SMTA power steering

I'm working on a SMTA and I've got a Behlen power steering unit from a 400 laying on the bench that I'm thinking would work great on the SMTA. The SMTA has live power and live hydraulics but no PS. When this behlen unit was on the 400 it ran off its own pump stacked behind the live hyd pump in front of the distributor. My question is could I use the behlen torque generator and plumb it into the SMTAs existing live system instead of adding a second pump and resivior ? And how would I go about plumbing it? Hope this question makes sense. Thanks for the help!

easy Run the pressure hose from pump the a pipe T at the Behlen pressure in port, put a relief valve on other side of the T, SET AT ABOUT 1300PSI so you do not blow the behlen. run the hose from the valve to the reservoir fill. Run the out hose from behlen to the pressure port on the reservoir. supply line to pump stays as is.

You will need a priority flow divider valve out of the pressure port of the pump, with the priority port plumbed to the torque generator pressure port and a return line from the TG to the reservoir. The secondary port of the PFDV is plumbed to the rest of the system, where it originally came from the pump.
This is the way you do not lose your PS when you operate an implement cylinder... you always have steering first.

you don't need a priority flow divider valve. Just do it the way I said. If don't under stand please again!!!

(quoted from post at 03:44:11 04/06/14) You will need a priority flow divider valve out of the pressure port of the pump, with the priority port plumbed to the torque generator pressure port and a return line from the TG to the reservoir. The secondary port of the PFDV is plumbed to the rest of the system, where it originally came from the pump.
This is the way you do not lose your PS when you operate an implement cylinder... you always have steering first.

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Yes, the priority flow divider is what you need.

You do not need priority flow divider valve. Call me 402 960 8159.

(quoted from post at 06:10:10 04/06/14) you don't need a priority flow divider valve. Just do it the way I said. If don't under stand please again!!!

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It may work half-a**ed that way, but it won't work right. Didn't work 25 years in a hydraulics company engineering department without learning something.

I do not agree with Aces on the importance of a priority valve. It is true you do not NEED one, but you will lose steering when you use the other hydraulics, so you will WANT one.

No no no no you will loose hydro gal's because of the flow divider, if the flow divider takes 3 gal,s you loose 3 if it takes 4 you loose 4. This is all I ever did back in the 60,70. Things change today right and left not this.

(quoted from post at 16:28:55 04/06/14) No no no no you will loose hydro gal's because of the flow divider, if the flow divider takes 3 gal,s you loose 3 if it takes 4 you loose 4. This is all I ever did back in the 60,70. Things change today right and left not this.

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I don't know what the flow rate of the SMTA pump is, but unless it drops below 5 or 6gpm at idle, you should still have some left for the hydraulics. You should need 3 to 3.5 for the PS and you will still have some left. I have a Char-Lynn and PFDV on my 240U and I do lose my 3 point at an idle, but do not lose steering. However, I my guess is the SMTA pump is higher capacity than the 240 pump, so you should not lose your hydraulic system flow. I keep my rpms above about 1/3 throttle and I'm okay, it's just at or near idle, but the 240 pump is pretty small. If you were idled down and did not have the PFDV, you might very well lose your PS and that could be more dangerous than losing the rest of the hydraulics. My company made PFDVs for just this type of system. I am not aware of any tractors that used them, but I know of combines that did... you always wanted steering first, even when at idle. also, I would be worried about the steering locking up with pressure on the return line of the TG when you operate the remote hydraulics.... you would basically have 0 operating pressure if you had the same pressure on the inlet as the outlet of the TG while lifting something with the hydraulic system.

Jim Nicholson,

Can you chime in on this?

I have installed a Char-lynn powersteering on my SMTA and I used a Flow divider to control the flow of oil to the powersteering unit. I have a 2000 loader on the tractor and it works great. I have a couple extra new flow divider valves on hand. I have not taken the heat houser off yet this spring, weather man is talking like we may see 70's on Wednesday or Thursday, so I will be removing soon. I then will be able to take a few pictures if that will help. My e-mail is open. Charlie U.

What flow rate was the divider set to?

If I remember correcly it was 3 gpm. That's what most powersteering systems require for correct operation. Charlie U.

Give the power steering its dedicated pump and you will never regret it! We had a farmall 400 with a flow divider for the power steering and 75% of the time the power steering did not get enough oil flow. Their is a reason that the tractor mfgs. gave their tractors and combines dedicated power steering pumps. Armand

Some pictures would be great if you get a chance. The only problem with the dedicated pump is that the way it's mounted on the donor 400 I'd have to take the oil filter off to get the distributor cap off. Maybe that's ok but the spark plug wires really have to bend around and are always in contact with the oil filer assembly.

why a pump when all you need is a bypass valve, then you have full gallons to steering and hydraulics!!

With dedicated pumps you will have full flow to both systems without the flow divider/bypass valve to mess things up. I have over 50 years working with tractors, combines, backhoes, and trucks. The diverter valve on the farmall 400 with the factory installed Behlen power steering never did work very well and seemed to be a problem with most 400's with that setup. I have backhoes that had 3 hydraulic pumps that were connected together and that made trouble shooting a real problem! I much prever dedicated pumps any day as opposed to a single pump trying to do it all. Armand

Aces, I think what you describe is connecting the power steering and the SMTA hydraulic system in SERIES.

True, that will give you pressure, but it will not give you full volume because the flow through the Behlen is only 3GPM.

The factory pump on the SMTA is 12GPM.

(quoted from post at 12:10:35 04/07/14) Aces, I think what you describe is connecting the power steering and the SMTA hydraulic system in SERIES.

True, that will give you pressure, but it will not give you full volume because the flow through the Behlen is only 3GPM.

The factory pump on the SMTA is 12GPM.

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I agree, trying to force 12 gpm thru a TG rated for 3 gpm and you will have a lot of back pressure. A 1300psi relief valve teed off ahead of the TG will not relieve any flow... only thing that will is a priority flow divider valve. What will be happening with the 1300 psi relief is this.... whatever pressure it takes to force 12 gpm thru the TG will be subtracted from what is available for the rest of the system, so if it takes for example 4 to 500 psi to push the 12 gpm thru there, you may only have 8-900 left to lift an implement. You always have pressure drops thru a system, but you need to keep it as low as possible.
Now, if the pump is rated 12 gpm at full throttle, and you have a PFDV feeding 3 to the PS, at idle, you are not going to have much if any left when the engine is idled way down (same problem I have with my 240U), Best option really is a dedicated PS pump, but still the PFDV is the way to go if you do not mount a dedicated pump.
I got into a big argument with a young lady engineer we had one time over just this kind of thing when she was not seeing the pressure she expected downstream of a stack valve (she thought everyone was trying to pull the wool over her eyes because she was female). Later she came back and apologized and admitted I was right (probably after talking to a more experienced engineer). She was trying to dump a loaded accumulator back thru the valve and it was momentarily way too much flow than the valve was designed to handle and I told her that's where her loss was.