I feel like the steering is weak unless at full throttle. My new holland wheel loaders would turn just fine at idle. The hydraulics whine pretty loudly in general when using the joystick or when I try to turn either direction regardless of RPM. Forward and reverse seem pretty okay. Full throttle seems to be just enough to be “normal” steering. Won’t even hardly think about turning at idle. Half throttle makes for weak steering as well but at least moves slowly to moderately depending on load but really lacks. I changed the hydraulic filter. The old one had some extremely fine metal particals in it when I poured the oil out. Am I supposed to just run it full throttle all the time? Is it normal to be so weak at half throttle?
No, it sounds as if you have a pump issue or a drive motor going out. Depending on the case drains, it now may be both.
Do the 257B’s have case drain filters? Anyone know which port on the pump to test pump pressure? The manual doesn’t make it very clear
No they do not. Are you using a Cat OEM manual KENR8820.? The procedure in that seems pretty clear to me.