I'm sitting here thinking about ways to add power steering to an older, wide-front tractor. I've seen some compact tractors that use what is, for all practical purposes, a power-assisted rack and pinion setup. So, I'm thinking that a power rack and pinion from a pickup would be fairly easy to adapt. What do y'all think? Any of you ever done it? 8)
- Thread starter mj
- Start date
There was a gentleman who posted here a while back (and was local to my area) who did add on power steering on a couple of his case tractors.. I recall he used a belt driven pump, but cannot think of what he used to make it steer.. Seems like he mounted a steering box off of a old car or truck somewhere other than stock location on the tractor.
Not sure if he still posts/lurks here, or what he even used to use for a handle back then. I haven't even seen him around at shows or auctions in the area in the past few years.
Another possibility would be to go to full hydraulic steering like a combine would use.. Pretty easy to set up, in most cases. Have saw it done on several off-road 4x4 trucks, and currently have all the pieces except lines to do it to my off-roader.
Brad
farmerwithmutt
Well-known Member
We had a behlan unit out of a 450 mounted on
our m and that worked nice. Check around you
might find a parts tractor with a unit on it
that you could put in. There were a lot of
add on units sold back in the day i worked
for a guy that had one on a 60 john deere
unfortunately that liked to lock up also the
brakes did to so if you want a real
adventure go off a hill with a full load of
hay first thing the steering locks up with
the tires at the wrong angle then one brake
locks up almost had a sanitary problem when
i hit the bottom. It was nice back in the
day when you were young and dumb
our m and that worked nice. Check around you
might find a parts tractor with a unit on it
that you could put in. There were a lot of
add on units sold back in the day i worked
for a guy that had one on a 60 john deere
unfortunately that liked to lock up also the
brakes did to so if you want a real
adventure go off a hill with a full load of
hay first thing the steering locks up with
the tires at the wrong angle then one brake
locks up almost had a sanitary problem when
i hit the bottom. It was nice back in the
day when you were young and dumb
Power steering is not that hard to accomplish. It mostly depends what "older wide front" tractor you are working with as to wich direction to go.
3/4 ton pickups have power steering boxes, all the different variations of rack and pinions that are available from the junk yard, Char-lynn torque generators, full hydrostatic setups...
There are many options, just need to look at what you have and what is the easiest/cheapest way to get there.
3/4 ton pickups have power steering boxes, all the different variations of rack and pinions that are available from the junk yard, Char-lynn torque generators, full hydrostatic setups...
There are many options, just need to look at what you have and what is the easiest/cheapest way to get there.
BarnyardEngineering
Well-known Member
- Location
- Rochester, NY
Cheapest way to power steering is to find a junk tractor the same model as yours with power steering, buy the whole tractor for junk price, and transfer the parts over.
Easiest (but not cheapest) is to go with a hydraulic cylinder and hand pump, like most tractors do these days. It's fairly easy to hang a cylinder off the front axle, attach the tierods to it, mount the hand pump in place of the steering column, and run a few hoses, if you have some fabrication skills.
Easiest (but not cheapest) is to go with a hydraulic cylinder and hand pump, like most tractors do these days. It's fairly easy to hang a cylinder off the front axle, attach the tierods to it, mount the hand pump in place of the steering column, and run a few hoses, if you have some fabrication skills.
We had hydrostatic steering put on our AR 50 model John Deere back in about 80 when the steering shaft broke and no parts were avaible. The controls and cylinder were used from a blue Ford combine as that is what was avaible at that time and a belt driven steering pump off of a car. When from a hard to steer wabble all the time tractor to one you could steere with one finger and no front wheel wabble. Local shop did the work.
Gene Davis (Ga.)
Well-known Member
I have an add on power steering unit I took off a 650 John Deere Compact diesel if you are interested. It runs off the tractor hydraulics with no separate pump needed. It goes in the drag link between the steering gear and the front spindle arm. If interested; E-mail me
@ [email protected] Remove the 3 x's at the end of the address when writing. All lower case letters and put power steering in the subject line.
Gene Davis Tennille, Ga.
@ [email protected] Remove the 3 x's at the end of the address when writing. All lower case letters and put power steering in the subject line.
Gene Davis Tennille, Ga.
Tracy Brown
Member
I have read several articles about adding electric power steering like came out on some Saturn and GM cars. Found the parts and controller on ebay very reasonable priced. Watched some conversions on youtube also. It looks to be an electric torque generator type unit.
And here's a nice clean modification to an AC motor grader.
Solution to the bad AC model D grader steering
Solution to the bad AC model D grader steering
Texasmark1
Well-known Member
I bought the Turkish after market and put it on my Ford 3000. It took a little tweaking of mounting positions to get it to suit me but that's all
done and I like it very much. If interested just do a www search for after market tractor power steering systems.
done and I like it very much. If interested just do a www search for after market tractor power steering systems.
Like some guys have eluded to,you just need a self actuating cylinder like some combines used. A Massey 300 comes to mind. My Fiat built Oliver uses one. You'd just have to hook it to a tie rod or drag link. As soon as you start to turn it,the valve is actuated by the movement and the cylinder assists it.
I have been figuring how to add PS to my old JD430 for years. You can sometimes find one off of a parted out tractor for about $1200 or more. I took one of the power activating drag links off of a JD95 combine along with the cylinder to move the tie rods. Have it hanging in my shde and do some measuring once in a while and lots of thinking. I am not sure how the rack and pinion you mentioned works. I have a friend who used a steering motor right ahead of the steering wheel on a M Farmall but a lot of fitting and planning
Texasmark1
Well-known Member
That's the same way the Turkish units sense.
Texasmark1
Well-known Member
Heads up on that.
I had a PS pump go out on an early '60's vintage 4000 Ford which had dual cylinders. Didn't have the funds for the real thing so I went to the
junk yard and got a pump from a Ford sub compact and adapted it. It didn't do well and I finally realized that it was designed for a single
cylinder and I had two therefore even though I sized the pulleys as best I could considering what I had to work with, I needed twice the volume
to make a normal turn. I took it off.
I had a PS pump go out on an early '60's vintage 4000 Ford which had dual cylinders. Didn't have the funds for the real thing so I went to the
junk yard and got a pump from a Ford sub compact and adapted it. It didn't do well and I finally realized that it was designed for a single
cylinder and I had two therefore even though I sized the pulleys as best I could considering what I had to work with, I needed twice the volume
to make a normal turn. I took it off.
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