2004 BX-23 steering problem

[Big B]

Hi Guys,

I wanted to post a problem I’ve been putting up with for quite some time and I am still lost on it. I searched and saw where some have had similar problems, but I’m still lost and you’ll probably understand when I’m through. This is going to be a long one to tell the whole story.

I bought my BX-23 new and had no problem with the steering for probably the first two years and then it hit. It started out drifting and slow response to turning the steering wheel. It would always straighten out and work fine with just intermittent problems. I just continued to put up with it and then it started going out altogether. After sitting a while it would start working again and I just kept putting up with it.

I’m a do it yourself guy, not to mention as you know, the cost of parts alone, along with the dealership service department cost rule that out of the dealership equation. So, I’ve been trying to figure it out on my on and haven’t gotten very far.

In my past research I found it mentioned where along and about the time my tractor was manufactured that Kubota got some bad cylinders that fit several of the models. The bottom line that I found was to just replace the steering cylinder with a new one due to several internal problems with the original, but I just kept limping along. I found where one person talked with a Kubota rep and found out they had put out a bulletin on the problem and the solution was to replace the steering cylinder.

I was out of town a few years ago and passed a fairly large Kubota dealer and went back to it and talked with the service manage and the shop foreman. They told me to jam a wheel up against something and try to turn it. If the steering wheel did not spin then it wasn’t the cylinder or the controller. When I got home I tried it on both left and right wheels and the steering wheel didn’t spin. So, I just kept going on.

A while later I was talking to a Kubota parts dealer that I had ordered some parts form in the past and I quizzed him about the steering cylinders. He told me that he had sold quite a few steering cylinders in the past and only one controller. I still wanted to lean toward the cylinder, but didn’t want to put out the big bucks if I wasn’t 100% sure. OEM parts changing can be expensive as I’m sure you know.

I continued to limp along with no major problems until back in June. I was using it one day and shut it down and had no steering from that point on. I figured it had finally come to pass that a cylinder change or something was at hand. It has just basically just been sitting. We have cranked it and moved it some. You could spin and spin on the steering wheel and gradually change directions. I got on it last Friday and moved it and parked it again without steering. Then yesterday, I went out and cranked it and the steering was working normal again. I don’t think any o-ring problem in the steering cylinder spontaneously fixed itself while sitting. I mowed with the thing for an hour and a half. Before I started this I went out and cranked it and the steering is still working. Needless to say I’m still lost.

I’ve checked all the steering lines and have found no evidence of leaks. All other hydraulics on the three point lift, FEL and backhoe work and they have a single pump and reservoir. In the past a fluid and filter change had no affect on the problem.

I was ready to just bit the bullet and go ahead and replace the steering cylinder and hope that was it, but now I want to hold off again.

Does anybody have any ideas?

 

[ipz2222]

That problem has been addressed on here. There is an o ring in the center of the steering cylinder that splits the 2 sides,,left and right. When it leaks ( from one side to another) the fluid just flows past that o ring and does not move the shaft. Yes ,, it can seal sometimes and not another time. My bx has the same problem, but only when hot, The seal can be purchased at a hydrolick shop. Just take your old one in for comparison.

 

[Big B]

I knew it was an o-ring problem and I remembered there possibly was a little more to it than just changing an o-ring. It took me a couple of days to get around to it and find the post on another forum that I remembered I had seen a while back when trying to figure this problem out.

About mid way down this post a gentleman’s explanation and pictures help address the problem.

www.ssbtractor.com/wwwboard/view_all.cgi?bd=kubota&msg=8684

I think this is why I was leaning toward a replacement cylinder rather than a rebuild. I would almost bet that my cylinder is like the one in the pictures and if rebuilt I would eventually wind up in the same boat.

The part number of the new replacement cylinder mentioned is the same in the parts book I downloaded for my tractor a couple of years back. Apparently the old cylinders were used on several models. I remember checking my tractor’s steering cylinder part number and it is the old style probably just like the one in the pictures.

Looking at the exploded view of the new cylinder I can’t really tell what changes may have been made. The “Piston Center” as they call it, still has a similar design, with a large and small o-ring and snap rings on both sides. Maybe they changed the tolerances on the Piston Center to stop it from moving and possibly made the o-ring grooves smaller.

Whether or not the new rebuild kit and Piston Center would work in an old cylinder I don’t know. The Piston Center design appeared to be the main problem. Maybe that’s all they changed. I’m just going to guess that the Center Piston was part of their design flaw and the part they changed on the new cylinder assembly. I think probably only Kubota knows and they aren’t talking.

Just for the heck of it, if a person could put the new parts in an old cylinder, I priced a Piston Center on the website I’ve used in the past. It cost $190.85 and the seal kit $32.30 for a total parts price of $223.15. Then you would have a brand new worn out cylinder.

The last time I checked the price on a new cylinder assembly it was $234.00. A simple o-ring would be a cheap quick fix, but given the problems shown in the pictures it might come back to haunt you in the future. This is probably why I leaned toward thinking cylinder replacement.

It dawned on me after my post that I had seen pictures in the past, so, I thought I would look them up and pass them along. I hope this will help you. I think it helped me stick with cylinder assembly replacement as my option.

That is the next time it stops working, which may be tomorrow. Seriously, I think I'm going to just replace the cylinder. Going on as is and maybe even the o-ring change, would be like playing Russian Roulette.