185 steering problems

185 with ac500 loader on it and the steering is hard to turn and slowly getting worse. Works a little better if your moving and or rpm is higher. I have grease the spindles plenty. I had another issue with the main hydraulics and took apart the hyd pump and resealed , didn’t see any issues with pump besides a few brittle flat seals as which were replaced. I also removed the steering relief valve under the steering wheel and checked the ball found a slight wear mark and also added a small shim and put back together and made no difference. Is worse with a bale on loader.

Any ideas on what could be going on ? Thanks

Checked that also they are aired up to 35-40 psi

Can I tee in a gauge somewhere like where line comes off pump and steer to stop to check pressure?

I took off the front line on the cylinder and capped cylinder fitting and put gauge into the line. Started and ran had the pressure pretty much aligned with the engine rpm when steered hard 1000 psi @1000 rpm 1500 psi @1500 rpm and 2000 psi at 2000 rpm.

I also noticed that if the loader lifting the front end off the ground it still turns kind of hard as if the weight of tractor was on wheels

Does the pressure seem within spec ? Could we have a bad steering cylinder ?

I ended up unhooking the tire rods and turned the wheels easily by hand , so I think that part is fine

You'd better tee that gauge into one of the two hydraulic hoses going to the steering cylinder. The one and only tractor I ever had HARD steering had the steering orbitrol plugged internally with material that came from somewhere. If the spindles are free, you must have a blockage inside the steering control valve connected to the steering wheel. This is NOT something for a novice. If you disassemble and then reassemble that control valve wrong the steering wheel could spin like an airplane prop when the engine is started.

Edited by DrAllis - 20 Jul 2024 at 8:48pm

Maximum pressure should be 1600 psi. You have messed with the relief valve and need to remove the shims you added. Raise front wheels off the ground. A gauge teed into one hose will show turning pressure and return oil pressure when turning the steering wheel clockwise or ccwise. With a gauge teed into one of the two hoses going to the steering cylinder, when you turn one way and bottom out the steering swing and hold the steering wheel hard, the pressure should be 1600 psi (engine wide open). While you were making the turn the pressure should have been less than 500 psi until you hit the end of the stroke. Then, it should have spiked to 1600 while you held the steering wheel jammed up against the end of the stroke. When you return the steering back the opposite way the return oil pressure should be less than 100 psi because it is just returning oil back to sump. If this return oil pressure is much higher, your obitrol must be plugged with debris. If your turn swing is much higher than 500 psi during the turn, you have debris plugging the orbitrol.  I have only seen this happen ONE TIME in 45+ years but plugged orbitrol internal passages is what it was.

There isn't such a thing on a 180-185.

I suppose it could, but never seen that before. I'm done. Can't fix it when I cannot lay my hands on it. Be nice to have another tractor that doesn't have a problem to put the same gauge on and test the psi numbers. Maybe let it down on the ground and retest. I may be wrong in my estimation of what pressures should be. I may be high at 500 and 100 with no weight on the wheels.

It may be collapsed hose or hoses to the steering cylinder.

Deteriorate or colapsed interior of hose can cause pressures to be correct but flow to be restricted.

Very common issue on auto front brake hoses.
Only seen it once on a hydraulic hose...

Now i have seen a pinched hose restriction many times...

Your test is inconclusive.  Test BOTH at full throttle. How many psi did it take for the "good" tractor to make a turn DURING the turn???  How much return pressure did the good tractor have when coming back the other way?? The speed with which you rotate the steering wheel must be the same between both tests. The loader tractor must have the loader on the ground with the tractor valve in FLOAT.  Both tractors ideally should be on concrete for a fair comparison.

Edited by DrAllis - 24 Jul 2024 at 6:50am

The original complaint was "hard" steering, which means to me higher effort than it should be. The steering pump section is able to make 2000 psi of pressure when the steering is dead-headed. Normally, to me anyway, that would mean the pump is probably OK. That tractor won't steer easy at 700 RPM but by 1,000 RPM usually has enough GPM flow to make it easier. His complaint is high effort all the time, at any RPM, unless the description of the problem is wrong. An internal steer cylinder leak would make the steering wheel turn easy while the tires aren't wanting to turn. It would also wander badly down the road.

Edited by DrAllis - 24 Jul 2024 at 10:27am

No. All hose/line connections aren't orificed. The internal steering control valve has many small passages inside of it.

I believe a bad hose is a possibility. Ive seen that happe on rubber brake hoses

No not yet been busy and been getting by with it for now. trying to decide whether to go after the hyd pump or the steering hand pump first?