L3240 Steering Issue

[rdam]

L3240 with 170 hours. Took a 5 mile highway trip today. Trucking along at 16MPH, I noticed that I was shifting hand position due to a slow rotation of the wheel in my hands with no change in direction.

Upon arriving back home, I noticed that I could SLOWLY turn the wheel to the left while the steering tires remained stationary. It'll also do it going right, but I had to turn the wheel much slower. Seems like it should be leaking, but fluids all seem OK.

It may have doing this for a while. I am constantly changing direction on my 5 acre lot, so it wasn't evident there was an issue.

Anybody got a clue?

 

[claridon]

The steering system on an L3240 is a full hydrostatic type power steering system. There is no hard linkage between the front wheels and the steering wheel. When you turn the steering wheel you're rotating a shaft in the steering controller which is at the nose of the tractor in the frame. Doing it very slowly just moves a small amount of oil without moving the steer cylinder.
-Len