BX2350: Steering cylinder bad or something else?

fish6942 · Sep 9, 2013

I was doing some yard work yesterday and noticed that when the tires are pointing straight and I slowly turn the steering wheel the tires will not respond. If I turn sharply then they react normally. If the tires are already turned, then they appear to respond to the steering wheel correctly even if it is turned slowly.

After some searching, I found a number of threads describing this problem on the BX22xx series machines. In nearly every case the symptoms were attributed to a leaking center o-ring in the steering cylinder. Can I assume I have the same failure on this series machine? It has about 700 hours on it if I recall.

If this is the concensus, am I better of just buying a new cylinder or trying to install a seal kit? Is there anything else I should replace while I'm in there?

Oh, I did check the transaxle fluid level and it's fine.

Edit: Is this something I can put off until I have time this winter or am I at risk of suddenly losing steering altogether?

fish6942 · Sep 10, 2013

Ummm... Anyone??

rbarker · Sep 10, 2013

fish6942 said:
Ummm... Anyone??

Sorry, I'd like to provide a useful answer but I don't have any experience with this. I would suspect that the setup is similar on the 2350 but they could have made some modifications to address what I believe was a warrantee item on the 2200. Your symptoms sound like what people described when those old threads were created but I honestly don't remember whether it was a simple or difficult fix. Loss of steering control is a bad thing though so I would probably fix it sooner than later. ;-)

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milkman · Sep 11, 2013

That sure sounds like the seals are leaking in the steering cylinder. I had my BX 2200 that was unresponsive at times and replacing the seals and O rings in the cylinder fixed it. My brothers BX did the same and he continued using it till he could find time to repair it. As long as you're aware of the way it acts and are not running 65 mph down the street in heavy traffic, you can still use it with care till you find time to fix, by that I mean you won't damage anything by continuing to run it.

fish6942 · Sep 12, 2013

Thanks guys. Interesting thing is that I can't find anyone with this issue on the 50 series machines.

Any suggestions for where to find an online parts explosion for this machine?

radioman · Sep 12, 2013

yup - go here Kubota Tractor Corporation - Parts List

SPYDERLK · Sep 13, 2013

The oring is the only thing that goes bad. Im not sure Kubota sells it separately for a buck, rather as part of a $30 seal kit. Iv replaced my oring 3 times now. Not so difficult the 2nd time. I posted the size on TBN somewhere a few years back.
larry

am122 · Sep 14, 2013

On my BX2350 I could drive straight down the road and take the steering wheel around and around and still go straight down the road. I replaced the cylinder but I also bought the seal kit to rebuild the old for the next time. Mine also happened at about 700 hours.

SPYDERLK · Sep 14, 2013

Heres the thread with the oring size.

BX 2200 Steering Piston Help

fish6942 · Sep 16, 2013

Radioman - Thanks for the link!

am122 - Sorry to hear you've had the same issue but the positive thing is that misery likes company and I'm glad to know it's not just my 50 series doing this.

Spyderlk - Thanks for the link!

Now I need to price out the cylinder cost and determine whether to replace the whole thing or attempt to rebuild.

radioman · Sep 16, 2013

You are going to be shocked on whole cylinder price compared to o rings prices. The o ring is under a pound for shipping and its 30 bucks for the seal kit. If I were you, I'd go rebuild it. It might be intimidating at first, but one the new seals are on and you reinstall it, you will find its not difficult.

fish6942 · Nov 6, 2014

So here we are, 14 months after I started this thread. I'm in the process of switching the BX from summer mode to winter mode and figured this is a good time to look into rebuilding the steering cylinder to (hopefully) get rid of the freeplay.

Looking at the parts explosion below, is item G the suspect O-ring? Are there tips for doing this repair? Does it matter which end of the cylinder I pull the rod out through?

Thanks!!

Jay4200 · Nov 6, 2014

I can't answer your question, but if it were me (and it probably will be soon @ 640 hrs on my BX) I'd buy the seal kit and change out everything. Might as well since you're tearing it apart anyway. It would suck to spend 5 hours changing out an o-ring, only to have an oil seal start leaking one it was back together...

SPYDERLK · Nov 6, 2014

Jay4200 said:
I can't answer your question, but if it were me (and it probably will be soon @ 640 hrs on my BX) I'd buy the seal kit and change out everything. Might as well since you're tearing it apart anyway. It would suck to spend 5 hours changing out an o-ring, only to have an oil seal start leaking one it was back together...

This would be a waste of ~ $29 and at least an hour of time along with some risk in replacing good parts that will last 2K+ hrs. I dont know if the oring can be bought from Kub separately, but I gave a link to the size in an earlier post.
larry

fish6942 · Nov 7, 2014

Sorry guys, I led you astray a little... I was planning to replace everything that comes in the rebuild kit. I asked about the o-ring because that seems to be most likely candidate for the symptoms so I'd pay special attention to it's condition when it comes out. Also, the machine has about 825 hours on it.

Anyone have tips/tricks for doing this job? Any special tools other than a snap ring pliers?

SPYDERLK · Nov 7, 2014

fish6942 said:
Sorry guys, I led you astray a little... I was planning to replace everything that comes in the rebuild kit. I asked about the o-ring because that seems to be most likely candidate for the symptoms so I'd pay special attention to it's condition when it comes out. Also, the machine has about 825 hours on it.

Anyone have tips/tricks for doing this job? Any special tools other than a snap ring pliers?

Tips in the thread I linked. I dont remember that snap ring pliers are applicable. Course I didnt replace the rod seals because they were good. Still are at 2100 hrs. Ive had to replace the oring on the center piston several times. Just did recently.
,,, One tip not in other thread. Also check the oring on the endcap you remove. If theres a burr on the edge of the circlip groove it will likely foul the ring. Make sure to make it smooth before reassembly.
larry

fish6942 · Nov 7, 2014

Thanks Larry!

fish6942 · Nov 28, 2015

Holy procrastination... I started this thread 2 years ago and I finally made the commitment to get this job done!!

I have the cylinder off and have a couple of questions to start off with.

Are there tips for getting the circlip below out? I'm assuming this is the first step?

Also, to get the tie rod end off, do I just need a thin wrench to hold the flatted part of the rod?

milkman · Nov 29, 2015

That's the circlip that needs to come out, it's been a long time since I had to do mine, but I still remember that stubborn little sucker. The hardest part is getting the end up enough to get something behind it, I used a small screwdriver to work one end up and that took several tries to make it. On the rod end, I still have the old wrench that I ground down narrow enough to hold the rod. Once the clip is out and the tie rod end is off, the rest of the process and reassembly is fairly simple, just be careful that you don't nick any of the seals or O rings. Best of luck and if you need any choice words to help the process along, I think I can come up with a few that will help.

ullinghair:

fish6942 · Nov 30, 2015

Milkman - Thanks for the pointers so far!!

So I took a closer look at the circlip last night and it was pretty apparent that there wasn't sufficient clearance between the cylinder wall and what I'm calling the end cap (see blue line below) to get the clip out. Using a straight punch, I gently tapped around the end cap and it did move down enough so I should be able to get the clip out.

So anticipating the next steps, once the clip is out is it just a matter pulling the entire rod out that end of the cylinder? Does the piston at the center of the cylinder rod end up pulling the end cap off? I'm going by the parts explosion I posted earlier.

Lastly for now, would the only reason be to pull the other end cap off is to replace those seals?