I recently resealed my steering cylinders because the glands leaked bad. After putting them back together and using it for many hours of loader work, no leaks. However, it has developed an issue of when you turn the wheel, sometimes it takes a rotation or two before you feel resistance and the wheels begin to steer. It didn’t have that problem before. In the yard it’s not a big deal but when trying to drive at some speed it’s a big problem. Reservoir is full. Once the steering catches then it’s just like normal. Any ideas?
Could possibly be a problem with a cylinder piston seal, maybe damaged during assembly or maybe a dent in the cylinder wall damaging the seal. In saying that, the pump maybe not delivering enough oil. Does the engine load up as it always has when you turn the wheels to full lock? That would loosely indicate the pump was still developing the same pressure. A test gauge maybe required to confirm the relief pressure.
Yes it does, what I did notice is that when the tractor is off you can turn the steering wheel indefinitely with some resistance but not much and it didn’t used to be that way, it used to be very difficult to turn when the tractor was off
Hmmm..... being able to turn the steering wheel without the engine running is not a good symptom. The steering orbital valve is in effect also a pump so if it is turning there is either oil being freely moved OR it is not working as it should & it is not moving oil at all. I would still inspect both those steering cylinders before doing anything else, to verify all is good on that end of the system.