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3112 sovereign power steering?


wantedinct

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This is just a thought, but would it be possable to fabricate a power steering set up on a 3112 useing the vickers hydro?
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Ronald Hribar
I think that someone has tapped into the Vickers and used it to power cylinders. I think Karl Brandt may have posted on the method he used. What would you use to direct hydraulic power?
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Given enough $$, then about anything is possible. You could use a power steering control such as this to control the cylinder: http://surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2006022015270104&item=9-6698&catname=hydraulic
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That would be an expensive way to go Kent. If you watch ebay you'll see the power steering valves for JD 400's on every now and then. It's a valve built into the steering rod that goes from the steering gear to the front axle. You use that valve along with a hydraulic cylinder mounted to the front spindle (along with the steering valve and steering rod) and the other end of the hydraulic cylinder to the frame of the tractor. Those valves and cylinder setups can be had for $100 or so. There was a simplicity power steering kit on ebay a couple weeks ago that was basically the same thing as the JD 400 but it was NOS and went over $500!!
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Thats so funny Kent, I was reading their cataloge today at work. A lot of cool stuff in there. I agree, it wouldn't be that hard to do, but pricey. Eric, I have been wondering about finding a small power steering box that could be made to fit.
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quote:
Originally posted by richp
Thats so funny Kent, I was reading their cataloge today at work. A lot of cool stuff in there. I agree, it wouldn't be that hard to do, but pricey.
My PowerTrac uses one of those hydraulic steering valves, but it might be just a bit bigger. It controls two double-acting cylinders, one on each side of the tractor, to articulate it... [img]http://power-trac.com/_derived/articulationoscillation.htm_txt_articulate.gif[/img][img]http://power-trac.com/_derived/articulationoscillation.htm_txt_articulate-3.gif[/img]
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I have a 12v DC hydraulic pump and two cylinders from a convertible I just junked. Power blade pivot and raise was what I had planned with it but reading this post made me think that it could also be used for a power assisted steering. You can go to a local junk yard and get the pump and cylinders for about 40 bucks. But in your application I think you would only need one of the cylinders. I'm pretty sure most of these tractors would be able to power this small pump in "my" intended application but not sure about the constant power to the pump to use it for power assist steering. Although.....you probably COULD rob one cylinder from the junk yard and plumb it with the proper dual flow valve to assist your steering on a Soverign or Landlord class for about 20 bucks (for one cylinder) and a little inginuity by way of the hydro pump. My particular pump and cylinders came from a Cavalier Convertible. The Chrysler's may or may not be more robust. But It wouldnt hurt to investigate that avenue for assisting your steering. Just a thought!! I mean, we've used power window actuators for chute adjusters, why not other automitive items that are readily available?
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The DC motorized pumps pull quite a bit of juice. More importantly they have a low duty cycle. An external pump would be the way to go and you could use the hydraulic valves mentioned above commonly found off JD's and most any good cyl. One cyl. is plenty enough force to steer a small tractor. The advantage of useing 2 cyl.'s is the simple displacement of the cyl. The steering valves are based on controlled flow. Turning the steering one way would extend the cyl. requireing full displacement of the cyl. Turning the other way the cyl. rod would take up some of the displacement and require less oil flow meaning you wouldn't turn the steering wheel as much to return to a straight line. This would cause your steering wheel to constantly change neutral positions. I used this setup on my 620 with 1 cyl. and since the steering wheel is the same all the way around I don't mind the small constant change. I use a spinner anyway and I do so much turning I don't notice it. There is some extra reasons why they use 2 cyl's on Kents tractor since it articulates but I won't go into that since it really doesn't apply and finding one place for mounting one cyl. would be hard enough. As a referance here for flow rates, whitch I have never bothered to heck accurately, the charge pump of a powermax pushes under 4GPM's. If part say 1/2 gallon is used for the tranny, I'm useing 3gpm or less at low throttle and still have plenty of flow for the power steering. At full throttle mowing I have only overan the steeing a few times. Meaning I tried to turn the wheel faster than I had oil flow to assist it. It mearly increased the amount of force I had to apply to the wheel to turn it. Most systems use a considerably higher flow rate to do what I'm doing but I'm still very satisfied as you only use the flow when you turn the wheel. The faster you turn the wheel the more flow you use. The important thing to remember is I never lost the hard link between the wheel and the steering as the lines, cyl, and valve still contain oil so I maintained the integrity of my steering. Even with the engine off the system contains oil and I can turn the wheel and the way the steering valves are designed it will act as a small pump turning the front end. You wouldn't want to do this much, but it will work enough to load a dead tractor on a trailer or simular situation.
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I've seen steering cylinders on large Farmall tractors (1086) that have the ram shaft extend all the way through the case. That way the volume changes are the same on both sides of the piston.
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