Heiping a friend do brush clearing, now power steering jerky?

[koisw]

I have a 3940 and was working it very hard moving brush, pulling stumps. I hit a few along the way and bent the metal cover on the steering tie rod ends. I unbolted the cover, just three bolts... and now it seems harder to steer than before. Any ideas? I checked the fluid and its fine. I visual looked at all the components underneath, all seem straight and fine. Tie rods and shafts look straight. I figure if I could damage something, there had to be somebody else whos done it BEFORE! This was a hard outing, stick poked through grill and took out main fuse to battery, and broken welds to middle buster. Think I will tell my buddy to rent a excavator next time.

 

[kcender]

I don't know about the steering but I poked a hole through my 3240 in a similar spot.The pastic cowling,for lack of a better word,was around 80 dollars.

 

[TripleR]

Is it harder through the entire arc, both turning right and left or does it bind?

Have you checked to make sure none of the hydraulic lines were bent or kinked?

We are often tempted to do more with these tractors than for which they were intended and I have bent the shields and torn boots on mine. This past summer, I just rented a tracked skid steer with a cab for a week to save wear and tear on our tractors. I figured it was cheaper than tractor repairs and much quicker.

 

[mrjohnniesue]

wow..........very similar experience yesterday while working at my mothers house.......went down an old road (full of DEEP ruts)....had to turn around in the road and put a lot of pressure on the steering and my comfort zone....
after finally getting my 4330 out I noticed right away that the steering was very hard and jerky....did not get better and was hard to get back into the barn ,.,,,,

nothing leaking or broken that I could do on a basic visual inspection......any ideas from anybody on where/what to look for on the next trip up??? any suggestions appreciated....
hope you have good luck with yours also KOISW....
thanks..
Johnny

 

[koisw]

it seems like it is binding TripleR, it is the same left or right, and gets harder in some spots turning. Jacked it up with bucket and is still jerky turning. Will check all the lines underneath better.

 

[TripleR]

Get it blocked up in the air a bit and crawl around under there, I found about a 2 1/2 inch stop jammed up in mine right next to the hydraulic lines. I didn't have any problems, but if it had gotten into the steering linkage r one of the lines, I would of had problems. I had to take a small saw and working very carefully it took me about two hours t get it free without damaging anything.