Saved my steering

[SwampmanLA]

For the past few weeks I have been hearing a knocking noise on my three year old 422 when I reverse steering direction. t was coming from the area of the steering cylinder. Well I am on vacation this week and had a chance to look into it today and was shocked by what I found. The termination of the cylinder under the foot rest had just about ripped out. So it was off to the shop for some grinding and welding. It is all better now but that was close.

 

[Marks481]

Narrow escape. Looks like you were almost the third PT422 owner on this board to rip the steering cylinder supports out of the footrest.

I pull the floorboards off a couple times a year, and clean and inspect those bracket welds. The proximity Of the floor drain hole to the welded brackets creates a weak ligament that concentrates the stress. Not a big surprise it would fail.

One of these days, when I get better at welding, I will add some more structural support to the floot underneath the bracket, and plug/relocate that drain hole so it is not so close to the bracket.

Bad design on the PT422. And the false floor doesn't help, since you can't see what is going on, and get down in there to keep it clean. PT425 is a much better design. Wish I had spent the extra money.

 

[KMA]

For the past few weeks I have been hearing a knocking noise on my three year old 422 when I reverse steering direction. t was coming from the area of the steering cylinder. Well I am on vacation this week and had a chance to look into it today and was shocked by what I found. The termination of the cylinder under the foot rest had just about ripped out. So it was off to the shop for some grinding and welding. It is all better now but that was close.

Hi. Do you happen to have any "after" pics of the welding you did? I have some hairline cracks starting and I'd like to fix it before it gets worse. I'm thinking I would have 1/4" plate cut to shape and welded on the bottom over the problem area covering the drainage hole. Would it be best to strategically drill some holes in the plate so some welds can be made inside and in addition to around the edges?

Thanks for your insight.

 

[SwampmanLA]

Well no pictures but so far so good, it is holding. All I did was grind out a 'v' in the cracks and fill them up with weld. I did the welding from under the tractor cause I could not get a good grind from on top. If that breaks I'll do some serious beefing up of this area.