Hydraulic steering question

We got a 900 versatile that was steering erratic, unhooked the four steering hoses to the two cylnders ( 2 per cylnder ) and plugged a cylnder one at a time into the remote outlet to determine which cylnder or if steering motor is bad. Determined its the left cylnder, so heres the question. If we hook the two steering hoses from the steering wheel to the good cylinder should i cap the other two hoses from the steering wheel to the bad cylnder or put a loop hose to the two steering wheel hoses? I know we should just change the cylinder but we are up against some weather and i want to run off the steering wheel instead of the remote lever, just worried if i plug the hoses i might blow something out. Thanks for any input.

Might blow the remaining good cyl.
Frank

Yea, thought of that, but we are just using it to pull out combines, so its driving empty.

Capping them would probably be bad, looping them could work.

Can the remaining cylinder effectively operate the tractor in the field? It might work fine in the yard, but I suspect it has 2 cylinders for a reason.

Unless the cylinder is bent, I would think you would be better off leaving it in the system. Afterall, a leaking cylinder will work better than none at all.

If I read and understood your question correctly- Putting a loop between the hoses that are still hooked to the steering motor, but unhooked from the bad cyl., will effectively bypass any power going to your remaining cyl- NO steering.

If you loop them together then you effectively create the same condition you have now with the bad cylinder since all that is happening now is the oil is bypassing the seal on the piston. If you plug them then you stand a chance of blowing something up, depending on how they are actually plumbed to start with. Like another post suggested turning that beast is going to take alot of power that"s the reason there are two cylinders to begin with and eleminating one cylinder will open up the possibility of bending the rod on just one. Usually in a situation like that all you need to do is pull the rod end of the bad cylinder loose, take the head off and pull the rod out. Leave the rest of the cylinder hanging. From there it"s just a matter of getting the right seals and installing them. Why not next day the seal kit from the OEM or where ever, and do it right in about the time you"ve spend asking how to do it "not right"? While your at it you might as well get seals and do the other side too. Remember every time the one works the other one does to so it"s probably about time to do it too. Better proactive than reactive because reactive always bites you in the a$$ at the worst time. Good luck.

Wayne, NOT to worry!

The cylinders are in PARALLEL.

They are cross-connected so pressure/flow moving one in moves the other out.

If he caps the supply lines to one cylinder, NOTHING bad will happen, other than the steering will be twice as "fast" 'cause the oil displaced by one cylinder will be half as much.

The Ross steering valve only has 2 outputs, "Right" and "Left", which are "tee'd to the two cylinders.

I can even post a hydraulic schematic, if needed, to clear things up.

Our older Versatile 145 only had ONE cylinder. Some got retro-fitted to a second one, the result being the steering was twice as slow "lock-to-lock".

If cylinders are tee'd together as Bob stated then I agree with him to cap the 2 unused hoses.

Thanks for the replies, guess i didnt have the right fittings to cap them anyway, just running the good cylnder off the rear remote for now, sounds like things are going to freeze up by tommorow so we will be done with it until spring. I get some time i will get to the junkyard and get another cylnder or tear the bad one apart and see whats going on with it.