Adding Power Steering to Ford 1700 4wd

[jimmer2880]

He seems to be knowledgable, and has kits for several old tractors.
He has many kits in his stock or you wait for weeks before you get your kit? Just sent him an email. We'll see.

He made my cylinder custom. Then, he had to order the steering column from his supplier. Overall, from the time I finally sais "go", till it was at my door was about 10 days (including the ~3-4 days standard ground shipping). not bad by any means.

He has probably replied to you by now. He's pretty quick on his email responses.

Yes, he made a good impression in me. But, given what I knew about PS before I started this, doesn't really mean much

 

[jimmer2880]

For what it's worth, with the steering box that I used (Orbital hand pump), when you loose power, you don't loose steering either, it's just harder to turn (like on your car).

 

[BWBrown]

I exchanged a couple emails with the power steering guy. He does seem knowledgable and very helpful. He was real willing to make me a kit. He even offered to knock off a couple hundred if I would deliver my tractor (from PA to his place in the midwest or somewhere west of the Mississippi) leave it for a week, so he could build me a system while developing a kit for others owning that model. It would still have been over a thousand bucks.

With my ebay valve, surplus center priority valve and cylinder, and some hoses, I project a cost of around 400.

I even have a good chance that it might work... maybe.
Bob

 

[jimmer2880]

Glad you have something that will work. Going through him, I have ~800 invested in the PS kit. When I was looking the fleebay route, I could have gotten a steering column, hand-pump & cylinder for ~300.

But, for me, my time is very important right now, and I don't have time to do stuff twice (either because of bad parts, or bad engineering on my part). So, I broke down & went all new. Rick was willing to sell me a used cylinder for very little $$$'s. But, it would have been a "close" fit, with the condition of the cylinder seals unknown.

Good luck. Take plenty of pic's. Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[PILOON]

I have had great luck with this on my bota actualy bought it from him to 10.00 shipping great deal

DANFOSS OSPM 40 ON MINI Steering Unit Boat Marine NEW - (eBay item 300043551799 end time Dec-23-07 14:15:29 PST)

Darn, you guys are costing me $$$

I just purchased one of these units after researching a bit.
My tractor has 2 hydraulic pumps so I should not have problems as I could actually dedicate one to steering.

The Ebayer noted above is a nice enough guy and we traded good emails.
He claims that he has sold a great number of these units and oddly enough in europe.

On my MT180D the steering is a long rod that runs parallel alongside my loader subframe and activates a steering arm on the left front wheel so I anticipate merely replacing the rod with a hydraulic cylinder of the appropriate length and adding an 'anchor point' to the subframe.
Narurally I'll need to have 'ball ends' at both ends of the cylinder.

I'll post, but wait 'till snow is gone as I don't plan on welding at -20c in the snow!

 

[BWBrown]

"I'll post, but wait 'till snow is gone as I don't plan on welding at -20c in the snow!"

Shoot! That's the closest to a heated shop I've got. As soon as I'm done with the new snow plow install, it's on to the power steering. The valves are waiting! Pictures in a few days - I hope.
Bob

 

[robbieo11]

dude u want to bring it to Darien lake theme park area near buffalo i could probaly help you for a small fees in my heated shop u are about 2 hrs from me

 

[wh22366]

Did you ever take a look at a Ford 1710 w/PS to see if those parts might retrofit to your 1700? The '83 1710 I owned had a gear driven hyd pump with a unit plumbed below it that diverted some of the pressure for power assisted steering. It worked well unless I had a full bucket, and the FEL starved the steering.

 

[Soundguy]

Sounds like it needed a priority valve for the steering..

soundguy

 

[BWBrown]

It has been QUITE a while (!) since I first started this thread with my question about power steering for my Ford 1700. It had been nearly 30 years since I bought it new.

Recent years have seen more loads on the front end, and three manual steering box failures over the last five years. Time and funds never came together at the right moment. However, over the last two years, I have been picking up a part here and there...

Several weeks ago, my three times rebuilt manual steering box once again stripped a tooth forcing the question.

I have now installed the following:

Power steering (orbital valve) unit from (I think it was) a Ford 2110, valve, steering column and steering wheel from ebay $250.00 shipped.
A Prince adjustable priority divider valve, $89.00 from Surplus Center plus shipping.
A 3x8" swivel ball end cylinder, $119.00 plus shipping from Surplus Center.
Used steel on hand to fabricate brackets and bushings to mount the steering column and cylinder. I had to fab a combination cover plate/steering valve to fill the cavity vacated by the oem steering box.
Six custom built (NAPA) hydraulic hoses and ends, each made up, one at a time, to fit - nearly $250.00 for them! I could have gone mail order and saved on the hoses big time, but flying by the seat of the pants ("Let's see how this one fits?") I did them one at a time, each one costing a day's time contrasted to a week or more for the mail order route.

Bottom line - It Works!!! I will try to take some pictures before the weekend. I spent a lot of time working out the installation, fabbing brackets, etc, but was just a little surprised and very pleased when she worked right out of the gate.

The only thing I would change would be to use a fixed 1.5gpm priority divider valve - my adjustable one only goes down to 2gpm. This would lessen somewhat the effective slow-down of the front end loader due to robbing fluid for the new steering components. Prior to the changeover, FEL function was quite usable at an idle. Now I need to be running 1200rpm or better to have useful FEL function.

Would I do it again? In a heartbeat!!!!!
Bob

 

[Soundguy]

man.. 3 steering box repairs on that young of a tractor?

are they aluminum gears?

I've bene into some pretty worn out manul boxes ( fords to boot ).. and usually at most it is thrust bearings bushings and seals..

were you welding up the gears or something?

soundugy

 

[BWBrown]

I bought the 1700 new in 1980 or '81, so it's going on 30 years old. As long as I was cutting grass, or pulling a wagon, it was perfectly happy. But put on a frnt end loader and head into the manure pit, and things get ugly.

Post-mortem has been revealing - really the first time I took everything apart. What I found was this: the steering stops (grade bolts intended to hit a boss on the axle to physically stop the wheels from turning beyond a preset point NEVER were adjusted properly. In 30 years the bolts never hit their intended target, were too short.

When turning to an extreme, the steering box itself would stop. Then any additional force on the front wheel, a rock, ledge, etc., any shock would be transmitted through the linkage back to the steering box and it would break a tooth inside the box. Had I taken the time and paid closer attention three years ago when I started having the problem, I might have saved myself a lot of grief. I never looked closely enough at the outer end of the whole steering system.

Lesson learned: EVERYBODY OUT THERE - CHECK THE ADJUSTMENT OF YOUR STEERING STOPS!

 

[Soundguy]

pretty much what I was expecting to hear.. not a mechanical failure due to box setup.. but a failure due to misadjustment..

soundguy

 

[BWBrown]

Yup, it came from the dealer that way - wasn't a problem 'til I got into more "stressful" situations. Even then the stops never hit home - after nearly 30 years the paint on the stop-point/boss is pristine. I had to install longer bolts to get them to actually function. Sometimes when you have looked at the same thing for a looong time, even if it is very wrong, it looks ok.

The steering box was absorbing a lot of punishment. Broke off teeth, literally split ball bearings in half, drove others right through the ridges on the steering shaft worm screw. Pretty incredible forces.

It has only been the past three or four years that I've been clawing around in a very rough bottom manure pit (horses) with holes and ledges. Put lots of stress on the front end. Adjustments would have been a lot of prevention.
All that said, the new power steering is great.
Bob