Power steering pump belt, 440I

[WilliamTO-35]

I've got my neighbor's 1958 John Deere 440 Industrial at my shop once again for repairs. The V belt that drives the power steering pump and the alternator ( later addition) keeps burning up , as though the power steering pump seizes up . The pump does have a fluid leak, and I suspect that when the pump runs dry, it gets hard to turn. However, it's never hard to turn by hand, and installing a new belt and filling the power steering reservoir gets the power steering working again. But the owner never checks the fluid level, and it runs low after a couple of months. Installing a belt is a real bear, and the link type belts I've tried stretch and don't last. Why do the belts keep burning up? Is it really because the pump runs dry, even though it doesn't seem to cause any permanent damage to the pump ?

 

[beenthere]

Can the fluid leak be fixed? Sounds like it is what needs repairing.

I suspect the pump seizes, the belt breaks, and then the "sieze" is not permanent as it isn't driven anymore. And maybe the fluid leaks onto the belt for premature slippage and failure ??

 

[WilliamTO-35]

Thanks for the exploded view of the pump. I suppose that is the best way to proceed; repair the leak , install a new belt, and see what happens. The leak is actually from a metal line that , I believe, carries return fluid to the pump. It's an odd fitting, and if I recall correctly has an O ring in it, but is loose and leaking. The hardest part of working on this tractor is removing, and installing the " bomb shelter" hood. It's one piece, bulky, and very heavy (more like structural steel than sheet metal ) and the vertical exhaust pipe and muffler and air cleaner intake pipe have to be removed first. The net result is that there has to be some serious reason to work on the tractor before anyone wants to remove the hood, and a lot of maintenance and repairs get delayed or ignored by the owner.