L4630 Power steering quit in very cold weather

[MrGreengenes]

I have 2003 L4630 HST with about 1,600 hours. It was bought new and has been serviced regularly and is in good shape for its age. We're in eastern upstate New York, where it can get down to about 0 Fahrenheit. Several weeks ago, morning temps were under 10 degrees, the tractor's power steering just didn't work. We looked for obvious mechanical problems and didn't see anything. Also restarted a couple of times, which made no difference. Other hydraulics (loader, 3 point hitch, hydrostatic trans) worked OK: Just the steering was out. Later that day, when it was around 35 degrees, I tried the tractor again and the power steering worked. It's been OK since. We're about to get cold weather again.. Any ideas on what might cause this?

Thanks, John

 

[Peter 315]

HI did you let the tractor warm up?

 

[MrGreengenes]

At that temp, I usually let it warm up 3 - 5 mins. I've done snow removal with temps in the teens, with the 3-5 min warmup. If the temp is around 25- 35, I usually warm up just a couple of minutes.

 

[Peter 315]

I wonder if you lift the front wheels off the ground and turn the wheel a few times to get the warm oil flowing to the steering

 

[hawkeye08]

When it is really cold, it takes awhile to warm up and everything work easy..

 

[Texas Fella]

What kind of hydraulic oil you using? The steering system has some small orifices in it. It is possible that if the wrong (low quality) hydraulic oil is being used, it can not flow through the system at the low rpm. Still a good idea to let it warm up, but quality cold weather oil may help too.

 

[MrGreengenes]

I'm using the factory spec Kubota hydraulic oil which has been OK so far. I will warm the tractor up longer. Even with hydraulic oil & filter changes every 200 hours, would it be possible for bits of dirt or crud to get into the oil? The small orifices could have clogged up. What was strange was that the power steering just flat stopped working. Wasn't like it was heavy and slow but could still assist. What other systems does the steering share its hydraulic oil with?

 

[David_Kb7uns]

Are you using Super UDT? any chance of water in the hydraulic fluid?

David

 

[Peter 315]

all the hyd oil comes from the same sump . Do you keep the tractor inside

 

[diesel85]