New to me Steiner 430

[linrick1]

A couple of weeks ago my man Bruce and I took a ride out to North Adams, Mass. and came home with a Steiner 430 Max, a cab, a 60" deck, and a snow blower. The machine itself is reported to have around 1K municipal hours on it and has a brand new 27 horse Kohler, new tires and rims, new instruments and seat. I am a non-OSHA compliant, cast iron, old school individual. I appreciate common sense, straight ahead, off the shelf, build it like you mean it equipment and the Steiner fills that bill nicely. My particularly awesome wife just happened to catch me looking at this same machine online, thought it looked tough and said if it was what I was looking for to go ahead and get it - needless to say it was, and I did. I cannot begin to tell you how much I am looking forward to snow this rear - no more looking over the shoulder, getting blasted with snow no matter which way you are facing, freezing my stones off in the dark walk behind and three point hitch blowers for this lucky bastard - now it'll be sitting down, looking forward, heat on, all kinds of light windshield wiper luxury. Been a long time coming and I am pretty damned pleased. Not a lot of Steiner traffic on the web, TBN has the most I've found so will be pestering those experienced in the operation and maintenance of these stout little machines, thanks, Rick

 

[murphy1244]

Nice find! Do you have heat for the Cab too? On my Ventrac I can reverse the trans fan and get a little heat. I use a golf cart rain shield for a poor mans cab.

 

[linrick1]

Thanks. No factory heat but I have a small propane golf cart style heater, that and a small fan should be more than enough. Just installed LED lights front and back, with a complete rewire for the lights, wiper motor and fan.

 

[Raw Dodge]

Congrats on buying the steiner! I'm sure you'll love it,I've got about 13000 hrs on 2 steiner 420s so if you have any questions ask away....

 

[linrick1]

Congrats on buying the steiner! I'm sure you'll love it,I've got about 13000 hrs on 2 steiner 420s so if you have any questions ask away....

Thanks, very happy with the machine although there are several issues I would like to address. Steering box seal weeps, steering wheel wobbles, there is some play in the center pivot - nothing major but would like to tighten it up, PTO belt tension adjuster frozen, forward/reverse lever is pretty worn, surges a bit at no load 1/2 throttle, no real problems though. Snow blowing will be its first real test and would like to hear your thoughts on cold weather operation of these machines. It will be stored in my machine shed that I'm rigging with power to run a salamander, so I plan to preheat the tractor when at all possible . New belts coming for the PTO and blower drive along with a new auger drive chain tensioner block. In your experience, what else do I want to be looking for? Thanks, Rick

 

[Raw Dodge]

I use mine on a golf course and we really don't use them much in the dead of winter,but I've had no problem starting ours down to 10 degrees.Make sure your running the correct hydro oil (Amsoil 5w30 hydraulic is the best oil to use )_along with a quart of bestline powwetrain additive).in it and preferably a synthetic 10w30 oil,it will start easily in the cold...I don't have a snowblower, we run mowers and leaf blowers most of the time..If I were you I'd live with the loose center pivot, just replace the lower link under then floor plate if it's loose,its about 75.00.Not sure how bad the steering valve is leaking, I had to replace one on my older machine, it was over 400.00. As for being loose all the steering valves have play ,a new one will shortly after installing it. Your Kohler surging slightly is something that can happen for a few different reasons..Most likely is the machine sat for a while and the carburetor is dirty with varnish or dirt.Other less likely possibilities are a vacuum leak in the intake somewhere or a worn carburetor throttle shaft..The belt drive setup can be a PITA sometimes, make sure the main drive belt is in alignment with the lower idler pulley.The idler pulley brackets are known to crack and you won't notice it right away but the lower pulley will move slightly forward, eventually throwing belts and slipping belts if you let it get real bad the lower pulley will start to rub on the attachments cross brace..Make sure you regularly check the 3 bolts on each side where the front of the axles connect to the frame they are known to loosen up especially on the side with the lift cylinder.

 

[Raw Dodge]

I wouldn't worry to much about a salamander just let it run 3-5 minutes to warm up the hydraulic system before using it. Also wanted to mention that the loose f-r lever,center pivot and steering valve leaks are not typical on a 1000hr Steiner,they are more in line with a 2500-4000 hr machine... So the hours were hard or the meter wasn't always working or the12v feed wasn't there and no one fixed it for a long time...

 

[linrick1]

I'll be pissed if the dealer was yanking my chain about this machine........I don't see evidence of enough wear on the machine as a whole to think that the hours were misrepresented but I can not be certain. The hydraulic system is fairly noisy when cold but quiets down nicely when warm, and is smooth and strong but I think I'll pull a hydro oil sample just to see where I'm really at with this thing. The F/R control valve itself is smooth and tight, the outboard side of the lever is worn down fairly well where it contacts the dash. The play in the center pivot is minimal, I can notice some deflection between the front and rear frames when I lift the snow blower, but have no idea if the movement I see is in line with the claimed hours....As for the steering box, I haven't pulled the cover and looked for the source of the leak - I'll try to do that this weekend. Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll be a hose or fitting.......I knew going in that this was a used machine so I expected some wear and to have to do a certain amount of work to it I just hope I'm not starting behind the 8 ball. Thank you very much for your help, you and I seem to share a similar philosophy regarding quality equipment and conscientious maintenance - this thing has got to last me for as long as am able to use it so I will be looking for the details on your 7500 hour maintenance program - seems to be working ....Thanks again, Rick

 

[Raw Dodge]

Even if your machine has hard hours there is no reason to think you won't get a lot more time out of it,I wouldn't work to much,just fix it the best you can,and move on.Check the lower pivot bar,it's likely to be where most of the play is...noises in the hydro system when cold is normal,as the pump is working harder to pull the thick oil thru the filter and into the pump. One other thing you can do to improve hydraulic performance is install a 25 micron filter ,the original is a 10, which is a little on the restrictive side,and the spec from sunstrand is 25 micron is all that's needed. I've kept my machines running by not having the option to buy new ones,we do not have the budget and Imdont have choice...I tell you though I'd take either of my old machines and know they can work a full day or week or month reliably ,that says something for how well built they are...

 

[linrick1]

Well much to my chagrin it has been almost two months since I acquired the 430 and I have yet to put it to work. We had one snowfall a couple of weeks ago worthy of snow blowing but my road and driveway were still too soft to take a chance on tearing them up. In the mean time I finished installing the lights on the cab, replaced the drive and blower belts, cleaned the carb and replaced the fuel lines and filter, and reorganized the machine shed to accommodate the 430 and attachments. The oil sample came back clean so my pumps and motors should be good for a while but I would like to try the 25 micron filter you mentioned. Thanks, Rick