RTVX900 Steering Drifting

[Hillbilly Engineer]

I have a RTV that has about 8000 miles of farm usage on it. When driving on a gravel road at about 15 mph the steering drifts if not almost pulls you to the left then the right. I suppose u could call it a drift with purpose moving u back and forth as u move along the road. You have to constantly move the wheel back and forth to counter the drift. The steering works well otherwise. I replaced the lower ball joints this past summer but still have the issue.

Any Thoughts?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

The center seal going out is the most common reason for the drift.
Replacing or Rebuilding the steering cylinder is the most common fix.
To verify:
Turn the steering wheel one way or the other till it stops then try turning the steering wheel more if it doesn't do it at a majorly increased tension, it's very likely a bad center seal in the cylinder.

 

[Hillbilly Engineer]

The center seal going out is the most common reason for the drift.
Replacing or Rebuilding the steering cylinder is the most common fix.
To verify:
Turn the steering wheel one way or the other till it stops then try turning the steering wheel more if it doesn't do it at a majorly increased tension, it's very likely a bad center seal in the cylinder.

I will have to check that out.. but I can see how a faulty center seal could be the problem. To your knowledge does the steering cylinder hold up to a rebuild? Thinking that would be a little cheaper than purchasing a new one if it holds up..

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I will have to check that out.. but I can see how a faulty center seal could be the problem. To your knowledge does the steering cylinder hold up to a rebuild? Thinking that would be a little cheaper than purchasing a new one if it holds up..

I would do a rebuild before I bought a new one!

 

[lugbolt]

a number of years ago the part number for the cylinder was changed. I had a few of them leaking internally and rebuilt them. Lasted a while. Had one or two fail (high hour usage) and we replaced them with the new part number. To my knowledge the newest revision doesn't fail very often. I don't think any of those ever came back. They'd have called me at the new job or at the home shop for sure if they had.