Straight 450 Dozer Steering Pump

[Farmboy]

A friend has a straight 450 with a failed power steering assist pump. It appears there is no way to rebuild the pump and new is $1,700+. (Love John Deere!) My understanding is that it is an "assist" system. Does anyone know if it is possible to just remove and seal off and operate without the pump? Thanks for any help.

[jsal]

I would try the used part sites tractor house,tractor part .com, machinery trader,even E bay. I checked out machinery trader has a bunch listed.

JIM

[Jim S.]

I just operated a new-to-me straight 450 crawler loader for the first time this morning. Although it is equipped with power assist steering, I have not hooked mine up yet. It operated just fine and I did not think the force on the steering levers was excessive.

As for the pump, I would not rule out a rebuild. Depending on the problem, I would not hesitate to give it a try. I recently had mine apart to check it out while I had the engine out for rebuild. It is very simply made. Would be easy to re-sleeve the bearings and possibly the gear (rotor) housings. If you are interested, I would be happy to take a look at it and provide an assessment of repairability.

Jim

[Farmboy]

Thank you for the replies. He was able to find a used steering pump in decent shape - but now has engine failure. He's considering putting a 219 engine in so then I guess he would have to go without steering pump.

He got himself a little money pit - I'm glad I live far away.