Well, it's been a weekend.... dropped front tires of a little ledge and hung the steering cylinder up. Bent the rod. Didn't realize it until it was stuck going around in circles. So three trips back and forth to the shed for all the right tools to take the cyl off the tractor later(not too bad only 1500 ft or so each way...just time consuming) Go inside and log on to Messicks....484$ for new cyl. Holy !@#$. So back to the shed to see about repairs. There was So much side pressur on the gland I couldn't get it out. Had to use the porta power to re extend the cylinder. That let me unscrew the gland end. (after I found a set of tips for the split ring pliers that were not so worn (or H frieght) out that the didn't just slip out of the ring). I have a 2 car garage worth of shop tools stuffed into a 10 x10 shed. Finding some of those seldom used tools can take a bit of time...it's rapidly reaching the point to where a shop/barn/garage is going to be more important than eating. Anyway, took the rod over to the Neighbors 20 ton shop press, used some rags to pad the ends and started applying pressure. I did not get it perfect but it's within a couple hundreths. Take it back to the house, re assemble cyclinder. Moves in and out by hand with no stiff spots, so back through the woods to the tractor we go. Reinstall, crank tractor to check cylinder end for leaks and bleed system. Standing next to the tractor turning lock to lock and it wasn't until I mounted up and tried to go back to the barn that I realized I had hooked the lines up bassackwards. DUh! About now I realize the filter seal is taking another break and letting all my fluid pump onto the groud again. If I idle all the way down it stops pumping, still dripping but not pumping so I creep back to the shed slower than I could walk. Steering backwards is more difficult than you would think. Back to Messicks to look at some diagrams to see if I cn figure out where the restriction might be. OIl comes from lower mid section to filter mount, thru filter, out front (all metal lines til 2inch rubber hose, cooler, 2inch rubber hose, metal line back to filter mount, where it is spliced to another metal line with rubber hose, then back to upper side of midsection. So first thing I did was verify that the oil I had in it met the specs for multi g134. It does. Now I'm no engineer but in my experience you do not use hose clamps in a high pressure line, and if the restriction was somewhere after those 3 pieces of rubber hose, they would most likely leak prior to the filter seal? So looking at the diagram I see a check ball and spring is under the outgoing banjo fitting. What the hey who knows. So I clean it up with some brake cleaner, unbolt the banjo and pull the ball out. No it didn't act like it had been stuck or anything. re assembled, cleaned filter and seal, screwed it back on to contact plus 3/4 turn. Crank and check for leaks. Dry at idle so wind it up to pto speed...still dry...hmmm... move forward, backward, hold brake while trying to move...still dry....back to the wood to do some more fel work, 2 or three hours later and several dozen dismounts to verify still dry...I'm not leaking. Neither is the power steering cylinder btw! I'm going to keep watching it tho.
