priority flow valve

Too much oil stalls that steering motor out. It needs right at 3 1/2 gallons and it needs it ahead of the rest of the system.

Put a priority valve right behind the pump. Exhaust port on the priority valve then runs the rest of the hydraulics.

Allan

Keith & Shawn

You can just barely see mine, sitting on the frame rail, behind the mower mounting plate... Mine is the one from Northern Tool that is still adjustable like Allan's, but you need a wrench to adjust mine.

Your two-way is "open center" which means that hydraulic fluid flows straight through it and back to the reservoir if it's not operating a cylinder. If you try to run two parallel circuits, one to the two-way, and one to the steering, the hydraulic fluid will take the path of least resistance. In other words, every time the steering motor asks for pressure, the fluid will flow through the two-way valve.

Just FYI, but connect the priority flow to the steering. In a fit of absolute brilliance several years back, I told Dad he should hook the priority flow to the two-way valve... BONEHEAD! Didn't notice it until I was trying to steer the two-rake hitch on a very hilly field. It's no fun when you need to turn the tractor and the rake at the same time going down a hill, and the steering locks up!

So depending on how you pipe it up, unless you use a flow divider you'll either overpressurize the steering motor (= blown seals), or else bypass constantly thru the hyd relief valve (= overheated hydraulics and unnecessary load on the engine).

Also as Steve mentions below, without the priority valve your power steering will stop working whenever the external hydraulic cylinder is being stroked.

I'd install a priority valve and do the job right!

I got my priority valve from Northern Tool for about $75, they've gone up in the last few years, I see.

• Priority flow divider, $82.99