GC2400 steering cylinder seal leaks

[Dmacleo]

glad I use dye in hydro fluid.
while mowing see trail on driveway, look at that side steering cyl and end of cyl covered covered in fluid, outside of mount pretty dry.
CRAP if cyl thats $980.
hurry to finish mowing remove deck put on wheel ramps and then I notice other side same exact thing.
well what the hell...
crawl under and the brackets holding cyl on are both wet behind and above cyl.
ok not as worried now. hope its 2 hoses or the 2 unions (14 yrs old) seeping.
course I have to remove hood of tractor and, iirc, exhaust to see that and that is a pain.

edit: remove hood, remove the 4 bolts (14mm head) holding a small shield in place and can ge pretty good visibility into area.

 

[Dmacleo]

its the seals both sides. suspect when the left bump stop on axle fell off sometime between 8-1 and 8-6 (repaired 8-6-24) and was few days before I noticed it did the damage then.
can make it work another 2 weeks before ordering the 120$ (covers both sides) of seal/packing/orings.
better than a cylinder. top of cylinder clean, hoses and unions clean.

 

[irvingj]

Hope you're able to fix it cheaply! (So far, my 2310 has had no issues with steering leaks....)

 

[Dmacleo]

parts are on order, agco site does have one price error for one oring. its not 24.00$ its under 3$.

for 2010 gc2400 steering cylinder part#4264689M93 the seals/orings are this. one per side (pic has different location numbers on seal and packing with same part number) as listed, course I need to do both sides.
item 9 and 6 seal: 3710936M1 approx 16$ each.
item 8 and 5 piston rod packing: 3710935M1 approx 14$ each.
item 16 oring: 6242175M1 approx 3$ each.
item 10 oring packing: 4264755M1 approx 3$ each.

so before tax approx 36$ per side.

 

[Dmacleo]

got cylinder off w/o dropping axle. only hard part was rt side steering hose, used 19mm and went down beside starter to remove hose.
and of course the caps on cylinder will not loosen. just gonna take cylinder and seals into dealer tomorrow I guess.

 

[Langanobob]

I haven’t worked on a MF steering cylinder but my experience with other cylinders is that the caps are ridiculously hard to loosen. Just my bias against dealers but if you have a local hydraulic shop you might be better off taking it there. I’m picturing a dealer “tech” messing with the caps for hours and running up a big labor bill.

 

[Dmacleo]

broke a vise trying to loosen, the dealer concerns are not applicable here to me. I treat them well they treat me well.

 

[Langanobob]

broke a vise trying to loosen, the dealer concerns are not applicable here to me. I treat them well they treat me well.

Good to hear!

 

[Dmacleo]

putting all back together now. slow process. knee surgery 9-9-24, had cylinder in hand 9-11-24, not able to do anything. today I got it mounted and hoses hooked up.
you are supposed to drop front axle then work cylinder, 14 yr old machine and axle pivot system is in good shape. not gonna do that. you can easily reach everything with axle on except the right side hose. remove starter and you have access with a skinny open end 19mm wrench to access the hose. do this before removing the 2 brackets, they will hold cylinder still while removing hose.
anyway will be day or so before I hook up the hose brackets under tractor and attach tie rods and test. icing knee now.

EDIT 11-22-2024: when bump stop left the chat cyl got scratched. thinking was rock involved. normal steering put the scratches into seal. new cylinder needed. my next post did not reflect that.

 

[Dmacleo]

new cylinder on order.
$ 1001.18
will rebuild (new rod and end caps) old one over the winter.