B3030 Hard steering problem

[Zanoose]

Hi, I have a B3030 that has a steering problem. I can turn the steering when its off and i can turn the steering at idle, but when i throttle up it becomes very difficult to turn the wheels (even when there off the ground). it also sounds like the pump on the block is cavitating some. I checked the Rubber suction hose and the hard line and found no problems. I pulled off the hard line and the 0-ring that sits at the bottom of the filter and that seems ok. So i pulled of the filter housing and checked that o- ring and that seems fine too. I thought maybe its sucking just a small amount of air through a pin hole or someting in the rubber hose or hard line. So i took it off at the pump and plugged the outlet in the filter housing and pressurized the lines with my air hose with an adapter and could not find any leaks. Right now i'm scratching my head and cant figure out where to go next. This is after i assumed the steering controller was bad and have already replaced it to find the same problem.. Now $800 later i'm right back at the beginning. No idea. The last thign i'm gonna try is getting a new filter thinking maybe its having some type of problem sucking fluid through it. I dont think the filter i had on there was kubota but it had no markings on it. So i'll see what happens. If anyone has any ideas i'd love to hear them. THANKS

Casey

 

[kthompson]

Sorry I will not be able to check back but for others to follow up...how is your lift or any other hyd on the tractor working? You are sure you have fluid to proper level?

 

[Zanoose]

Yes the fluid level is good and i've also changed it just as a shot in the dark in case the fluid was bad even though it looked fine. Also the other hydralic functions seem to work ok without hard moving problems at idle or at high rpm. there is an outlet tube from the controller that goes to the oil cooler. i wonder if theres something wrong there. Gonna go play again with it see what i can find, thinking of running a hose from a hydraulic container i have straight to the pump and bypass everything else. Prolly gonna overflow the fluid out the transmission cap but at least that will let me know if it is a suction problem or not.

 

[brandoro]

Tell us a bunch more about the tractor. How old is it, how many hours, did you buy it new or used. Do you know if it has been serviced, filters/fluid changed. There are two filters on the HST transmission.
As kthompson mentioned, the fluid level being between the lines on the dipstick is a good place to start. Check with the tractor level and has been shut off for at least several minutes. If you pull the stick and it is dry, don't panic right away, reinsert the stick, pull it again and check for the level. If the stick is still dry, now you can panic.

 

[Zanoose]

the tractor has about 500 hours on it and it is my companies tractor i've been here for a few years and we have 2 stores that share the tractor for rent. i know i've serviced it before and have done all the filters myself at least once. and ya i've checked the fluid the first time seemed right on the money and like i said thought to drain it and put some fresh fluid in there just in case and ran it and double checked again and fluid level was ok but same problem remains. thank you for your quick replies any problems i can eliminate get me closer to my problem although i'm running out of things to check lol. i just checked our history on it and it shows a few broken headlight repairs and a cracked pto cover and some 3 point hitch repairs other then that it hasnt had any other problems

 

[brandoro]

I can't think of any other things to try or check. My B3030 only has 116 hours on it so is barely broken in.
I am interested in what you find to be the problem and the solution, just in case I run into that problem in the future.

 

[red4now]

Since the steering is on its own circuit / pump (not sure of the true technical term) there must be air in there somehow - especially if all the other components are working properly indicating that that pump / circuit is working OK. Or maybe a problem with the steering pump? Not sure if you have tried this but if you go to Kubotbooks.com, the parts book is there and may provide some hints?? Has some good pics of the hydraulic systems. Let us know what you find.

 

[kuboman]

You say it works at idle but not above?? I would check the suction screen, the pump may be cavitating above idle because of the increase flow. Or a valve is stuck somewhere.

 

[Gomer]

Go buy a Kubota hydraulic suction filter for it before you spend any more money. I had exactly the same symptons when I put a NAPA suction filter on my B2630, it ran ok when it was warm outside but when it got cold it wouldn't turn and the pump sounded bad.

To keep from loosing too much fluid put a small vacuum cleaner on the fill port when changing the filter, won't loose over a cup of oil.

 

[Zanoose]

A little to late to save money but correct. After getting A kubota filter on there it cleared all the problems Not sure if the filter was sucking air around it or it was not allowing enough fluid thru. Thank Baldwin for that one. I called my sales rep and he took the filter to have it sent back as defective and to be inspected but i doubt that will change anything. Thanks for all the help trying to figure it out and i'm very happy to now have it all back together and out of my bay.