was parked on a steep grade. I have 10 gallons of hygard and a new filter to put in, but I'd like to figure out if the column needs to be rebuild first so I can rebuild that and change the fluid at the same time. I'm also going to remove the extra hoses hanging off the back when I change the fluid and also remove the weird T they put in for one of those hoses. They Tee'd it off of the connection on the bottom right side where the loader is also plumbed in.
I'm open to suggestions or things to look at.