Now why didn't they do this from the start??

[Dan22]

I just could not stand to see that nice clean power steering hydraulic cylinder rod sitting down there near the dirt, dust and mud just waiting to get wasted. Just normal use will get crap on the rod and seal.

SO, I took a spare bellows from a motorcycle front fork, cut it to length. Had to split it down the length since I did not want to take the ball joint end off. Checked stroke in and out for clearance, and it works great! Mid position zip ties keep the split portion round.

I am happy now that my tractor is happier.
Dan

 

[dsgsr]

Yup, thats a nice place for dirt/mud too get packed in and hold it there. There is a seal in the front portion of that piston cylinder thats called a wiper, guess why?

David

 

[Mace Canute]

I have to agree 100% with David. You would probably be better off with no covering than that one. If you have trouble with stuff falling on top of the ram, the protection is probably a good thing, just open the bottom side up to let any dirt and crap fall out and not accumulate. Some forklifts came from the factory with a bellows on the tilt cylinders and while they did provide good mechanical protection to the rams,they trapped condensation and actually cause the rams to rust. Sometimes what seems like a good idea, just isn't.

 

[Dan22]

Oh, it is open on the bottom so it can ventilate. I am not worried about condensation since it gets heat from the engine and warm fluid, but good idea to check it.

Wiper will wear out and/or coating will get scratched if crud gets on there. Every car with rack and pinion steering has such a boot. I have been riding off road motorcycles for many years and there are standard forks with boots, and upside down forks with "wipers" and no boots. Hands down the covered fork seals outlast the uncovered. Granted this is not a bike but with much higher fluid pressure in the steering cylinder, the likelihood of a leak I want to avoid.

I do not swamp buggy my tractor so it will never get soupy mud up from below. I just want to avoid the top down muck.
Dan

 

[IceStationZebra]

I think the moral of this story is "it depends." If you run in a very dusty environment the boots will probably help. In damp environments is will probably hurt.

The differece with cars/trucks is all the road salt, high speed flying debris, and extreme cost pressures resulting in cheap chrome plating. A motorcycle fork is not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison either since the fork extend/retract speed is much faster making the wiper's job much harder.

ISZ

 

[s_morgan]

On our off road & our street 4x4s we havent been using shock boots for years (You cant even put them on my Fox 2.0's) due to dirt/mud/rocks & water stitting & or trapped in there. I know it seems just the other way around though like on a bike. A yellow or green shock boot would look cool!!

 

[Redbug]

Hi Dan,

That's not a bad idea. It has the split, so it can dry out, too. I kept tearing the rubber boots on mine from limbs, so I took a piece of truck mud flap and bolted it to the outside frame.

 

[Builder]

I like a metal shield protecting top/front more than a boot, but the boot is better than nothing. One other thing worth mentioning is that boot might trap more heat on the cylinder than nothing or a shield. We all know heat kills.