electric over hydraulic steering

[timandkim]

hello im new to this forum so i hope im doing this right . i have a 1981 bombardier muskeg carrier . i was wondering if any one had some ideas on changing it to electric over hydraulic steering . the machine is equipt with live hydraulic run off the pump on the side of the four cyl perkins . any info would be great thanks
tim

[fogtender]

Contact a local Hydraulic shop, they should be able to set you up. Trying to explain what to do on the Internet is a bit of a stretch from here. Plan on spending some coin though for the transition.

[dds]

boggie has a neet little joy stick system might contact him

[Sylvain]

Contact him only after March, he's with the kangaroo for the moment.

[pixie]

Welcome to this forum, timandkim !

Is there a reason you don't want to go with hydraulic assisted steering that some Muskegs ( like mine :) came with ?

[longbed454]

Originally Posted by pixie

Welcome to this forum, timandkim !

Is there a reason you don't want to go with hydraulic assisted steering that some Muskegs ( like mine :) came with ?

Hi Pixie I'm curious about your hydraulic assisted steering on your Muskeg how does it compare to the arm strong steering on the J5? Does it steer way better?

Thanks

[timandkim]

thanks to the reply guys the steering on my muskeg looks different than yours mine has a bleed able system much like a brake system it leaks and needs to be filled and bled every time out . not sure how it all works but 2 cylinders ran off a joy stick seems alot more efficient . how would i contact boggie and when would be appropiate not sure what that means he with a kangaroo?????????

[Sylvain]

He's gone to Australia

[pixie]

Originally Posted by longbed454

Hi Pixie I'm curious about your hydraulic assisted steering on your Muskeg how does it compare to the arm strong steering on the J5? Does it steer way better?

Thanks

Hi ! It steers a little easier but not as much as you'd expect.
Planning a turn and pressure on/pressure off counts almost as much as hydraulics. I have never driven a Muskeg or Skidozer without the power assist and they are longer than a J5 so it may be making a big difference that I don't know about !
My J5 brakes are new and it's pretty easy to steer especially after it warms up. Applying force beyond a certain point doesn't make it turn faster.

Of course, you are asking someone who has tracks on a quad ( year 'round some years) with no power steering so Armstrong is my middle name

[longbed454]

Thanks Pixie so maybe new brake bands are the way to go before trying to convert to power assist steering
Thanks again

[Chip]

Tim, if you have the power assist like Pixie's, the pair of small levers in her photo would be mounted right on the front frame of the driver's seat, and the big levers for the manual steering are mounted to a bracket on the floor under the dashboard. there would be four master cylinders on the bracket, one each for the clutch, the brake and the two steering levers. If these are what is leaking, a rebuild kit is only about $22 (Carquest # BRK M157). The bores of the master cylinders may be pitted from rust, but as Boggie told me, you could fill the pits with JB Weld (2part epoxy putty) and hone them smooth. A new complete master cylinder is available as well- it was used in Dodge trucks as a clutch master cylinder in the 50's and 60's. I took all four out and fixed up the two best ones and used them for the clutch and brake, and junked the manual steering system and just use the hydraulic. The power assist system uses different slave cylinders than the manual only system according to my parts manual. Later Muskegs used a double piston master cylinder for the steering instead of two separate ones, which might be what you have, but rebuild kits should be available for those too.

If the leaks are in the slave cylinders, you probably have to go to Boggie or Prinoth or someone else who handles Bombardier parts. Where ever they are, brake fluid leaks cause lots of rust destruction, so fix 'em soon, clean the metal in the area and repaint it before it eats away too much!

Does your live hydraulic pump run power steering, or something else?

[timandkim]

hello the steering system has 2 master cylynders that feed out of one resivour . the hydraulic pump runs the blade and 2 feeds to the back , i dont think it is conected to the steeering the levers or the master . i really want to switch it over to a joy stick , this would make it more user friendly 12 hour days pullin on them levers gets pretty old fast .

[timandkim]

hello pixie does your operator sit in the middle of the cab or on the left side , what year is your machine

[pixie]

Timandkim, the machine is a 1972 and the operator sits in the middle.

[timandkim]

never seen one like that up here thats cool

[timandkim]

the pics of your muskeg are great pixie and i agree there are alot of muskeg out there they are very unique in disign and versitility . we have a 500 gallon water tank that is heated by exhaust for winter . in the summer it hauls water to forest fire ground crews in the winter we haul water to build ice roads on muskeg swamps that are to soft to hold a water truck . it is also equipt with pumps to haul water to sno making machines that make sno to build road crosings on remote ice roads . on its days off it pushes sno and pulls a groomer grooming sled dog trails for our sled dog racing teams . it works hard kinda rusty but trusty . i want to do a major up grade to the cab but that means shutting it down and spring break up is the only time to do that hopefully this spring . pixie what do you use yours for and what do you have for a tranny in it .
tim

[pixie]

Tim, I use mine to haul a hydraulic/grapple wood trailer and for general riding around on my land. It has a New Process Gear 435L manual transmission and yours probably has the same trans.

It sounds like your machine works hard. Do you have a factory blade ? I'd really like to build a blade for mine.

[timandkim]

hello no pixie my blade is not factory we made it . works good but the machine has to be serious wiegh down to keep it stable or it is very nose heavy , like a dozer without a ripper.

[Chip]

Hi Tim, I've also been trying to figure out a blade system- does yours mount on the outside rails or between the tracks on the center tub? I've got a front winch on mine, and so it liked to stand on it's nose too (turns real easy with only a couple feet of track on the ground!). I mounted a logging winch on the back so it's more balanced now.

Pixie, do you hitch your trailer to the stock pintle hitch or do you have a lower hitch for it?

[timandkim]

hi chip our blade is attached to heavy 4x4 tube that is mounted under the front bumper that allows it to lift very high ,very handy for pushing wind falls and snags out of the way and not having them come up threw the wind shield . i think for next winter im going to put a leon blade on with a draw bar that goes all the way to the back . im trying to get some pic on here so my explanations dont sound so dumb but having camera trouble our daughter lost the charging cord for the camera . hope to pick one up today