sunnyblueskies
New User
Steering on our self propelled swather has too much play. We had taken the whole steering mechanism apart last fall and replaced any worn parts.
The steering wheel transfers it's movements through a small sprocket at the end of the steering wheel shaft and a small chain to the steering plate, which transfer the motion through 2 tie rods to the 2 hydraulic pumps, which operate the 2 power wheels.
All connections are tight, I can't find anything loose, yet the steering wheel can be turned either direction for a bit before it hits resistance (when parked and in neutral) The neutral start setting is good and doesn't need to be adjusted.
Reading up on troubleshooting loose steering all I can find is "check for worn parts or adjust linkage". As I said, all parts have been checked and are good as far as we can see, which leaves the tension of the chain? How do I find the sweet spot or the right tension? If I make it too tight the steering wheel gets harder to turn. In the repairbook it says the tension spring should be 25 - 30 mm. I'm pretty sure the one on the machine is a bit longer, so that might account for part of the looseness? But if that doesn't fix the problem....... what should I look at next?
On level ground, uphill or side hill it drives straight, but going downhill in any other speed then crawl it gets downright dangerous as the machine wanders quite a big deal left and right, leaving me to fight with the steering wheel to counteract.
I'm at a loss.
The steering wheel transfers it's movements through a small sprocket at the end of the steering wheel shaft and a small chain to the steering plate, which transfer the motion through 2 tie rods to the 2 hydraulic pumps, which operate the 2 power wheels.
All connections are tight, I can't find anything loose, yet the steering wheel can be turned either direction for a bit before it hits resistance (when parked and in neutral) The neutral start setting is good and doesn't need to be adjusted.
Reading up on troubleshooting loose steering all I can find is "check for worn parts or adjust linkage". As I said, all parts have been checked and are good as far as we can see, which leaves the tension of the chain? How do I find the sweet spot or the right tension? If I make it too tight the steering wheel gets harder to turn. In the repairbook it says the tension spring should be 25 - 30 mm. I'm pretty sure the one on the machine is a bit longer, so that might account for part of the looseness? But if that doesn't fix the problem....... what should I look at next?
On level ground, uphill or side hill it drives straight, but going downhill in any other speed then crawl it gets downright dangerous as the machine wanders quite a big deal left and right, leaving me to fight with the steering wheel to counteract.
I'm at a loss.
