135 Orchard power steering

[Dirtleg]

Has anyone here ever worked on a 135 orchard power steering assembly? I am trying to figure out why mine doesn't have check ball assemblies in the steering valve. It has machined cylindrical spacers with a center hole to replace the check ball assemblies. There is no recess in them for the check ball and cube shown in the manual.

Also due to the orchard model having axle mounted hydraulic cylinders the power assist piston shown on the standard 135 has been eliminated.

I have been having blown steering shaft seal problems since I got this tractor and I recently discovered that the last person to go through the system had run the power steering hoses in reverse from the pump to the orbital valve. I reconfigured everything to route the fluid in the correct direction but had to go out of town the next day and have not had a chance to test it out yet.

Thanks for any information you might have on this issue.

 

[Dirtleg]

Update. This seems to have fixed my problem. I'll explain the situation further should someone else come across this in a search.

The issue originally presented itself as a blown steering shaft seal. When the seal blew hot fluid would shoot out of the steering shaft like a shower. The first time it happened the aluminum nut that holds the steering wheel on stripped and the steering wheel came off in my hands. I fixed it only to have the new seal blow after another 2 hours of run time.

I was super busy at work so I took it to the Massey dealer to diagnose the problem as I just didn't have the time. They told me the power steering pump was bad and the seal pocket in the steering shaft tube was excessively pitted. I had the shaft housing machined and shimmed to correct the pitting. I left the pump alone as I didn't understand how low pressure was blowing the seal. I got it home and within 2 hours of run time it blew again.

I was upset with the dealer because they charged me $500 to effectively change the seal (under 2 hours) and test pump pressure (which I later discovered they never actually did). The machine work was done by my wifes uncle. I let them know this and asked for the service manager to call me.

2 months later I got a call from them. The NEW service manager was going through unresolved customer service issues and wanted to see if there was a way to get my business back. He agreed to credit me the entire first bill towards the actual repair. I said O.K.

5 weeks later it was ready to pick up. They had found the pump pressure was too high and had to back off the relief valve to get it within spec. They blew out I think 5 more seals before they gave up. When I picked it up the service manager told me very directly they had a bunch of hours in it but since he couldn't guarantee the repair he only charged me for an hour of shop labor. They had backed the pump pressure way down (on the pump that was weak before) and it hadn't blown again. Might be fixed. But it wasn't.

At this point I tore into the steering myself. I thought that there might be an issue due to the fact that the 2 hydraulic cylinders on the axle weren't identical. I replaced the odd sized one only to have the brand new cylinder leak out of the shaft seal as soon as I fired it up. I made some modifications to the tie rod mounts of the odd sized cylinder and put it back on. Seal blew again.

This time I tore down the steering gear box and checked everything over looking for anything that might seem worn or just wrong overall. The only thing I found was the spacers instead of check balls at the spool valve. I put it back together and went to flush the system. That is when I noticed the hose routing issue.

It's amazing to me that after all that time and work no one had noticed this until now. What was happening was that since the hydraulics were running in reverse the seal that should have been on the low pressure side was now on the high pressure side which was too much pressure for it to hold back for long. Talk about overlooking the problem.

I had to reroute the hose to the cylinders as now they wanted to go opposite the direction of the mechanical steering. So far no problems.

 

[Texas Blues]

Wow, you would think the guys at the dealer would have enough experience to make checking the hoses part of the diagnostics, specially after blowing seals themselves. Good luck TB