For those of you who don't frequent the Tractor Talk section

...I posted this http://ytforums.ytmag.com/viewtopic.php?t=672518
about the power steering conversion I did on my 202 over the weekend. Everything turned out better than expected, I can steer with one finger with a bucket full of gravel! My lawn tractor seems hard to steer in comparison now.

Congradulations! I tried something like you did on my Cockshutt 540... you know the old saying " the best way to break something is to fix something that isn't broken"- OK, I made that one up a couple years ago. I lost all power to the 4 way valve, no difference in the steering, and of course couldn't get the loader off the ground anyway. Only recently got it all sorted out, loader hydraulics isn't tapped into, ended up trying to repair the old Cessna pump off the fanbelt again, the 'power assist' was the steering column torgue generator? as long as the engine is above idle, it will help me steer, like you said- 55 year old technology. Next project I will try one of the diverters you put on, as long as you think is was a good idea.. good job!

Hi Tony,
Yes, the diverter valve is a good idea. How it works is it gives the power steering priority over the loader and is adjustable from 2 to 7 GPM to fine tune it. Different models flow more or less. All the remaining flow is sent to the front end loader controls. It did slow down the loader a bit but when the engine is at operating RPM it's barely noticeable. I was able to tweak it so that the steering gets optimal flow and no hesitation in the steering at all and the loader works just fine.
Originally my tractor had a ball screw type steering which was the same as what was in the manual steered MF 35 tractors. Some of them had an assist which was more or less like a torque generator and put the extra force in at the steering shaft. The 202 and one of the 35 models, the utility tractor I believe had actual hydraulic cylinders up at the front where they do the most good. They were controlled by a valve that was part of the steering column. All parts are available to return it to factory condition but it is very expensive and in my opinion un-necessary as my tractor is for work not for show. When I got the tractor someone had removed the hydraulic cylinders from the front along with the hoses and left the ports on the control valve open allowing water to get in and ruin the valve. I used it for almost a year like that but because of the front end loader putting so much weight on the front, steering was not only difficult, but darn near impossible with a bucket full of gravel. I ended up destroying the steering shaft and actually cracking most of the ball bearings in the recirculating assembly in half just from the excess torque I had to put on the steering wheel to steer it. I kept hearing/feeling this crunching when I turned the wheel and all of a sudden one day I had no steering. Most of the balls had broken and fallen out. I rebuilt it once, the steering shaft is about $180 and used it 'till the middle of this summer. It started to go again. That's when I decided that I had to do something about the power steering. A torque generator would have been simpler but it would not have solved the problem as it would have put even more torque on the steering shaft than it was intended for.

The diverter was about $90 from surplus center and I don't think it would have worked properly without it.

Yep, sounds like my cockshutt, torque generator on the column, and if you run them dry too long, that's it. A loader without down pressure can't even begin to point herself without power steering eh? Like I try to tell people, tractors with no ps with old fashioned manure loaders were designed to pick up a bucket of manure, and nothing more. $90 sounds like a good risk for the next project, good luck with it!

Yup, you got it. It's so nice to be able to put the tractor and the bucket of gravel exactly where I want it, not wherever it wanders to.
Good luck with your project if you decide to go through with it. I will answer whatever I can for you.