Truck Power Steering Pump Keeps Deere Mower Going
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When the hydraulic pump on his 1980’s Deere F425 hydrostatic drive riding mower failed and a new pump from Deere couldn’t be found, Michael Heron, Rivercourse, Alberta, decided to replace it with the power steering pump off a big truck equipped with a Cat diesel engine.
“The hydraulic drive system on this mower shares the same oil used by the engine,” says Heron. “The oil goes to a hydraulic motor, and all the return oil from the motor goes back to the engine sump.
“The pump sits in the bottom of the engine and is driven by the engine camshaft. Once the pump fails, you don’t have any drive at all because there isn’t any power going to the hydraulic motor that powers the mower’s drive wheels.”
Heron found a used pump for $800 but thought that was too much money. So instead of trashing the mower, he mounted the power steering pump toward the back of the mower and attached a pulley on top of it. He also made an adapter and then attached a belt and pulley to the flywheel above the mower’s engine. He removed the hydraulic steel lines from the original pump and ran used lines, which someone gave him, to the mower’s hydraulic motor. The pump’s original foot control pedal was hooked up to a flow control valve, which allows him to vary the motor’s speed.
“I installed an in-line electric pump that automatically comes on when the oil level in the engine sump gets too high, due to oil seeping out of the motor. It returns the excess oil to the mower’s hydraulic oil reservoir,” says Heron. “All in all, this job was quite a challenging exercise but I like how it turned out.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Michael Heron, 452078 Range Rd. 13, RR 2, Rivercourse, Alberta Canada T0B 3X0 (ph 306 821-6367; m.heron@sasktel.net).
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Truck Power Steering Pump Keeps Deere Mower Going FARM HOME Lawn Mowers 31h 38 When the hydraulic pump on his 1980’s Deere F425 hydrostatic drive riding mower failed and a new pump from Deere couldn’t be found Michael Heron Rivercourse Alberta decided to replace it with the power steering pump off a big truck equipped with a Cat diesel engine “The hydraulic drive system on this mower shares the same oil used by the engine ” says Heron “The oil goes to a hydraulic motor and all the return oil from the motor goes back to the engine sump “The pump sits in the bottom of the engine and is driven by the engine camshaft Once the pump fails you don’t have any drive at all because there isn’t any power going to the hydraulic motor that powers the mower’s drive wheels ” Heron found a used pump for $800 but thought that was too much money So instead of trashing the mower he mounted the power steering pump toward the back of the mower and attached a pulley on top of it He also made an adapter and then attached a belt and pulley to the flywheel above the mower’s engine He removed the hydraulic steel lines from the original pump and ran used lines which someone gave him to the mower’s hydraulic motor The pump’s original foot control pedal was hooked up to a flow control valve which allows him to vary the motor’s speed “I installed an in-line electric pump that automatically comes on when the oil level in the engine sump gets too high due to oil seeping out of the motor It returns the excess oil to the mower’s hydraulic oil reservoir ” says Heron “All in all this job was quite a challenging exercise but I like how it turned out ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Michael Heron 452078 Range Rd 13 RR 2 Rivercourse Alberta Canada T0B 3X0 ph 306 821-6367; m heron@sasktel net
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