Does anyone have any ideas on what would make an Akerman H12BLC lose its ability to turn left or right? The tracks go forward and backward with full power but they do not turn left or right. Its a classic machine and there's hardly any Akerman machines on our side of the big pond so I'd love to keep the legacy alive and keep this one in proud working condition.
The H12B uses a forward pedal and a separate reverse pedal, and a hand lever moves left/right to control left or right steering. When the hand lever is engaged, it slows down like it wants to engage in a turn but doesn't actually turn.
A mechanic took apart the left/right steering control and we looked it over, and everything seemed to look fine. The control is of very hefty steel construction with very simple valve mechanisms and about 7 hydraulic control lines.
In terms of activities leading up to this problem, it was working fine until a track came off about 800 foot up a driveway in a woodland clearing. I put the track back on and drove it back down the 800' drive to where I park it. The left/right steering worked fine the whole way down. The track had about 8" too much slack, so I tensioned it to specs (165mm from track to center of roller). Then went to drive it and in less than 10' realized it wasn't turning. I checked out the tension and saw that I had compressed the idler spring - which the manual warns not to do, so I released all the pressure on the spring (about the same amount of slack I had before tensioning it). But after releasing the pressure I still had the issue with the excavator not turning right or left.
Any thoughts on cause/resolution? Any ideas are appreciated!
