incresed steering effort on b3030

[workinallthetime]

While operasting my b3030 this weekend for no aparent reason the steering effort about doubled. checked the fluid, raised the front end and cranked it both ways many times thinking air some how got into the system, and used it for the rest of the day. Its not hard to turn by any means but about twice "firm" as it has been for the 200+ hours. Im a little worried since i had this problem with an old massy 175 and it cost me about 2500 to get it fixed way back when. all the other hydro. componants work fine with plenty of power.
any thoughts ? any ideas? just to worried ?

 

[red4now]

Someone else had a similar problem a couple of months ago and if I recall correctly it was got resolved. Will look around to see if I come across it again.

Took a quick look and found the incident - was using a non-Kubota filter and that resolved his problem.

 

[workinallthetime]

i used it for about 2 hours last night and by the time i put her up she was almost back to normal, I dont know why but it seemed the more i backed up with a full load of sandy loam in the bucket the better it got.
Called the dealer and they were not much help, said it was:
#1 sucking air, and cavitating the fluid - not my issue-fluid full and looks good
#2 o-ring problem with stearing gear
#3 hydro pump taking a dump- but FEL and BH working fine so not the issue.

 

[nspec]

For what it's worth, I believe the steering has it's own pump independent of the rest of the hydraulics. Anyone confirm this?

Also, I believe someone had a similar problem which was due to grabbing the steering wheel to pull themselves up onto the tractor. Did something to an o-ring seal or something like that in the steering column.

Just a couple of thoughts.