B7200 hydraulic steering

TheOldHokie

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Haha - glad you're keeping an eye on this and thanks for the suggestion....same as what I posted as a question above at post #60. Makes me feel good when someone who knows stuff makes the same suggestion as me.
The distance between the knuckles
is critical to wheel alignment. Measure the length of the cylinder and the center to center knuckle spacing to see of thats even possible.

Dan
 
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TheOldHokie

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I assumed you had all of this worked out before buying the BX bits. As best I can tell Kubota B series tractors used the drag link and tie rod steering design paired with a an old school PS gearbox up until the B01 series (2018) when they switched to hydrostatic. Measure the length of your BX cylinder and compare to the length of the B7200 tie rod.

Dan
 
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Paul Allwood

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I assumed you had all of this worked out before buying the BX bits. As best I can tell Kubota B series tractors used the drag link and tie rod steering design paired with a an old school PS gearbox up until the B01 series (2018) when they switched to hydrostatic. Measure the length of your BX cylinder and compare to the length of the B7200 tie rod.

Dan
Haha - don't assume too much. No, I didn't have it all worked out, just some rough ideas and figured I'd be able to make it work somehow.

Looks like it's back to Plan A.

Rather than just looking at it and speculating, I measured a few things....

PXL_20260228_081255795.MP~4.jpg

The full lock to lock left to right travel of the steering connection in the green circle is approx 300 mm.

The full lock to lock forward and back travel of the steering connection in the red circle is approx 150 mm.

The full travel of rod in the double ended steering cylinder is 160 mm, and with the ball joints and tie rod ends fitted it's a bit more than 100 mm longer than the left to right steering link.

I won't be able to swap the left and right steering knuckles as the steering cylinder assembly is too long by a bit over 100 mm and it's travel is too short by 140 mm.

Back to Plan A....

PXL_20260228_081255795.MP~4.jpg

PXL_20260228_075547643.MP~2.jpg

The steering cylinder replaces the dashed yellow steering link with a ball joint attached at the red circle. It's travel is within about 10 mm of the full travel of the yellow steering link. I'll make a bracket that bolts between the standard BX mounting brackets and attaches to the chassis with another ball joint somewhere close to the clutch pedal end. I don't see any of this being overly difficult.

Hopefully some pics of the real brackets when I get around to making them might make more sense than the dodgy description above.
 
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TheOldHokie

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Haha - don't assume too much. No, I didn't have it all worked out, just some rough ideas and figured I'd be able to make it work somehow.0

Looks like it's back to Plan A.

Rather than just looking at it and speculating, I measured a few things....

View attachment 170405

The full lock to lock left to right travel of the steering connection in the green circle is approx 300 mm.

The full lock to lock forward and back travel of the steering connection in the red circle is approx 150 mm.

The full travel of rod in the double ended steering cylinder is 160 mm, and with the ball joints and tie rod ends fitted it's a bit more than 100 mm longer than the left to right steering link.

I won't be able to swap the left and right steering knuckles as the steering cylinder assembly is too long by a bit over 100 mm and it's travel is too short by 140 mm.

Back to Plan A....

View attachment 170405

View attachment 170406

The steering cylinder replaces the dashed yellow steering link with a ball joint attached at the red circle. It's travel is within about 10 mm of the full travel of the yellow steering link. I'll make a bracket that bolts between the standard BX mounting brackets and attaches to the chassis with another ball joint somewhere close to the clutch pedal end. I don't see any of this being overly difficult.

Hopefully some pics of the real brackets when I get around to making them might make more sense than the dodgy description above.
Thars pretty much what I expected.

I am goung to say this one more time and shutup. I think you will be miles ahead by ditching that BX cylinder and replacing the drag link with an aftermarket cylinder designed for that type of operation. They are cheap ($75-$150), readily available, and damn near trivial to fit. Thats exactly what you pictured earlier in this thread.

Dan

1000004779.jpg
 
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Paul Allwood

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Thars pretty much what I expected.

I am goung to say this one more time and shutup. I think you will be miles ahead by ditching that BX cylinder and replacing the drag link with an aftermarket cylinder designed for that type of operation. They are cheap ($75-$150), readily available, and damn near trivial to fit. Thats exactly what you pictured earlier in this thread.

Dan

View attachment 170407
Haha - thanks. I've got the message. But mounting the cylinder I already have won't be very hard, and I already have it.
 
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airbiscuit

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This might be the easier way for you to add power steering.

 
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Paul Allwood

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This might be the easier way for you to add power steering.

Thanks. I have seen this video, and it would be an easy way to add power steering for a tractor with a nice strong steering box. The problem with this approach on my tractor is that it would just allow a much greater force to be applied more easily to the input of the small steering box and possibly break it more easily.
 

North Idaho Wolfman

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Admins - is it possible for me to move posts #53 and #55 to my "B7200 hydraulic steering" thread ?
Next time you want or need posts moved, please give me the place to move them to.
This thread was 12 pages back and 20 threads per page back in your history. 😋 ;)
 
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