brazed reverser cooler line 350C- 3 balls steering housing?

[dozingdozer]

folks, thanks for your help. got to business and was able to repair a leaking reverser cooling line on the 350C. wound up removing line, cleaning and then tightly coiled about an inch of 14ga copper wire around the leak, heated and added some flux and then brazed. holding pressure well with no leaks. thanks for the advice!

also, rebuilt the steering valves, springs, seals, o rings. ordered the 3 1/4 steel balls. they seem to be pressed into the housing. does anyone know what thes balls are supposed to do? they are pressed in place and have original paint. i left them alone. what are they there for? thanks again, DD

[CatD8RII]

Im not 100 percent , but it would almost seem like they are to plug access holes for machining the valve. I have one to take apart here in a while and will definitely look more closely at it. Im pretty sure they dont affect operation. The valve is supposed to be a spool valve with metal to metal porting on the inside.

[dozingdozer]

Cat, i was figureing the same since they seemed pressed in place and you can see a channel that is oriented horizontally through the bottom of the spool channels at the front of the housing, just rear of the seal. at first i tried to replace those seals without taking the housing off the machine, but forget that! it is really a bench job. this is the case of if it aint broke dont fix it! i finally got a wide brass rod and really gentely popped in the new seals. thanks for your help! DD